Good day,
My search request for Tarpon Fly Rod included some blogs about a All Star Austin 9010/11 - 2. Does anyone know if these blanks are still available? I'm planning a spring trip to south Florida and I want to make a fly rod that will enable my to land a big fish. Dr. John Tebbetts wrote a great blog about technique versus rod weight. Is there a suitable blank that is value priced for fishing big tarpon?

Best Regards
Peter White
Lyme, CT

The blanks are not available, although I know where all the Austin fly rods went when All Star discontinued them. You can find 100 of them at the upcoming Expo in High Point in February.

There are plenty of value priced big water fly rod blanks that will do what you want to do. You're just going to have to do some looking among the sponsor's offerings to the left. I'm sure you'll get some suggestions here as well.

John knows a great deal about these fish and the different techniques used to catch them so I'd follow his lead on length and line weight for your specific idea.

...............

Ive never done it, but I've always associated big game fly fishing with having to spend a ton of money. That might be true with the reel, especially if you're targeting a spool-depleting species like tarpon, but I was pleasantly surprised, while perusing the new Mudhole catalog, that there are quite a few 11 and 12 weight blanks with very affordable retail prices. You can easily get a 12-weight blank for under $100. If you ask around, I'm sure you can find something that will work for you.

Try Batson, Utmost, @#$%& 10-12 wts at decent prices

Bill - willierods.com

Peter, I built two fly rods I use for an annual trip to the Keys for tarpon. One is a 12 wt using a 4 piece St. Croix's SCIV/Ultra Legend blank. At the time, its was St. Croix's fastest action 12 wt offering. I am very happy with it, and use it to cast full floating type line. I also built a 4 piece 10 wt on a Temple Fork Outfitter's TiCrx blank. Both have worked out well for me. I found as others have that the TFO blank is under rated compared to many other rods. It casts heavier line weights well, but I fish it with a 10 wt Cortland line with a 15 foot sink tip. It is good at dragging that sink tip with a bunny fly up off the water. Both rods have help me land 100 pound fish.

Strength in the butt section of the rod is an attribute you may want to look for. Effectively fighting bigger tarpon is about using the reel and the lower third of your rod to beat the fish.

For about $125, its really hard to beat those TFO blanks for your application. I cast it well. So does the guy I partner with on the tarpon trip each year, and he has a more relaxed casting style. The tip is soft on the TiCrx series, which I think accounts for the difference. Great service from both companies by the way.

I am a very occasional rod builder, by the way. I am not in a position to discuss other rod blanks for this application. The strongest endorsement of the two rods I did pick is our guide is really happy with them!

Hope you have fun with this project!

Regards,

JC Smith

I bought an Allstar Austin 10/11 at the first Expo for an incredibly low price. As it turned out I never had a chance to go Tarpon fishing as I had hoped. Last summer I sold it to a friend who has a house in Florida and fishes Tarpon often. When he test cast the rod he could not believe how great it was. The fellow is an extremely experience fly fisherman and his opinion of the Austin is to be trusted.

I still have an unused factory Allstar Austin 8' 6" - 6 weight if anyone is interested in it.

Peter,

I have one new fly rod 3 piece ALL STAR AUSTIN AF9012-3,,lenght 9',line wt.12.
Let me know if you are interested.

Jean Scurtu
Houston,Tx.

It looks like you will have a decent window in which to locate the blank and build the rod. Florida has (at least on the east coast) halted fishing of tarpon until April, and eliminated the upcoming snook season. Snook should re-open in September. The recent prolonged freezing weather inflicted heavy mortality on these fish, along with trout, reds, sea turtles, blue crabs, needlefish, and manatee.

Thank you all for your responses. I actually have a Rainshadow 10 wt. that I built last winter that would defiantly work with some smaller fish. I would be reluctant given my lack of experience with this species to throw at a big fish with that rod. I want the confidence that I have enough backbone to beat a big fish in the shortest time possible so not to stress the fish. After I gain some experience with this species I'll have a better idea if my 10 wt. is enough rod for me.
I'm tailoring my 16' skiff down to fish the Homosassa flats the first week of May. I've landed a few babies over the years but never got a look at a "big boy gone bad" and I am excited.

Jean Scurtu in copy, I'm having trouble gaining your email and I’m interested in the Austin. Please email me.

Now the question is guide selection and cork fore grip. I've always used snakes on my larger weight rods and I am wondering what the consensus is from those that have built a 12 wt. and fished it. Also, if I choose to put on a cork fore grip, who makes one specifically for this purpose and do I really need it?

I'm not a fly fishermen but live down here and have caught a few tarpon.

IMHO I'd be more concerned with the fly reel. You need a great drag and 500 yards of backing isn't out of the question. The rod can't do more than the tippet allows and generally that amounts to the weak link being in the 15-20# range. I think a good 10 weight will be okay in that range. All depends on how big a one you get and how fast you can follow him. It isn't like he can go deep on you:)

Homosassa fish can be spooky. Don't rule out fishing the beach but you will need something like 3M's sinking tarpon taper. Also check before you get ready to head down. I heard they closed down the tarpon fishing. I think it is going to open around march/april but I'm not sure. Also this might only be on the east coast.

