well i order a couple anyfish anywhere blanks from robert at fishsticks and can't wait for them to show up. my only problem is i've never built a surf rod. finding the spine shouldn't be a problem and wrapping the guides is pretty simple but nobody i know has seen 1 of these blanks much less built on them so i have no clue how to set it up. i'm currently working in fairfield cali so any of you northern cali builders willing to offer some help it would be really appreciated. plus if at all possible i'd like to see a real builders setup since i'm just a hobby guy who occasionally does repairs when i'm home in texas

shawn
try here [www.allcoast.com] if you want to find a Builder in Calif. to check out



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2007 03:31PM by Barry D. Thomas Sr..

Don't let a surf rod scare you: I build mostly surf rods, and I think they're no harder than most other rods.

They're too much rod for me -- I almost never use anything longer than ten feet -- but I've heard a lot of guys getting excited about the AFAW blanks. They're evidently exceptional casting sticks. Good luck with it. But you didn't provide enough information for me to give advice. What are you going to do with this rod? What kind of fishing? Conventional or spinning? What fish will you be targeting? Post here and I'll try to help.

I would echo Chris' questions. I built a few rods back in the 70s, then got started back a few years ago because I couldn't find a satisfactory surf stick to use on vacation. Like Chris said, don't be intimidated; but the questions he asked would help people know how to help you. Also, RMM did a major spread on surf rod buiding a while back, and I would order a back issue if you don't already have it, especially since you have invested in some nice blanks.

AFAW blanks are absolutely fantastic!! Using the tried and true static guide placement will do the job just fine for you. You will find the butt section quite stiff on most of their rods (I don't know which blanks you have coming) so don't be alarmed if you find that you don't have many guides when you get to the butt section. I've actually seen 13 foot rods built with all guides on the tip section - referring mostly to a conventional build here.

The lighter rods are fast and a little soft in the tip so be sure you minimize guide weight as much as possible to help tip recovery.

Don't bother with spline, just build on the straightest axis.

/Scott

i ordered the big beach( 14' 6 to 12 ounce) and the estuary (11' 1 to 3 ounce) they'll both get casting reels on them. the estuary will get a abu 6500 and the big beach a daiwa 50 shv. the estuary will be for throwing heavy spoons and stuff while the big beach is going to be a bait heaver. robert set me up with guides i just wasn't sure if the fuji concept system would work or if i should attempt a static placement. for the type of fish well pretty much anything that bites on the texas coast

marty i was thinking abvout ordering that mag i just haven't gotten to it yet since i'm not sure how long i'll be here and don't want it going to the wrong address

chris have you tried the backcast? i have some pretty bad back problems and can't do an overhead cast with anything longer then 10 foot because of the amount of stress put on my lower back but with the backcast i've tossed 8 ounces 600' with a 14' rod with no discomfort at all

Shawn, You may want to re-think the shv50 on the 14'er. That's a monster reel to try and cast from the beach. The 30 is a great size for beach casting, the 40 is a bit of work to cast, and I wouldn't even try the 50 from the beach. It really is more of a boat reel. Good luck in your build.

The New Guide Concept won't apply here, because you're talking about a casting (conventional) reel. The NGC is for spinning rods. Just figure out where the butt guide goes, do static distribution, and you'll be set. For what it's worth, I think it's much, much easier (at least for me) to set up a casting rod than a spinning rod.

Shawn, the reason I don't use anything longer than 10 feet is not because of casting. I could work on my casting (couldn't we all?), but even with my current casting skills, I think that I could handle a longer stick, especially for throwing artificials. No, the reason I use 10 feet for bait and 9 feet for plugging is because what I like to do is fish, and fishing is about a lot more than casting.

When I throw artificials or bait into the South Jersey surf, I do so on foot, and I may walk as much as four of five miles in a night of casting. The shorter rods work for me, mostly because they're easier to lug around, and also because at my favorite haunts, the fish are in close, and casting distance doesn't matter much. I suppose if I fished somewhere where a 200 yard cast was mandatory to catch fish, I'd have much different equipment.

