Seems like the common mooching blank is 8.5' and 12-30#. Based largely on what is available I think, rather than designed for the task. Given that the 3oz+ weights minimum in Monterey area significantly prebend such a rod, any suggestions on all around blank specs good for mooching and perhaps light rockcod < 200 foot depths?
8 to 9 foot 2 piece in the 15-40# rating?

You're probably going to have to look at some light surf type blanks.


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Seeker 896 has been mentioned to me. Ugly Stik 1186-2H as well (which I have). They are just a tad light in the tip for 3oz+ weights tho.
Monterey Bay salmon bite just turned on. Booked my ride for 2maro. And they are telling me 6-8oz weights are being used today. The 'regular' 12-30lb mooching rods aren't quite up to that. Tips are just too light. Basically a progressive or parabolic two piece rod of 15-35lb and 8-9 feet comes to mind.

Been a while since I did any charter boat fishing in the bay but
I think you may want to look at these:

Pac Bay
CB870 EGlass

Batson (my preferred)
SWB80H e-glass
RCLB70M RX6 eglass blend
SWS696 RX4

All are 7ft one piece except for the SWS which is 7ft 10in.

Not sure why you would need a 8ft or 9ft ?

BTW, @#$%& has them all and at least the CB870 is on clearance!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2007 11:10PM by Raymond_Adams.

I actually bought two of the CB870's from Mark a few weeks back :-). But 7' is too short for a mooching rod, especially now that they mandate barbless circle hooks in CA. Long pliant rods make it much easier to keep some pressure on the hook and keep it in the fish. You go slack and you likely just lost the fish. Since the law change, very few people mooch, and most troll.. Club I am in has a board, and a few weeks ago someone mentioned that all circle hooks should be ringed or loose tied, rather than a tight knot on the eye. Makes a whole lotta sense actually. Tuna guys have known that for some time. So I just tied some up and am going out 2maro from Moss. Best salmon bite so far this year over the last few days.

Dave,

Could you get away with 10'? The RDR100H is a 15-40, Moderate action/Heavy power. How parabolic do you want it? I can put a bend in one of these and see where (or IF) it shuts off. Might be interesting to see how it acts with 6-8oz hanging off of it.

I'm going to see your new friend Curtis tomorrow and I'll tug on a few there too. He's got two that may work if they're not too fast.

Getting what (I think) you're after as far as action that will work with 6oz. of weight in 15-40 is a tall order in a 2pc 8'6" or 9'. The selection gets quite a big larger on 8' & 10' 2pc. blanks.

Mark Griffin
[]
C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

Good suggestion Mark. My vote would be the BP1147 for the Salmon at that ounce rating, do they still use a weight release system down there? I rember using up to 10oz and when you hook up the weight just falls off sounds kind of silley to throw away a weight everytime you hook up but thats what they do down there.

Rock cod rod dont you drop down like 12-24 oz. ? Thats a diffrent animal but the SWB or RCLB would be a good bet and from my expierence heavier the better because you are dropping that far down you want it to load up with fish so basically a Harvest stick for cranking is prefered when fishing for Groceries.

Most guys up here in WA who still mooch in very deep areas use a shorter, heavier rod like one would use for salmon jigging. 15-40lb test rating, and good for up to 8oz of lead. Might even use graphite for added sensitivity through 200' of water. I do prefer an 8-9' 10-30lb glass rod for everyday shallow mooching duty, though.

Karry,, the guys trolling balls with releases are using 1.5 to 2 pound balls. But that ain't mooching. Rockcod, at least in NorCal is 180ft max now, so you rarely see more than 10 oz used, and usually 6-8 oz. I just returned from mooching half an hour ago. 6oz was barely working with the currents today. Didn't get any into the boat, but I did end up with about 30lbs of incidental rockcod that happened to be suspended. That's why I mix rockcad and salmon in my thoughts.... at least here it is fairly similar tackle.

Kyle,,,,,I don't think WA mandates barbless circles. A long rod is far easier to keep constant pressure on the fish, so the hook isn't thrown. Today I was anywhere from 60 to 280 feet in mooching. Started with 4oz, but had to move to 6oz as drift picked up.

Mark... is Curtis my new friend? :-) We sorta hit it off perhaps. As you note, not much out there blankwise that matches what I'm describing. He might be able to create a niche