Hi all,
I've got a customer who wants a rod for both very large grouper and swordfish. He's fishing deepwater wrecks for the grouper and night fishing off Florida with live bait for swordfish. Neither type of fishing requires much casting so I'm leaning toward a 5.5' Calstar E-glass blank with Aftco wind-ons and either an Aftco uni-butt or stor-a-butt. I'm also trying to match the rod to an Avet 50 series two-speed reel. Most of my saltwater stuff is west coast stand-up so I'm a bit in the dark here. Any suggestions or recomendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Randy.

You're gonna need 2 rods. Sounds like he is fishing down South in Florida? I did one Swordfishing trip with a local guide (friend) - I had a GUSA PRedator & Avet 4/0, and he laughed at me. He had all 50's & 80's with very heavy rods, more than likely CAlstar's, but I'm not sur ethe model.

For wreck fishing I think you'd want an entirely different rod. I fished the Tortuga's twice, and find a 50# rod perfect. GUSA 80Monster, Calstar 850M cut from the tip - great rods for Party Boats, probably way too long for a pricate boat.

Just guessing this isn't m area of expertise....although I really don't have an area of expertise for anything, lol.

Billy,
Yeah, I told him that it would be hard to build one rod for both different types of fishing but thought I'd at least try and get as much info here before we I talk to him again. I think he primarily wants a grouper rod to be used occasionally for swordfish. I really didn't know if one rod would work descent enough for both. Randy.

The big Seeker jig sticks might be the ticket. 6 foot long and heavy power and fast action.

I don't know much about the blanks you are talking about but a heavy Grouper rod should certainly work for the swordfishing. Just because the swordfish generally aren't that big so, And although they do pull hard a 50lb outfit should do the job quite well, since he will only be doing it occassionally. just my 2 cents. Scott

I can't comment on the swordfish since I don't target the species. However, I do a bit of FL grouper fishing. My best-liked rods are a GUSA 7ft Monster Mag with a relatively long hypalon foregrip & rear grip. The long rod length allows me to move the fish off structure with the initial sweep/hookset. The fast action and recoil of the graphite rod, along with the long foregrip, allows me to use the rail and basically winch the fish up by simply winding until the rod is fully loaded and repeat when the rod recoils. Hypalon was chosen for the reargrip to allow holding the rod under the armpit while using the rail.

Terry

what does gusa stand for...or.....where can i find there web site ...thanks bugsy

Greg,
GUSA stands for Graphite USA (blanks). Not sure if they have their own site (didn't look yet) but Mudhole sells them. Randy.