Well, if you can hit 600 feet with ANY cast, use it. I still can't get close to that.

I agree with Bruce on the size of the reel and Chris that fishing experience is about more than blasting bait as far as you can. I don't see why anybody needs bigger than the shv30 for casting. If you need heavy line then use braid; or put braid on the bottom and top off with mono. If you're going after monster sharks and you need the bait 200yds out with 400 more yards of 50# line available, then you are probably going to need a friend with a kayak to shuttle that kind of rig out anyway; and a big shark is going to have ALL KINDS of leverage on that 14' rod. But this paragraph is largely theory for me; I don't use sticks that big...

Now an 11', 1-3oz, using ABU6500 is exactly my kind of animal. The fact that you're going conventional, as Chris said, makes it really simple. I agree that I would build it on the straightest axis possible, use the smallest running guides possible and do your static distribution test to locate them. The one thing I would add to that is that I used to use guides that were heavier than needed for 1-3oz sticks, and I used too many of the sizes. For an 11 footer with ABU 6500, I would probably go 25, 16, then 10s; and my 10s would be sf fly guides. Or I might go down to 8s if I didn't have trouble with a leader knot (but check me on that). I would also aim for my guides to be a concentric straight shot from my reel down to my first running guide, which means my first guide might conceivably be a high frame guide. For conventional with the guides on top, I think the Forecast guides will give you a little more height than the Fuji if you want to use small running guides but still keep the line of the blank.

I don't know if you are using cork tape or EVA for your grips, but I have both and like them both. I use steelhead blanks now for most of my really light stuff, so the butts are too small for cork tape; but I suspect you can go either way with those AFAW blanks. Surf sticks and ultra-lights have become my favorite things to build, so have fun putting them together.

chris i agree that getting used to a 50 takes a bit but even with my small hands i can make those baits fly. i haven't measured a cast with my 50 but they're easily over 400 probably closer to 500. i also have a yak for my 4 wides and 6 wides but every setup i own is set to target a specific area and the 50's are for just past the 2nd bar and really it all depends on the time of year to since some parts of the year the fish are at your feet but other parts of the year they're beyond even tournaments casters range. now as for line well i love power pro but it just doesn't hold up to the texas sand bars. it'll start fraying within a few hours so after every trip it would have to be replaced so what i do is load as much braid as i can and still be able to keep 250 to 300 yards of mono on top to make sure the braid only sees the water when there's a big fish on.


as for guides i talked with robert and figured on the 11' rod i'd do a 25, 20, 16, 12, 12, 12. i tend to use heavy shock leaders so i wanted to be sure the knot would make it through. for the big beach i was gonna go 30, 20, 16, 12, 12, 12, 12. plus i have a couple extra's incase i need to throw another 16 somewhere or add a 12

now as for the handle i was going to use heat shrink over cork tape. is that overkill? if i don't need the cork tape then that will open up some options on sliding reel seats. just wish i could find the reel seats shimano has on there surf rods those are sweet

oh and do you guys use size a thread or size d for surf rods?

I would use size D for the guide wraps on a surf rod the size of those you're building, and I would underwrap the big rod with size A.

On the handle, I have used heat shrink to finish off the ends of the cork (to keep it down), but you can do it with thread and epoxy and it actually looks better. I would not do shrink grip over the entire length of cork - I just don't see a need to do that; I would do one or the other. If the butt is large enough to have the diameter you want with just the shrink grip, then you could certainly go with that.

One other suggestion I'll make for the light stick is to use a split EVA grip. On many of those type rods I use an oval foregrip, mounted backwards, right behind the reel seat (toward the butt) and then taper it to fit well against the back of a downlocking reel seat. This makes a nice swell that fits my palm well when I am casting. I can then use a tapered grip at the bottom of the butt, usually in the 6 to 8 inch range, to grip with my non-reel hand.

You can also use cork the whole length below the seet, with the oval EVA serving for both a palm-swell grip and to hold the tape down on the front, with a butt cap being used to hold the tape down on the back.

thanks for all the advise guys. i really appreciate it