I do most of my fishing in the ocean off of a kayak. I want to build a Jig stick specifically for kayak fishing and am not sure where to start. I usually use a 7' boat rod because 8' on a kayak is too much for me. I am thinking that 7'6" would be ideal. The jigs I like best are TADY 45s (4.5 oz) and Salis 6Xs (7 oz).

Has anyone built a rod for this application or do you have any suggestions for a blank and guides to use? I was entertaining the thought of a Rainshadow SWB76XH. Also, would this be a good candidate for a spiral wrap?

Thank you in advance for your help.

I'm building a boat rod with that exact Rainshadow blank that you mentioned. For jigging, I wouldn't recommend it, it's a heavy blank. Other than that, it's a very solid rod for a boat rod.

what kind of fish will you be going after? if grouper youll want a really stiff rod around 6ft

Thank you Tho and Jon. In San Diego, The holy grail of local fish for kayakers are yellowtail and White Sea Bass. Of course we have some nice flatties also.

I am thinking that I framed my question wrongly. I got no response after a week from a kayak fishing board.

Since I am no longer looking ar rods as a blind consumer "hey mister...can you sell me a jig stick?", but rather as a builder with a purpose in mind, I am wondering about the properties that would distinguish a jig stick from another rod. Until recently I only thought in terms of line weight and rod length. As a result I built a pretty sweet rod out of $150 worth of parts that I will rarely use because I didn't know enough to know what I was looking for.

Now I am back in the same boat.

In selecting a blank for throwing iron I don't know if it is better to have a fast, mid, or heavy action blank. The nature of kayak fishing has determined that I wamt it to be 7'6" but I guess I am looking for guidance in what to think about and how to think about it while selecting a blank. What makes them jigs fly besides length of the rod, and what are the tradeoffs in fighting the fish and casting accuracy?

Thank you all.

You might try asking [www.kzreelrods.com] . Slightly different fish up in NorCal, but the guy personally does the kayak thing too.

Thank You Dave,

I kicked him an email. Hope it is well recieved. Also I found a good article on-line by Al Goldberg which talks about jig sticks and blank selection.

[www.stripersonline.com]
(just in case any future searches are looking for this info.)