On another forum that I frequent, there has been discussions about 8-9 ft tuna popping rods that are suitable for fishing up to 80# test on a spinning reel ( Stella 20,000) and being fully capable of casting a popper of 4-6 ounces weight. These finished rods cost upwards of $700.00 in Japan.

My question is this. How would a rod builder find a source for the blanks used in the manufacturing of these rods? The rods are quite parabolic and have a soft enough tip to be able to cast the popper a long distance. I have been told that there is an extensive cottage industry in Japan that produces these blanks for various named brands. Other than graphite or boron, I am not sure what these blanks are made of. Any ideas and sources? Thanks.

Start looking here, in the Tackle Talk forum. [www.deepjigging.com]

You should have NO PROBLEM getting anything you want. Or contact Mamuro at Matagi, or Akihito at Fishing Marunoucci.

THre is a post in that forum which deals with new materials used in blanks. I' veseen a couple of these blanks first hand (either the TunaMaxx or JiggingMaster), adn they are quite different from any blank we have here in te US. ANd not different like the piece of crap TRevala rod Shimano tricked everyone into thinking was a true butterfly jiggin rod.

Thanks Billy. I am already familiar with that forum. I am now looking for a source. Anyone in the US doing some importing. The tunamax blanks are too short for what I am looking for.

Mel:
Have you thought of Calstar GF800/H blanks? I think that for the money they can't be beat. Mark & Colleen at the left can get them for you and ask if they would ship. You can't beat their price & service. Fast as lightning shipping too. C&M custom tackle-Acid Rod.com is the link. Great people to do business with.
Just send them a line.
Tight lines
Bill Rice

Thanks Bill, I am familiar with all the Calstar blanks. Looking for more parabolic and lighter in weight. I have been using the Phenix boron/graphite blanks in my last three builds.

I cater to beach shark fishermen mainly, and with all the sargasm weed here in tx the higher the better, untill it comes to fighting those big fish. I make unlimited class rods for these guys by cutting down heavy 13'-14' surfrods to 8-10', and it works great, even for casting off piers, but not the beach due to large baits where we kayak them out. Just a suggestion since I'm dealing with the same situation...............Kcon

Mel, do a search on Paul Reyburn here on the boards, adn shoot him an e-mail. He iports both teh TunaMAx & JiggingMAster blanks, and I was under teh impression he was working on importing more brands. HE's pretty much teh only guy on the East Coast I know of who could help you.

If you are familiar with the deep jigging board, have you tried contacting Stikbom aka Mike Tan? I've ordered from him a while back, he might be able to give you a lead. HE's teh Mod on the Tackle Forum. Another guy who might help, is Randy from Profish...the Mod of the East Coast forum. He has a shop in BRooklyn NY, and I know he has some of teh blanks Paul does...which means I gave you false info 12 seconds ago, sorry. Randy has those blanks, and might be able to help you as well.

You obviously know the problem importing the blanks to teh US, shipping might cost more than teh blank itself.

Thanks Billy. I've posted on that board already. Waiting for responses.