My Brother wants me to build some Hallibut rods for him. Any suggestions on good blanks for modest money? I'm planning on Spiral wrapping 2 and the other 2 as usual. Any suggestions or things to watch out for are as alwaws appreciated

Thanks in advance

I've never been Halibut fishing, but I am pretty sure depending on where you plan to fish for them will dictatee which blanks to use. Is it for Alaska deepwater 300# barn door Halibuts, or Cali Coast doormat 25# Halibuts off the beach?

Billy has it right, the break line for rod strength is IMO around 100 - 125 lbs. Rarely will a fish caught exceed that. For these sized fish I like the Forecast SWB 70 H E-glass blank from Rainshadow/Forecast. E mail me is you want the rest of the particulars.
One thing to think about if your traveling with the rod is you have only so much allowed bags/baggage on you return, you can pack a rod or you can pack a box of fish back. I pick the latter.

He/We fish in Alaska and average between 30-120 lbs. We have put a few 200 + pounders on picture, but we never keep any over 100 lbs. Traveling with them isn't a problem, because we keep them on the boat.

Do you fish the deep, insanely fast tides around Homer, or in the relatively shallow and slow moving waters around Seward? Or both? Having only fished in Seward, I would say that you are pretty limited in terms of what blanks to use. Not many kinds of fishing find you jigging in 150' of water with a 16 oz jig that has a whole salmon head (with entrails attached) behind a curly tail grub you can't close your fist around... The first time I saw this rig I had to laugh. We use baits smaller than that when trolling for giant tuna and marlin.

You need to be looking for some big, powerful rods- like those used for tuna. You aren't casting, so length isn't an issue. What you need is a short, strong lever to help pump that 150 lbs of deliciousness from the bottom without breaking your back.

You might consider a Seeker blank such as the 6455H "fast taper stand up tuna." This is a powerful 5'6" blank that shouldn't cost more than $50.

To that I would add the Seeker/Calstar 665 rated to 50lbs for "averager" northwest halibut and the 665H, rated to 80lbs for Alaskan fish. You could go to the 665XH, rated to 100lbs, but in most cases you would be overgunned, in my opinion. Tie it "california" style with a roller striper and tip.

These blanks are 6'6" which gives you a little room to keep the line off the side of the boat. If you are fishing a big boat it may not matter. In that case, I would go to the 655 series of 5'6" blanks. All of these are incredibly strong glass rods.

If you want less weight in the blank (like it matters), try the Calstar graphiter 765M which I believe is also rated for 80lbs.