I am planning on building myself a rod for walleye fishing. I have been using 6.5 - 7 ft. ultralight spinning rod with 4-6lb line. I have a hard time detecting walleye when they bite. Generally I feel like I'm pulling it lose from a rock or snag when I do catch one. I have heard that if you expose the blank in the handle or reel seat you can improve the sensitivity. Often times we will catch trout using the same techniques. (Jigs tiped with nite crawlers) Sensitivity is not a problem with the trout. Can anyone suggest an appropriate blank and grip arrangement to maximize sensitivity.

I plan to come to Charlotte to shop for this rod. This site has been a wonderful help to me. I seem to learn something new from each rod I build.

Thanks to all.
Ed

That sounds good but I do not think that exposing the handle will really gain you any sensitivity. I think your problem is that the rod is too soft and is absorbing the strike. If you are going to use such a soft rod then you will have to learn to watch your line and rod tip closely. The tip off to a strike is a movement in the line or a twitch of the rod tip. Just going to be hard to really feel strikes with an UL rod. You have to pay close attention to line movements and rod tip twitches.

I've been led to believe that in any series of rod blanks, lets say the Shikari SHXi for example, that the ultralight is the most sensitive and the heavy is the least sensitive.

I have a lot of walleye fishing friends that have "hands of stone" (Roberto Duran, anyone?) and just can't pick up the subtle, light bite of these finicky finned pests. They fish a lot, but just have trouble when these guys get in one of their frequent moods and are "off" the bite (which is much more common than not).

Sensitivity can be enhanced with, in my opinion, cork handles, brick foam arbors, and, in the case of a casting reel seat, exposed triggers.

Most walleye fishermen use medium rods and I believe (when live baiting--jigging or lindy rigging) that this is a huge mistake unless they need a lot of weight to get very deep (50' or deeper). Walleye aren't common at that depth, at least not on the impoundments that I've fished. 20' and shallower is the norm.

I think any one of several high quality blanks will suffice here, as long as ya don't have those "hands of stone" LOL!!

Charlotte would be a great place to play with a bunch of them; Tom estimates there will be near 5000 blanks to play with and this is 80% of the reason why I originally decided to go there.

Putter

Ed,
I think that Artie is basically correct. The exposed blank reel seats that permit you to put a finger on the blank may help a little but not much. Sensitivity is normally defined as stiffness divided by weight, but where the stiffness is and where the weight is actually is more important. What is called the sectional stiffness and sectional weight is more important. The weight and the stiffness is much more important toward the tip of the rod than toward the butt section. To get maximum sensitivity you want a rod that is as light as possible overall but you especially want a rod that has a tip that is light, that is light in weight, and as stiff as possible in the tip. I realize that a rod that is light weight but has a stiff tip is a bit of a contradiction.
For maximum sensitivity I would start off with a blank that has a relatively slow tip, low action angle, and relatively high modulus of elasticity, and add as little weight, particularly to the tip section, as possible with as few guides, as light a weight guides, short wraps and as little epoxy as you can get by with.

You didnt say what kind of line you are using. Try a line with less stretch. If your not already using it switch to 6-8# florocarbon line. I thought it was a gimick untill I tried it on one of my smallmouth rods. Now all my jigin rods and ice fishing rods have florocarbon line.

A few years ago I built a 7' walleye rod for a stone handed walleye fisherman. Fast action, 6 to 10 lb test, tennesee sensor handle, Fuji titanium frame sic's and recommended Fireline. Results were an 11 lb plus walleye out of 35 ft of water while vertical jigging. Hope this helps. Bob Vasko

Ed - I feel that I gain sensitivity in my Walley rods by using high end components, direct hand exposure to the rod blank, and reducing weight. Spin Jig rod blanks in Shikari SHX, or G. Loomis IMX (if you can find a straight one). St. Croix Legend Elite also has some nice blanks for this. An exposed blank reel seat for a casting rod and a "no fore grip" fore grip on spinning rods. Minimal cork handles. Fuji graphite colored foam arbors. Fuji titanium framed SiC guides.

The graphite foam arbors weigh much less than the Flex Coat ones. Fuji TiSiC guides weigh 1/3 less than Alconites. Using 1/2 the cork for a grip weighs 1/2 as much as a normal grip. etc... Get rid of the weight.

Most ultralights have too much mush to be terribly sensitive. A nice soft tip is critical to help visualize your jig and show bottom content, but a quick transition to power is also needed.

