My fishing club has gone to a spot on Lake Michigan the last couple of falls and done very well on big smallmouth. Last year, in one weekend over 20 taken were over 6 pounds, two over 7 pounds, honest! (nearly all C&R) One of the techniques used is to Lindy rig with 4-6" baby suckers and then dead stick a same sized minnow in a rod off the rod holder. Small split shot on the sucker is all that is used. 10 to 30 feet of water. Length of leash is changed according to depth of water. So....................... I want to build a good dead sticking rod. They want long rods to keep the line out away from the boat, 8 foot and longer. The bite is detected be WATCHING THE TIP SECTION MOVE. The drag is taken all of the way off so the smallie can pull out line without much resistance.
I am looking at something in a moderate action to make visual bite detection easier and to minimize the resistance when the bait is picked up. Some of the anglers mentioned a "noodle" rod. I am familar and have built, fishing noodle rods. Don't I want something with a little more power? I am looking at an AVIDI Med Lt in moderate, 8 foot long, or a St. Croix 9 foot Med lt fast (1/8-5/8), or mayble a St. Croix Light, moderate, 1/8-3/8 Wild River drift rod blank (9 ft or 11'6"), I am trying to not reinvent the wheel here.
Anyone build a dead stick for smallies and big live bait before? Please advise make, length and model of what works or didn't work. The rods will be in a holder so I am going with entire Burl grip.
Thanks
Buzz

Consider a Steel head blank. I don't think I would go with a noodle rod either, probably not enough backbone for Smallies that big. All my Small mouth rods have been somewhat shorter and used for casting artificial. To me , you are talking about a totally different technique. And Small mouth like I have never seen much less caught in my neck of the woods.

Thanks for the input Jay, these smallmouth are so fat that they don't have heads, just mouths sticking out of a big oval fish.

well for something like that I would use a medium to medium heavy rod with an extra fast tip. you will have the tip sensitivity and the backbone. On those big smallies with no neck so to speak just a lot of big shoulders you're going to want a rod with some more power incase you need to keep him from going into other lines or other boats or what ever.

Why not use a live bait blank and a spinning reel with a bait runner feature built in so you don't have to loosen your drag like that. ATC makes a couple of 7'6" live bait blanks and Lamiglas makes 7' to 9 foot live bait blanks, I'm not sure but a popping blank might work also.

Herb Bickings

Buzz,
I know exactly what you are thinking.
The St. Croix drift rod is an excellent choice.
There are also a lot of salmon rods that have an 8-10 foot length, moderate action medium power with a line rating of 4-10 lbs, and a lure rating of 1/8th - 5/8th.
Any of these rods will work great.

I also agree with your assessment on the use of a MODERATE or even a slow action rod to be the one to use.

Actually, hate to say it, but an 8 foot down rigger rod that is fiberglass and costs about $30 really makes a pretty fine deadstick rod. Nice soft tip to give you lots of bite indication, plenty of butt power, and with its fiberglass construction - virtually unbreakable.

There is no point in buying a very expensive high modulus graphite rod that is too stiff, because that is not what you need for this application.

I have built quite a few dead stick rods, for both walleys, as well as small mouth, and most of them are 8, 8 1/2, or 9 foot rods meeting the above criteria.

Good choice and good luck.

p.s.
The idea that you need a rod with a lot of power is simply not true for this application. Once the fish has taken the bait, you will be able to get the fish to the boat. The fish will hook itself, so you don't need power to set the hook. And if necessary, you can simply point the rod straight at the fish and simply use the power of the reel to reel in the fish if you find that the rod is overloaded by too large a fish.

It is actually quite common for many folks who fish in some of the big South Dakota wind swept lakes to use ultra light rods and still carry a 1/2 oz of weight. The weight nearly bends the rod double, when there is no fish on the rod, but these short rods with super sensitive tips are just what the dr. ordered to catch some of these very large Walleyes that often bite very lightly indeed.

It is remarkable how light a rod can catch such large fish.

Take care
Roger

Go ahead with the St.Croix steelhead blank. Just did one in a 9 ft. and set up as a light baitcaster, it should do just as well as a spinning rod. Plenty of backbone and a sensitive tip. Used it this season on local brown trout and river bass here on the IA/WS border area.

A few I'd look at, the Rainshadow IST 993. A nice light tip, but a faster action than most rods of this type. Kind of like a long spin jig blank. Pac Bay I believe also has a similar blank.
Another the Rainshadow IST 1142, nice light tip like the 1141, but with a faster, beefier butt.
I think the ultimate blank, would be the G Loomis HS 9000 in GL3. Light enough tip to see fish pick up your offering, I can tell when a leaf or grass has fowled my offering easily, but the action to make any fish fun. Still enough butt power for salmon to 20- 25 lbs. I have yet to find a more universally useful blank, for so many species fresh or saltwater in a light, fun to fish package.

IST1142 and HS9000 would be my choice as well. Dead sticking has to be one of the most affective ways to catch small mouth and personally I feel its almost like cheating it works so well not to mention it free's a hand for a frosty beverage:)

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

Kerry is right.
The main thing to check in a blank, is that it is "soft" enough at the tip, as well as having a slow enough action.
Contrary to some of the posts, I have found that for the best dead sticking type blank, I agree with you in that I prefer a moderate or even slow action rod.
By having a slower action rod with a bit lighter action, you will be able to visually see more of the rod bending, as the fish takes the bait - without having the fish feel any resistance from the rod.

If you use a fast action rod for this application, and if the rod is in a rod holder as is often the case, the rod runs out of low resistance bend, before it is possible to extract the rod from the rod holder.
Also, the fast action rod, sometimes doesn't give the user as much of a visual indication on a light bite, as is the case with a moderate or slow action rod.

Take care
Roger

Spence,
I complement your choice of a blank in the use of a 9000 with the GL3 blank.
The gl3 has a much softer and slower action than an IMX blank.
I agree that for this use, the gl3 blank is great, but the IMX blank is not so great.

On the other hand, the use of the IMX blank in the 9000 series is a great river jig rod. It is much faster and stiffer and has the tip sensitivity and backbone that creates an ultimate river jig rod.
Some folks want to try to use the IMX 9000 blank as a dead stick, or live bait rod, but I personally feel that the action is too stiff and the rod too heavy for this particular use.
For a distance casting river jig rod, hower, the IMX is excellent.

Take care
Roger

Geez guys, thanks a lot. That is just the information that I was looking for. I had a number of Batson blanks on my list after I made my first post. I think I will buy several, build them up and hand them out to club members to get some feedback so I have a good single choice come next fall's trip. I am going to read and ingest all of this information. I really appreciate it. Watch for more questions as things progress.


Buzz

Might be to short for you but I have built a few of the Seeker @#$%&-706 ex S-glass blanks for bass and walleye. The blanks have a soft tip but are powerful and sensitive but are only 7'. Also a CLB-804 or 806 either in E-glass/graphite or the Super Seeker series Both are real nice blanks the E-glass/graphite is a little stiffer (faster) in the tip then the SS.