A 12 weight wouldn't hurt but if all you have is a 10 I'd risk it. 200# fish are rare and the catch ratio on tarpon is rather poor so you are going to miss more than you catch no matter what you have.

As a big game fisherman and big game fly rod designer and builder I have seen more broken 10 and 12 weights than all others put together. The major problem is using tippets that are of a pound test more than the rod blank was designed to handle. I know this may sound crazy but a 10 weight fly rod is nothing more than a 10 pound class spinning rod and a 12 weight is a 12 pound class spinning rod. The only differece between the two is the type reel you have on the rod. Keeping that in mind will save you a ton of heartache. If using a 10 weight I would only fish with 10 or 12 pound class tippets. A 12 weight, 12 to 16 pound class tippets.

Use the finest titanium framed guides with cerramic inserts you can afford--no snake guides.

You can use a fore grip above the casting grip but all the "factory made" cork grips I have ever seen made for this purpose are total junk. They are way too small in diameter to do you any good. You would be better off with a straight taper EVA grip mounted just in front of the casting grip as long as it is about 1 inch in diameter. To measure where yours should be mounted do the following: Hold the rod with the fighting butt installed. Grasp the rod forward of the casting grip so that you have a slight bend in the elbow of your fighting arm, do not lock your arm fully extended. Mark the place on the rod blank where your ring and middle fingers meet. Mount the fore grip so that this point is the center point of the installed fighting grip. If you are of average size the gap between the casting grip and the fighting grip will only be an inch or so.

Hope this helps a little.

Michael A Taylor
Bluewater Fly Tackle

I've just joined this forum and I'm very glad one of my anglers brought it to my attention. I've been building rods since 1971, all for the salt, and have been a full time guide down in south Florida for more than 13 years now... I quit building fly rods a few years back since I just can't replace one quickly enough when my angler's break one. As a result most of the fly rods on board are factory rods by Sage... but the last two that I built myself, a 10 and a 12wt, have survived years of hard service in the 'Glades and Biscayne Bay where tarpon is my specialty (if I have one since we're onto everything else year 'round...). Those last two rods were built on the old Thomas & Thomas Horizon two piece blanks and set up with the old Powell machined reel seats. When I say they've been in hard service, the 10 wt has taken more than a few fish in the 80lb class, and the 12wt is used on big fish up to about 150lbs in rivers that are usually less than 100 feet across. Both of those rods are usually on board any day that I have fly anglers that want to tangle with big fish...

I read some of the advice given in this thread and have to say that my experience has been a bit different. My standard leader setup is 20lb hard Mason, with a fluoro shock tippet that's usually 80lbs. Any angler that's been taught how to fight a really big fish in close quarters can easily pop 20lb... We do it all the time, unfortunately. Since we're working in dark waters most of our battles are at very close quarters with fish that rarely take more than 100 to 150 yards of backing, and most days we're only in the backing for as short a time as I can manage... I've been lucky enough to have anglers aboard that come from many different backgrounds and countries. Most bring their own gear so I've seen a bit of everything from factory, to owner built, to my own creations being used to the point of destruction.... It's left me with some very definite opinions about what I want or don't want in a tarpon rod. The one thing I don't want is to see any tarpon rod with that extra "fighting grip" that manufacturers seem to insist on adding to an otherwise perfectly good rod. I won't put one on a rod and will never buy a factory rod with one, since I believe they're an invitation to a broken rod. I never want to see one of my anglers with either of his (or her) hands above the standard cork grip, period. The rod most of my anglers are handed when we're tarpon fishing is just a Sage RPLXi2 11wt. and it will get the job done most days. The only time one of my big rods gets broken it's usually because it got stepped on or a big fish got loose in the cockpit and the rod didn't survive. I have seen a lot of factory rods broken, usually when an angler "high sticks" the rod with a big fish right at the boat. If anyone's interested I'll be glad to detail some of the design principles that I follow for big rods, but I'm sure many of my methods are bit old fashioned now. I was taught the basics by Abe Gaspar who was with the old Uslan Rods when we first met more than 30 years ago. These days I believe he's guiding in Colorado in season. I've built with Fenwick, Lamiglas, Fisher, LCI, Loomis, Sage, and a few other brands of blanks, starting with fiberglass and moving into graphite. Along with building them, most anglers need to be taught how to actually use a fly rod when big fish are the target. The techniques are a bit different than just the casting that needs to be learned, period.

Now for one other small item. I noticed that on this thread and on a few other sites I've seen in the last two days there's a bit of mis-information about the current emergency rules for tarpon, bonefish, and snook here in Florida since our recent cold snap... Some are of the mistaken belief that the fishery has been closed when that's just not the case. What has occurred is that no one's allowed to harvest or possess any of the three until next September. We'll still be fishing for them, carefully handling them, and carefully releasing them to fight another day.

Since no one that I know kills bonefish or tarpon anymore, that closure is inconsequential. The snook closure only affects those wanting to take one home for dinner, and in my area that only means that March and April are off the table since they're a catch and release only item all summer long until September. I can't tell you how much that mis-information hurts guides trying to earn a living. Anglers in the know will find out the info is wrong, but first timers may never call thinking that they're not allowed to fish for them until next September. Hope this sort of stuff is put to bed fairly quickly... Hope this helps, anyone can call me if they have questions.

Tight Lines
Capt Bob LeMay
(954) 435-5666