I need some help choosing a blank. A customer is wanting a Jig rod that is 7' 6" to throw 1 oz. jigs and texas rigs on but wants lighest weight rod possible. He is going to use it at Lake Semonial to fish the grass mats at the bfl regional. Any suggestions on the blank would be greatly appericated. I am loking at the 7' 6" Loomis right now with micro guides and eva foam to keep weight down where he wants it.

Take a good look at Swampland's Castaway XP3 904 at 3.4 oz. . Personally I would do a split grip in cork with no fore grip. I find most serious Bass fishermen , including myself, prefer the solid feel of cork on a casting rod as apposed to EVA . You could use an EVA butt cap. Of course thats just my opinion,a lot of folks may differ.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

At 3.4oz, I believe Jay meant the Castaway XP3 905? I built this blank with a split EVA grip, and it is light, sensitive and powerful--love this blank. I agree with Jay, I find that most guys do prefer cork--me too. We're using the 905 for 1/2 to 3/4 oz jigs, mega tubes, and 10" worms in flooded willows and deep ledges.

For 1 oz jigs in grass mats, I would also consider the Lamiglas IM 92 6F. It's a bit heavier at about 3.68oz and is 7'8", but it's sensitive and has tremendous power. I've built these for flipping the slop and for heavy Carolina-rigs when a one-piece blank is the order. It has all the power you could possibly want for that application. If not, Lami also offers the IM 92 7F.

Darrell

Thanks. I talked to lance and he said he has a XP3 874 at 3 oz. . Lance is going to send me one next week. I thought about the Lamiglass but thought the were a little on the heavy side. I agree with the cork with two piece about 1.5 inches split but he perfers the EVA and the customer gets what he wants.

Stephen Castaway XP3 874 is a very special blank made exactly for the grass mats your refer. This blanks was set up for the use of braid and is quite different from a blank set up for jigs. Here is the task specific description of the blank.

The Castaway XP3 874 blank is a true treasure when in the hands of a custom builder seeking versatility for building task specific rods for tournament as well as recreational bass fishermen. This 7'3" multi modulus blank was designed by bass fishermen using concepts that provide a truly unique rod blank that is dead on target for several task specific techniques.

The XP3s 874 is rated for 10 - 80 lb braid with a lure weight range of 1/2 - 1 1/2 ounces. The moderate action and XH power are perfectly matched when using non stretch braid to insure proper blank loading for soft lure presentation and a hook set softness that will not "rip lips" during hook set. When "the big one" in solidly hooked the brute power of the blanks higher modulus lighter rear section "kicks in" to insure speedy fish recovery.

The XP3 874 blank is the choice for grass, flipping, and punch.

This blank is one of the favorite fishing tools for Cliff Pace, Castaways' Elite Staff Fisherman, Second Place Finisher in the 2008 Bass Master Classic and was highly reccommended in a recent FLW Magazine frog and grass mat rating article.

XP3 905

The Castaway multi modulus 905 blank is the heavy duty all purpose "work horse" of the XP3 line of blanks. This extremely powerful blank can effectively be used for many applications. It is the choice of blanks for bass fishermen desiring the weight reductions of the higher modulus butt section button action and the power and durability of the tip section for flipping, jig, or saltwater use for fluke or live bait rod.

Here is the comment of Bill Frazier, a successful tournament bass fisherman/custom builder from High Point, North Carolina. Bill was the FIRST custom builder to purchase a Castaway XP3 905 blank. He bought the blank at High Point on Sunday, built it the very next week and sent us the following testimonial two week later in early March.

Here ya go, folks. First trip out with my custom rod built on a Castaway XP3 905 blank. Fish of a lifetime! In North Carolina it is a citation-class fish. She was 10 lbs 4 oz, March 22, 2008 aand taken at the Tuckertown Reservoir on the Yadkin River. When I first handled the blank at the International Rodbuilding Expo in February I knew wanted to do with it and where I wanted to fish it. The rod performed EXACTLY like I wanted and expected in this application. It was perfect!

For more detailed information on Castaway Blanks Task Specific Uses select the Contact Us bar to arrange for a personal contact: [www.swamplandtackle.com]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2008 10:03AM by Bill Stevens.

I would strongly discourage the use of EVA on a jigging rod. A jigging rod is one where you don't want to damp out any feeling coming through the rod, and I think EVA would damp much more than cork, especially burl cork. Regarding the front grip, or lack thereof, I find rods rather ugly that don't have anything there. I make my jigging rods now with split grips for lowest weight using burl and for the foregrip, just a single 1/2 inch cork ring bordered by a contrasting 1/8 at each end, then finish the front of it with an epoxy ramp, a perfectly conical epoxy ramp. This makes an attractive setup and allows a friendly shape of high transmitting material (expoxy) to put the fingers on while jigging. Behind the reel seat I have a shape similar to the front grip to make the design compatible and consistent, then form the butt grip to whatever makes sense for the rod.

Mick

I will also be fishing the Lake Seminole regional. Why they send a division that fishes deep mountain lakes with Spots and Bluebacks to the swamps for a regional I don’t understand, but I digress… Next year our regional is on Lake Norman, a lot closer to our normal conditions

Another excellent choice is the Batson RX7 IFS904. I use it to fish 1oz Carolina Rigs up here and it works excellent, at 3.2oz it is quite light for its power and length. I figure it will be one of my main weapons down there. I would like to build myself another rod like it, probably the Castaway XP3 905 but I doubt I will get to it before the tournament.