I would like to build a rod for trolling bunker spoons in the chesapeake bay. The people I've spoken to tell me the rods for this are different-Can anyone give me some blank recommendations?
thanks

Bunker spoon rods are typically 8ft or longer and have medium/heavy power ratings and medium actions. The medium action is very important as the rod must be able to "pulse" to give the spoon its best action. These rods should rated for lines from 40-80lbs. They were (are) typically set up to troll wire line. "Were" because people have shifted from wire to braided line and the spoon is fished deep on short line settings. The normal set is something like 40-50 feet back and 2/3 of the water column to the bottom behind #1 or #2 dipsy divers / planers. Another method is to fish them as roof rods from on top of a cabin or arch - way, way out in back of the boat - again to get the spoon down in the water column. When the spoon is running correctly the rod tip will "pulse" slowly as the spoon wobbles. The spoon of choice on the Chesapeake was the "21 Tony" (Tony Acetta) typically in white or silver to look like a hurt bunker ('moss bunker' for the folks from New Jersey / Menhaden for the folks around Maryland & Virginia).

I'm building a bunker spoon rod right now. Though there are some other options out there, the standard blanks here in Jersey seem to be Lmiglas' BT963MB and BT1083MB, which are 8 and 9-feet, respectively, and are both from Lami's Fiberglass Boat and Trolling series. I opted for the 8-footer, because I didn't want to have to deal with the hassle of having a 9-foot, 1-piece rod shipped, but if shipping weren't an issue, I'd go for the longer blank -- it's what the bunker spoon sharpies seem to prefer. Whichever blank you choose, you do want a long rod with a soft action -- the rod evidently needs to "pulse" while trolling to give the spoon the propor action.

Ken's given you some good information. I would suggest taking the following steps to determine your setup:

1) Find your blank.
2) Decide whether you want to use wire line or not. Most of the bunker spoon sharpies prefer wire line, so I went this route, but I'm not convinced (I went along because I don't know diddly about boat fishing). If you decide to use something other than wire, you have many more options -- with wire, your guide choices are really only carbaloy or Silicon Nitride.
3) configure your components

One thing I would add: a bunker spoon trolling rod is an ideal candidate for a spiral rod. If you're open to the idea of a spiral, this is a perfect application, especially considering the leverage you'll be giving away to the fish by using such a long rod. I'm doing my rod conventional, but only because the guy who's going to get it is a knuckle-dragger who can't accept the validity of a spiral setup -- if it were up to me, I'd go spiral all the way.

Chris is right - given the option - spiral wrap it. It will actually fish better all around

I'm in the process of building one also but this ones for the Jersey coast. I went with a Seeker 1153m9. I never built one before. I have the handle assembly on and I'm waiting for my guides to come in. I did fish this year with shorter trolling rods and I can now see the difference a 9ft rod is going to make in the action of the spoon.
This rod was going to be a gift for xmas but I'm trying to get it done asap for the fall run of stripers. I can't wait to see this thing in action.

Jeff -
I grew up in New Jersey. The idea of "bunker spoon" rods in the Chesapeake Bay is still relatively new by comparison. We trolled for cow stripers off the New Jersey coast Brigantine light in the bay down through Cape May when I was a kid (like 50 years ago). Remember, when bunker spooning it really is not necessary to watch the boat speed - the idea is for the rod to slowly pulse as the spoon wobbles from side to side imitating injured bait fish. The latest rage in the North East (Massachusetts and Montauk area) is the "Secret Spoon". They're about a pound each and really wobble like crazy.

Ken I'm also spiral wrapping this rod . I'm doing so because this guy wanted me to make him a rod and pay for it. I strongly suggested he have it spiral wrapped but he gave me that look of "are you from outer space'. I knew no further talk would convince him so I'm making it for him. My gift .
I don't want to get away from the post but I did a boat live line bunker spiral wrap rod (simple) I was thinking maybe a revolver for the trolling blank.

Most of the folks who live line down here do so with spinning rods. Live lining doesn't really start in the Chesapeake bay until the larger fish have gone back to the ocean for their northward migration. I can see how it would be beneficial for a spiral wrapped rod farther up the coast.