I've found that both Shikari and St. Croix are rated quite well. If you need to fish 1/16 ounce jig/minnow, jig/crawler combos, get a rod blank that is rated for 1/16 ounce. I will say that this is where I DO NOT like to use St. Croix's, 1/16 ounce. Their tapers changes between the ML and the L powered blanks and they go from a nice quick taper to a longer slower "Panfish" type taper.

Ok, here is the problem you face, often a soft biting fish that can be deep and is often fished best with light weight rigs resulting in difficulty detecting the strike. OK, lets look at what is needed to maximize sensitivity.

First, the blank. The blank, and overall rod needs to be as light as possible in order to make it easier to feel the light baits being presented in the best way possible. For this reason a light, or ultralight rod is recommended. Second, the rod has got to maximize the feel of the lure, which is done best with a fast, stiff rod. Think of it this way, if an extra sixteenth of an ounce is added to the weight of your lure you may feel it but the more it bends the rod the less of it's weight change your going to feel in your hand. If the rod is fast only the section nearest the tip will bend much. So, you are looking for a fast, but very light rod. A spin jig rod would likely be a very good choice for this application.

How about length? Well, longer is going to be better here. Why? Think of it as a lever. The longer the lever, the less work it takes to move the heavy object. In this case, a longer rod will move more in your hand from the fish hit than a short rod, which of course translates to more sensitive. In this case, I would go with either a six foot six inch or seven foot spin jig blank rated as UL, XFast, with an extended but to create a seven foot or seven foot six inch walleye rod with a very fast tip. How to do this, refer to Rod Maker article on Smallmouth bass rod about four issues back.

Ok, how to maximize sensitivity of the handle? A light rod like this is most likely going to be used with spinning gear. For this I would use a Tenessee Sensor handle with brick arbors to maximize feel of the rod. These handles are designed to give maximum sensitivity and they work well for that.

As for guides, well, the lighter the guides the better. For this rod I would deffinately go with a new concept setup and use the lightest ceramic guides I could afford. The new Amtac Titans would be guides I would consider as they are titanium and likely very light weight. A proven guide would be Fuji Titanium frame SIC guides. To be considered would also be Rec, Recoil guides, as these are also very light, but I would probably opt for the ceramic ring guides rather than the recoils. Setup according to the new guide concept article in the library then do a static test as you may be able to space out the running guides a little more than normal and elliminate a guide or two this way due to the fast action of the type blank discussed here. You can either use a normal tip top or wrap an extra guide for a tip top on this rod. In this case the extra guide instead would likely save a tiny amount of weight.

Finally, when fishing this rod, consider using a sensitive line like firewire with a short leader of monofilament or florocarbon. This will give you better feel overall while still giving you the benefits of a nearly invisible to the fish leader.

That's my views on making a super sensitive walleye rod.

Good Luck, Daren

Ed, without sounding like a broken record, or should I say CD, keeping the finished rod weight to a minimum is a must. I've had great results from Titanium framed guides, they are amazingly light. I also think your idea to go to the show to get a feel for some blanks is right on track. Keep in mind that, although the higher modulous blanks tend to be more sensitive, high modulous alone doesn't nessesarily make a good rod. When selecting a blank, just try to see which one seems to "be alive" in your hand. I've built regular graphite rods with blanks that just seemed to transmit every single moovement strongly into your hand. It's a feeling you'll know when you experience it. And as someone mentioned earlier, a Tenesee graphite handle is without question the most sensitive spinning set-up, if you can live with taping on your reel. The other advice about the superlines is excellent as well.

There are lots of excellent blanks on the market, I'd keep in mind the sponsers of this site. Happy hunting and good luck!

Bruce Vetre
Vetre Rod Crafting

Ed,
Check out St Croix's 5S70MLF blank. Build using Fuji Alconite guides using the Concept Guide placement theory. Use St. Croix's handle kits. They are all cork making them very sensitive. Use a light super line like fireline with a short piece of mono on the end. This combination is very light and sensitive. I just love it for walleye.

