Hey guys yall have a great site here and a wealth of information I really like what yall have here. This rod that I am looking at building will be my first but I have had a couple built by a guy that has been doing it since the 70's so I have help from him but I would like yalls oppinion on the blank selection.

My question is which rod blank do yall think would be best for my use?

Here is a little background, the rod will be used as a casting rod with a garcia 7000 on it spooled with 30lb. I will be throwing diving baits (rapalas 1 oz rattle traps, 1-3 Oz spoons, and coon pops mainly. (coon pops are bucktail jigs with the hook cut off and a the jig is then wired to a 16/0 circle hook for tarpon) Targeted species will be kings, jacks, sharks and the main reason for the rod TARPON.

Now i know that this has been covered some on here before but I will say it agian so that yall know what I am up against. In a kayak things are very diffrent than in a power boat. First thing a rod needs a forgiving tip but then it needs to stiffin up quick so that you can control the fish (makes me think live bait rod) the forgiving tip is because you will be in close battle with the fish most of the time since you can pull yourself to the fish instead of the fish to you, they usually pull you also and if he makes a run you need a little give so you don't flip.

The next problem is that the rod needs to be the toughest rod that you can get (thinking E-glass or Fiberglass) because one big issue in a kayak that is not seen in a powerboat is the fact that when you have a fish on and it makes a run the fist thing that is going to happen is that you will bow down and the fish will repeativly bash the rod up against the kayak seen and heard of many graphites breaking from this and my current ugly stick has many battle scars about a foot rom the tip because of this. Another problem that arises is the guides being bashed so I will be using some heavy guides. I also am thinking very strongly about a spiral wrap, from what I have read here it is the only way to go for this application. The 7' length is to reach as far towards the bow as possible.

The main purpose of this rod will be for casting baits as stated above, I will be building another heavier rod for cut bait chunking to sharks, bull reds and tarpon later. The thing that I am having a problem with is getting a rod that is not to heavy to cast the baits that I want but still be able to handle a 5' blacktip or a 6' tarpon. Also the cheaper the better within reason of not sacrificing quality because it is not if your rod will go swiming its when.

Here are the blanks that I have been looking at:

mud hole blanks
SPSWB7M 7' 15-25lb. Mod-Fast Medium .79 9 $15.95
SPSWB7H 7' 20-40lb. Mod-Fast Heavy .765 10 $17.95

gator blanks
B10-30 7' .831 7.5 10-30 lb. X Fast Live Bait FAST KINGFISH $25.16

B12-40 7' .892 9 12-40 lb. Fast Live Bait FAST KINGFISH $28.51

B15-50 7' .869 9 15-50 lb. Fast Live Bait FAST KINGFISH $31.86

forecast E-glass
SWB70MH
Gloss Black
7' 0"
1
15-30 lb.
3/4-3 oz.
0.850
11.5
Mod-Fast
MH
10.95 oz.
29.00
Add

SWB70H
Gloss Black
7' 0"
1
20-40 lb.
1-4 oz.
0.890
11.5
Mod-Fast
H
11.38 oz.
30.00
Add

SWB70XH
Gloss Black
7' 0"
1
25-50 lb.
1 1/2-5 oz.
0.900
14.0
Mod-Fast
XH
13.17 oz.
31.00

what do yall think?

Thanks in advance.

Those rods won't handle a 5' blacktip or 6' tarpon. I think a Gator T80H would fit the bill for the larger tarpon and sharks. The other rods would work great for the kingfish you mention. There really isn't one rod that will do everything you want. It would be tough working topwaters on a live bait rod.

BTW where are you fishing

What in the world is a Cajun doing fishing out of a kayak especially throwing Coon Pops for tarpon. Man what did you do with your pirogue ? Seriously though I've made a lot of tarpon rods for throwing coon pops using Batson's SWB70MH and SWB70H E Glass blanks. I have also made several in the 8' models also. Spiral wrapping is the way to go with thes rods. I use graphite gimbals and reel seats to keep the weight down as my customers use Ambassadeur 7000's and Shimano Calcutta 700's.

What is the length of your Yak? You want to be able to clear the front. A 7 foot rod will do the trick on a 16 foot Kayak. That seems to be the favored length of Yakkers. As noted above you seem to be trying to get one "do it all" rod. As with most things this usually ends up with a rod that does nothing well.

Most Kayak fishermen equip themselves with a good assortment of rods for specific purposes. I don't fish those species so I cannot suggest specific blanks. Kayak fishing can lead to strikes very close to the craft.. making for expremely high strike pressure. In addition to the need for careful drag settings the tip needs to be very strong and flexible to help prevent break-offs.

In general I would look for a blank with a Fiberglass tip and Graphite butt section. A moderate action would be my first choice to help absorb the strain. Sharks and Kayaks are a potentially volatile combination. I assume you know what you are doing. I wonder how heavy you expect your prey to be. A 16/0 hook for Tarpon indicates the 100# plus size. How heavy are the Black Tip Sharks?

Do you bring along anything to dispatch an aggressive shark in case of a problem? Before thinking of rods to catch one I'd be shopping for a Remington Stainless Steel 12 guage pump shotgun; for real! I'd also rig my yak with a trolling motor so I could get to shore without having to paddle.. in case I lost a hand. Sorry, but I have no conficence in getting up close and personal with any shark from a kayak.

Lance Dupre Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What in the world is a Cajun doing fishing out of
> a kayak especially throwing Coon Pops for tarpon.
> Man what did you do with your pirogue ? Seriously
> though I've made a lot of tarpon rods for throwing
> coon pops using Batson's SWB70MH and SWB70H E
> Glass blanks. I have also made several in the 8'
> models also. Spiral wrapping is the way to go with
> thes rods. I use graphite gimbals and reel seats
> to keep the weight down as my customers use
> Ambassadeur 7000's and Shimano Calcutta 700's.

