Hey Guys,
I'm looking for an 8' one piece crankbait blank. It is for my good friend, fishing buddy and guide that is a G Loomis Pro Team Member. He loves all their rods but is particularly attached to their 7'6" Medium Crankbait rod. He orders about 10 a year and is probably personally responsible for them selling 30 or so Crankbait rods a year to his clients alone. He grudgingly admits that my rods are better than his G Loomis GLXs, but he's reluctant to give up his crankbait rods. We were talking about an 8' rod and Loomis doesn't have one, so I told him I'd see what I could come up with. It needs to be light and be similar in action to the Loomis crankbait rods. Any suggestions from any builders or vendors out there?

Thanks for the help,
Robert

If he is throwing larger crank baits, and you can get your hands on one a Shikira PP 804 will change his mind about the GLX blanks.

You mght try Rogue a HS 826 (cut to 8'0"). If it needs to be a little lighter power then a Rogue HS 795 extended would be my recommendation.

Bobby Feazel

[www.shockwaverods.com]

Conventional wisdom will not open the box.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. A little more info; the action on the Loomis is moderate, so I'd like to find something that isn't fast. I also can't find any Shakari blanks, so that's a problem. It will have a split grip, so extending isn't really an option.

I think a good moderate action popping blank may be my best bet. The Loomis medium in the crankbait series is not very stiff and I think the popping blank might be the best match in a nice soft medium. This guy is a crankbait master and wants something very similar to his Loomis rods. He probably has at least 3 or 4 crankbaits tied on any time of the year and that is without counting rods for his clients.

Depending on what circuits he's fishing... make sure to stay at 8' or under. Over 8' disqualifies you on some tours. Hate to see that happen to someone. Know a guy who got bumped for a 8' 1" rod.

It's buried in the rules and a lot of guys don't know about it. I omitted nonrelevant info.

Bassmaster Weekend Series:
7. TACKLE AND EQUIPMENT: Only one casting, spin casting or spinning rod (8 foot maximum length from butt of handle to rod tip) and reel may be used at any one time.

He's a full time guide and doesn't really have time to fish tournaments, so length isn't a problem. I did make him verify it would fit in his rod box though.

Depends on the cranks used, but some of the best out there now in 8 ft would be the Rainshadow RX7 popping blanks. 3 power for the shallow cranks, small cranks. lipless, etc. Cranks that drive to 12 ft or maybe a bit more the 4 power blanks. Deeper yet, I'd look at the 5 power that some of us are using for salmon rods.

Castaway offers med and med heavy eight foot popping blanks in the multimodulus XP3 line. The moderate action blanks are constructed with high modulus fibers in the butt section and lower modulus fibers in the tip section. These blanks will procuce similar characteristics to the XP3 904 which is a seven foot six inch blank of choice for guides at the Texas border lakes for large bass. The eitht foot lanks can be obtained by special order through [swamplandtackle.com]

I have a couple of Shikari popping blanks left. I built a few of them as walleye trolling rods. I don't know the exact spec number, but I could check it out if you are interested. They are I believe 7'9" and are a medium fast action. I would make you a real decent deal on them. One is a painted black, the other is stock gloss graphite. Let me know, If you are interested, I can dig them out and give you more information on them.

Rod Blank Model # IP964 or 963 Rainshadow 8' 8-17
Butt cap: HESGFB1.5S/350 Cork composite fighting butt
Front Cap:
Rear Grip: HESGRG4.5S-350 Cork composite split grip
Handle Arbor:
Reel Seat: GTBTG16C-12.5 Forecast exposed trigger seat textured 10-12 inches up from Butt
Reel Seat Shim
Foregrip: HSFG2.5S/250 Cork composite fore grip.
Winding Check: BWC10
Hookeeper: TCHKS
Tip Top XTCPPZT06R05.0 Alps RRD Tich ss316 PP top with Zirconium ring
1st guide from tip top XPTCFZG06 Alps RRD Tich plated ss316 single foot with Zirconium ring
2nd guide from tip top XPTCFZG06
3rd guide from tip top XPTCFZG06
4th guide from tip top XPTCFZG06
5th guide from tip top: XPTCFZG07
6th guide from tip top: XPTCFZG08
7th guide from tip top: XTCLXNZG10 Alps RRD Tich SS316 Light XN guide with zirconium ring
8th guide from tip top: XTCLXNZG10
9th guide from tip top: XTCLXNZG12
10th guide from tip top:
11th guide from tip top:
12th guide from tip top:
13th guide from tip top:
14th guide from tip top:
15th guide from tip top:
16th guide from tip top:
Guide spacing Specs(inches from tip, center ring over mark) 3.25-6.75-11-16.125-22.75-30.25-38.75-47.5-58.125

Karry Batson
Batson Enterprises Inc.
Ph: (877) 875-2381
Fax: (360) 683-3579
karry@batsonenterprises.com
www.batsonenterprises.com

Rod locker length is a big deal. If you know anyone that has a Ranger 519 they can lengthen a few of the tubes to almost 8' by removing the fron trim panel and cutting the cap off of the rod tube, I did it on mine and I can fit a Batson 7'10" rod w/ no problem.

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

Ah Haah! Another contestant for the Official Rapid Rod Pull Contest to be staged in the parking lot at High Point at High Noon on Sunday! Skeeter, Ranger & Champion So Far - All Comers Welcome! Huge prize listing from show vendors and impartial judging by Michael "All In" Joyce". Rules to be made public at the end of the contest!

Swamp boyz

Hah, Bill, you always make me laugh. I cheat though......I use the McCoy Rod Shields on all of my rods to protect them from my tubes :-). I acknowledge the design flaw in my rod locker, BUT I have overcome it !! If I can convince my wife that she wants to go to the show with me I will be there.

Scott Sheets
www.smsrods.com

Thanks for all the help guys. My struggle is to match the Loomis rod he is very happy with. At this point, I think I'll try a Castaway and Rainshadow and let him see if he likes either one. Hopefully one or the other will make him happy because I don't want to waste a bunch of time building rods I can't sell.

Bill,
I sent the question to Lance earlier and I think he is working on getting me some information.

Karry,
Let me know which blank you think will be the closest match to the Loomis 7'6" medium.

Bill,
If needed I can bring my Triton to toss into the loop!!

thanks
Tom Kaufmann

I know the 8 footer fits nicely in my buddy's Bass Cat. Maybe I need to make the trip with a borrowed boat just for the competition.

To anyone looking for something similar, I'm going to try the Rainshadow 964 and Castaway XP3 medium popping rod. Hopefully on or the other will satisfy my buddy.

How about a Tuffy walleye boat just to make it interesting? Chuck Ungs