I have a customer who would like to get a fly rod for his wife. She will be targeting Yellow fin in the 80lb range is a 12-14 wt enough or should I go to a 14-16 wt. She will be using 20lb tippet and lighter. Thanks Scott

Scott I have some information that will certainly interest you. Your email address is hidden on this board. Check your profile and unhide and I can communicate with you. Or send me an email by clicking on my name at the top of this post.

I would look at a back bouncing blank rather than a fly rod blank. Keep it fairly short - she should be looking at something no longer than 8 feet.

I have built dozens of these for tuna and marlin and many up to 200lb have been taken on them.


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Tom, What is a back bouncing blank? Thanks

Bill, I sent you an email. However my address is csi1@mindspring.com

These are stout rods for back bouncing plugs often used in the Pacific Northwest (more info is on the Glossary page here). When I first started building fly rods for tuna and marlin, there wasn't much in the way of actual fly rod blanks made with that kind of power. A 12-13 and then some 13-15 models came out, but were too long to allow the angler to apply enough pressure, for very long, on these large fish. I went searching and ended up with some back bounce blanks that really got the job done.

They'll cast okay (don't expect to make picture perfect 80 foot casts). I assume these fish are being teased up behind the boat and into range? If so, you don't need to cast more than about 40' in most instances. The shorter length will help whip the fish more quickly and allow you come closer to putting as much pressure as possible on the fish with the stout 20lb tippet. I still tend to look for fast action back bouncing blanks, but there is a trade off. The fast action models cast better, but the more moderate action models fold up quicker so you end up with a shorter effective lever for the fish to pull against. I haven't kept up with what's available in BB blanks lately so you'd have to scour the catalogs and see what's out there.

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Thanks Tom, Ok next question for cyber space. Does anybody know where I can find these Back Bouncing Blanks?

Most any of the graphite blank manufacturers offer them.

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Scott, GLoomis sells two back bouncing blanks in their GL 2 series. One is rated for 12-25 lb. line and the other for 17-40 lb. You would have to ask Tom which one would best suit your purpose.