A friend asked me to build him an 8ft spinning rod for smallmouth fishing in the winter. The rod will be used to drag a 1/2oz carolina rig with a live minnow. The three blanks that I am looking at are the MB941-MHX , Lamiglas International ISS102-2M and Lamiglas International ISS102-2MH. Which of these three blanks would you prefer for this application? I realize that these three blanks are not exactly 8ft long, however, that will not be a problem. Also, I should mention that I am trying to build this rod for under $100 which is one reason I picked these three blanks.

I'll op for the MHX, I'm starting to build more of those blanks for my personal use.

The man who runs this board i believe holds a lake or state record for smallmouth. You should ask him his opinion

Paul@soonercustomrod.com

For live baiting with up to a half ounce weight one of the heavier power 8 foot graphite crankbait blanks, or the popping blanks they were derived from should work well. They should be limber enough to prevent throwing the bait off but still have plenty of power in reserve.

Check out some of the Castaway blanks at Swampland. They are priced in your range, and are light with plenty of power to handle the 1/2 oz. weights. I recently finished up a build on an 8' crankbait rod that weighs just under 3oz and would handle a "Lindy Rig" here in Minnesota, aka Carolina rig just fine. I'm sure Lance would be more than happy to help you get set up.

I looked at the Castaway 964 and 965 blanks and I think either one would work, however the 965 appears to be out of stock. Swampland also lists two Batson blanks (CB80H-M and CB80MH-M) that look suitable as well. Trinity, which Castaway crankbait blank did you use? I am planning to build a crankbait rod later this year on a Castaway 964 or 904. The 904 looks like it would be identical to the factory Castaway Launcher, which in my opinion is one of the best factory crankbait rods. The Launcher weighs less than the All-Star that I currently have and casts about 5-10 yards farther.

I built the 965 if I remember correctly. I wanted a little more power to rip baits through the cabbage weeds and coontail that I fish around regularly. Spiral wrapped with micro alconites, spilt grip consisting of about 8 rings of cork total, and a split seat. I can't wait for the ice to melt!!!

I finished building and delivering the rod last week. I decided to use the Batson RX7 CB80H-M and I was impressed with the blank. I used Fuji alconite guides (30-16-10-6-6-6-6-6-6) wrapped with Gudebrod garnet thread with metallic silver inlays. I used a size 20 reel seat , 12" cork rear grip and an epoxy ramp in place of the foregrip. I had originally intended to wrap the ramp with the same thread as the guides and add two sets of inlays with the silver thread. However, I forgot to wrap the ramp while the epoxy was slightly tacky and the thread refused to climb to the top of the ramp with out sliding loose (I tried sanding and I still had problems). I eventually decided to paint the ramp with some fingernail polish that matched the thread and apply finish. The completed rod looked and cast great and my friend was very happy with it. This was my third rod and was the first time I used the NGC method and used an epoxy ramp on a spinning reel seat (I have built a few small ramps on casting reel seats and split grips). I really liked this blank and I plan to build a crankbait rod on the RX7 CB80MH-M later this summer.