That is the kind of information that I was looking for Lance. My question is on those two blanks you say they cast coonpops good but what is your thoughts of them throwing 1oz rattle traps,1-3 oz spoons and larger crank baits most of my baits will be around 1 oz with a ocassional 3/4 and a little more often 1+ oz .

I'm thinking that the SWB70MH will work good and still have plenty of backbone left to fight a 100+LB fish if I ever get lucky. One thing that must be kept in mind is that in a kayak lighter gear can be used to a extent because you can only put so much pressure on a fish before it starts to pull you (AKA Texas Sleigh Ride). Right now I have been using a 14-40 medium action ugly stick boat rod with the 7000 reel and I feel fairly certain that if it can be caught in a kayak that setup will catch it unless I get spooled but it would have to be a fast fish that could swim faster than it could pull the kayak.

One last thing about this rod is that I want this to be my casting rod not a bait soaking rod I have the ugly stick for that until I build a new one to take its place.

Thanks for your help so far.

Dave Gilberg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is the length of your Yak? You want to be
> able to clear the front. A 7 foot rod will do the
> trick on a 16 foot Kayak. That seems to be the
> favored length of Yakkers. As noted above you seem
> to be trying to get one "do it all" rod. As with
> most things this usually ends up with a rod that
> does nothing well.
>
> Most Kayak fishermen equip themselves with a good
> assortment of rods for specific purposes. I don't
> fish those species so I cannot suggest specific
> blanks. Kayak fishing can lead to strikes very
> close to the craft.. making for expremely high
> strike pressure. In addition to the need for
> careful drag settings the tip needs to be very
> strong and flexible to help prevent break-offs.
>
> In general I would look for a blank with a
> Fiberglass tip and Graphite butt section. A
> moderate action would be my first choice to help
> absorb the strain. Sharks and Kayaks are a
> potentially volatile combination. I assume you
> know what you are doing. I wonder how heavy you
> expect your prey to be. A 16/0 hook for Tarpon
> indicates the 100# plus size. How heavy are the
> Black Tip Sharks?
>
> Do you bring along anything to dispatch an
> aggressive shark in case of a problem? Before
> thinking of rods to catch one I'd be shopping for
> a Remington Stainless Steel 12 guage pump shotgun;
> for real! I'd also rig my yak with a trolling
> motor so I could get to shore without having to
> paddle.. in case I lost a hand. Sorry, but I have
> no conficence in getting up close and personal
> with any shark from a kayak.
>

Well my kayak is 15' and no a 7' rod will not reach around the bow with a fish on it but that is not as big of a deal as many people think it is I fish all this year with a 6'6" and didn't have any problems they just swing the boat around. As for rods I usally bring at least two rods mostly three one for heavy casting one for soaking bait and one for light casting for bait. Yea I am targeting big fish my biggest is a 5' blacktip would say it was for sure over 50lb. You was talking about drag setting and I bet I will suprise you with where it stays set at. I haven't done much heavy casting to big fish yet since I need to build a rod for it but I have caught many soaking bait and we usally cast cut mullet or pogies out weightless and let them sink to the bottom or float them with a ballon then the rod goes in the rod holder at the highest drag setting that I can hold on to with the clicker on and the reel in free spool. When a fish starts running I take the rod and quickly engage the reel with the heavy drag already set. I know that that sounds crazy to do when you have a speeding blacktip runing with you bait but the reason is I have to hit them hard before the boat starts to get towed by the fish or I won't get a good hook set especially with a circle hook. As far as when I get them to the boat I either get the hook out if they are not to mad or I just cut it off as close as I can to the hook.

We fish any where from the breakers to a mile offshore or at least that is as far as I have been so far. We always go out in group and some of my buddies have been doing it for years.

Here are a couple of links to some pic from last summer I am the one in the yellow Prowler with the red life vest and a black tip that looks like it is coming in with me.
[2coolfishing.com]
[2coolfishing.com]

This video tells it all!
[www.youtube.com]

If you're going to throw 1 to 3 oz lures you'd be better off with the SWB70M. the med-hvy is too much rod for 1 to 3 oz lures. Coon Pops run in the range of 3 to 6 ounces with the 4 oz size the most popular around here. Use a size 22 graphite spinning reel seat and a graphite gimbal or just use a larger rubber butt cap to keep the weight down on the rod.

Do you think that the SWB70M will still have enough backbone to handle a large fish?

Alright guys not sure on the blank yet but it is narrowed down. What is yalls thoughts on the guide setup I was thinking size 12 stripper, 10 bumper, 10 1st -3rd 180, and 8 4th-5th and tip .

I said a 7 feet is the preferred length because of the way one usually fights a fish from a kayak. Any longer and you run into problems with it being cumbersome and giving to much advantage to the fish. It's also hard to store a long one piece rod on most kayaks.

I can see your point of setting the drag as high as you can handle. A strong fish will set your kayak moving in a matter of seconds and the acceleration wont slow down for some time. I would be less inclined to use my legs as brakes when I know sharks are present. Kayaks and legs look an awful like a seal from below.

I have friends who had the "pleasure" of meeting up with a curious Great White on the ocean side of Wellfleet on Cape Cod from their kayaks. Fortunately he had not been hooked but he did shadow one kayaker less than a boat length ( about 15 feet in this case) until the yak got near the breakers. Needless to say that fellow was rather glad to reach shore.

They said the Dorsal Fin was about 2 feet tall. There were many seals nearby so this shark probably had a full gut. But that is why I don't mix my Kayaking with Saltwater. I have seen Blue Sharks in skinny water bays and very close to shore near where I surf fish. I have an aversion to living too dangerously.

Good luck and always go with a buddy.