Hello all,

I’m going to be getting the opportunity to do some tuna fishing on my friend’s center console. We will be fishing out of NJ with livebait, chunks, and jigs for small bluefins with maybe a shot at some bigger yellowfins and bluefins,

I have outfits to handle the fish 25lbs and under and was thinking about building a rod for a 40 # class outfit to handle the bigger stuff. I’ll probably be matching the rod with an avet MX spooled with 40-50# braid and topped of with mono. I’ve never built any tuna sticks and haven’t done that much tuna fishing. I’m considering building on a Calstar 765XL blank, but open to other suggestions. I’d like to keep the rod around 6.5’ to make it easier to maneuver around the motor bracket.

Am I on the right path with this blank? Should I be looking at aluminum real seats rather than the Fuji heavy duty graphite boat seats? I was thinking about doing a spiral wrap on this? Any guides better suited to this than others? I’d like to go with SIC’s.

I’d appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Mike

I've wrapped a bunch of the 765 blanks and really like them, I always use an Aftco #2 reel seat and Fugi guides either the LRSG or HNSG depending on which you like better, either will work just fine especially spiral wrapped.

Thanks Jim,

I like the look of the LRSG's and they are single foot guides, correct? Do you think I should start out with a size 20 and work down to a size 8 or 10? Would a size 8 tip be able to pass the knot connecting spectra to 40lb mono? I was thinking about starting with the following size 20, 16, 12, 12, 10, 10, 8, 8 + tip and seeing how that works with the static deflection test. Does that sound about right?

Should I still be thinking about putting a gimbal on this rod or will the spiral wrap make the rod stable enough with just a butt cap?

The lrsg are the "turbo" guides. I'd go 20,16,12,10,10,8,8,8 with an 8 tip. Be fine with 40 #, I tie a double uni knot for my 40# spectra/mono connection which will fit no problem. I wouldn't use a gimbal on that rod, I don't have them on by 765L,ml and m rods.