Kevin

Thanks a BIG Bunch to all who posted comments. I have come close to building several rods similar to what most of you have suggested. I was thinking of either a SC 3S70ULF (1.2 oz.) or a Batson IP 840. I had not thought about weight of the guides and/or the amount of thread/epoxy used as being impotant. Now I will make it a consideration. I recently switched to 4 lb spiderwire and really like it. Only thing is, It is more in the order of 12 lb if truely tested. (Very strong) I think I am going to go with a short cork Tennessee type grip made from some high quality cork rings that I already have. Probably put one or at most two rings ahead of the reel foot. I think I am going to cut the reel seat from the cork rings to custom fit my reel. (No arbor-solid cork all the way). I appreciate the suggestion to the Ti-SIC guides-I think the additonal cost may be a better investment than a more expensive blank. I have used the concept guide system on several rods. (Thanks, Tom for the article and pictures) I am going to check the spool diameter on my reel to see if I can use a 20 mm ring on the butt guide. (I have been using 25 mm) The last two guides will be 6mm or less. Any additional comments would be greatly appreciated. I still plan to do alot of rod shaking at Charlotte before I make my final decision on the blank. . Will also look at the Ti-SIC guides guides and tops. I suspect (hope) I can buy everything I need for this rod right there at the show. Look foreward to meeting everyone in Charlotte. Again many thanks to all.

Ed

I used to use an ultra lite for Walleye and still do if I am fishing shallow enough or using slip bobbers. There are two problems that I see with the typical ultra lite. 1 they are usually a moderate to slow action rod and don't transmit the bite very well. 2 they don't have enough back bone to set the hook if you are using anything over a size six hook(lost quite a few fish caused some serious swearing on the water).

I have switched to using fast action medium lite rods 6 to 7 foot and I just can't believe how sensitive they are in comparison. I would like to try another ultra lite, but can't seem to find a blank that is fast enough once you get the guides on, especially in the 7 foot range.

I just don't see the need for a medium action rod for walleyes unless you are fishing very deep for them. The lake I spend most of my time on has the been walleye fishing around 25 to 45 feet deep and the medium lite works fine and I can use 4# line and not have to really baby it.

Man after my own heart; I love jigging walleyes on 6 to 7 foot medium light/fast rods. If I'm out to enjoy a day of fishing, brother, this is it!!!

Putter

I just finished a ML 7.5 ft rod for my son for Christmas. Did not get a chance to try it out. I put an EVA Tennessee grip on it with single foot SIC guides(no Ti). Maybe I ought to try it out first. This is what he said he wanted. He may have known more than I give him credit for. It was very fast taper - butt size >0.55 in. All the action was in the top 25-30% of the rod. I'm begining to wonder if you get better transmision of vibration with this type of rod. I could tell that it had a much stronger hook set action than an UL. It just weight alot more than I was use to feeling. I have another blank just like it. I think I'll go ahead and start on the cork grip.

Putter, I even marblized the rod in his College colors. How does that effect sensitivity? I just hope he graduates in the next year or so. I'm afraid I added too much weight with all the delorative wraps and extra epoxy. I got your the TAP's green pigment on my list to bring to Charlotte for you.

Thanks,
Ed

With all this tweaking to minimize the weight of the rod, why is so little attention given to the weight of the reel? Using Shimano reels as an example, a 2000-2500 size reel will weigh about 10 oz, while the St. Croix 5S70MLF blank mentioned above (nice blank) is listed at 1.7 oz. and can be easily built to weigh less than 4 oz. Why not build it for a 1500, 1000 or even the new 750 size reels, getting the reel weight down to less than 7 oz. Spooled with Fireline, the reel will hold well over 100 yards. And the smaller reel will allow smaller guides and a smaller reel seat.

I happen to be using a Shimano 1000 or a older Mitchell 408. This the first I've heard of the 750's. I want to check them out. I think I have about 200 yds on my Shimano-don't think the Mitchell will hold quit that much. Correct me if I'm wrong but I cannot image needing more than 100 yds of line in a fresh water ultra light application. (I have had to chase a few catfish and one lake trout with UL gear fearing it might take all my line. ) I was of the impression that minimal weight toward the tip was of significant imporance to gain sensitivity.

Thanks,
Ed

Ed: Your email address is "Hidden." Go to "My Control Center/Edit Email/Verify Address" to correct that. Yes, weight or near the tip a critical factor, total weight less so but still important, IMO. Some Shimano 750s include the Sahara, Sedona and the Symmetre, all 6.9 oz. The Stella 1000 will beat them at 6.2 (but I wouldn't know).

Try a Shimano Stradic. These are some of the sweetest spinning reels I've ever used; I've got several of them in the 1000 and a few 2000.

Ed- The marbling in your son's college colors may affect the sensitivity of the boatload of his friends from that other college. Hope he's not too sensitive about swimming to shore, though!!

Putter