Thank you all for your help. I think I will try the 8ft lamiglas-9ft 1 pc. would be difficult to transport.
thanks again

I got home last night, and in my mailbox was the new edition of Salt Water Sportsman. It's their annual fall striper issue, and one of the articles -- big surprise! -- is about trolling bunker spoons on wire line. I haven't had a chance to read it yet (I did skim it), and though there's probably more good rod-centric information in this thread than there is in the article, it's worth a look if you're thinking of building one of these rigs. One thing it made me happy about was that I bought my Penn Senatory 113HSP a month ago: the article says it's the only reel designed specifically for wire-line fishing (that's not true; Daiwa makes one, but that's another subject), so these reels might be hard to come by for a while.

One of the things that fascinates me about this method of fishing (other than the fact that it's a kind of lunatic fringe method - I can't resist those) is that the guys who are good at it seem to be pretty tight-lipped. There are charter boat captains who absolutely murder stripers on bunker spoons -- the SWS article mentioned that the guy who invented the Secret Spoons caught something like 60 fish over 40 lbs. in one season on spoons -- but because they're charter boat captains wishing to protect their business, they tend to keep information to themselves. While this is bad in a way, there's also some good: this fishing method is largely an unexplored territory, and an open-minded custom rod builder willing to try new things might stumble upon some real improvement. It's certainly more interesting tackling a new frontier than building another spinning rod (not that there's anything wrong with building a spinning rod).

In my opinion = the best rods ever made for this type of fishing were Kunan rods. 8+ feet long, smooth taper, medium action (deep bend).

Can someone suggest what size guides to use when building a 9-10' bunker spoon rod using 50 lb Monel? I may consider spiral wrapping these rods due to the amount of bend in the rods when trolling.

John Yard
Sea Girt, NJ

The last time I used a bunker spoon rod, I used Fuji's HB guides, with Silicon Nitride rings. They've held up great, and they look pretty cool. They are pretty heavy, but bunker spoon rods are heavy tackle, and the weight penatly of these guides, considering the weight of a finished bunker spoon rod, is pretty neglibile. You can also use the more conventional-looking guides. (BHNNG), either in combination with the HBs (HBs on the butt, HNs on the tip), or all HNs.

A spiral, by the way, is a great idea for these kinds of rods. You have to be especially careful with the transition, as you don't want the wire to touch the blank anywhere, and you need to be careful with transitions because wire kinks much more easily than mono or braid, but other than a few minor setup issues, a spiral is a natural for any trolling rod, including a bunker spoon rod.

Let us know how you do. I've become a big fan of these setups -- I like oddball tackle configurations - and I'm always curious to see how other guys do with them.

Thanks Chris, I will keep all this in mind when I get around to building them. Can you give me a general idea as to what size guides I should use?

John Yard
Sea Girt, NJ

Thanks Chris, I will keep all this in mind when I get around to building them. Can you give me a general idea as to what size guides I should use?

John Yard
Sea Girt, NJ

It will depend on the reel, John, and also on the height you'll need to keep the wire off the foregrip (you don't want wire slicing your hand while you're holding the rod and fighting a fish).

Because of the latter factor, I went pretty big, I think, and used an HB 30 for the butt guide: I needed a guide this big to get the height I needed to keep the line away from the blank (I would have used a high-framed spinning guide for this, like an HV 20 or 25, but Fuji doesn't make HV guides with Silicon Carbide frames).

You'll need to size and locate your butt guide - I put mine pretty close to the reel seat, because bunker spoons are heavy, and you'll (hopefully) be catching big fish with them, and I wanted the butt to be close enough to the reel to be able to provide some lifting power (there's a reason you don't see butt guides on tuna rods located 48 inches away from the reel). Then you'll need to size your running guides: you might need to go big, like size 16 running guides, as the knots that need to be passed with wire/leader setups tend to be pretty bulky, and you need a big ring to let them get through the guides.

Then, once you have the size of your running guides and the size and location of your butt guides, the rest is easy: you just go from one to the other. For the last bunker spoon rod I built, which used size-12 running guides, I think, the setup was something like 30-20-16-and then as many 12 running guides as needed.