I've been reading with increasing interest the responses from suppliers to the questions about products and product specifications that are posted here. This is about the finest and most 'information intensive' site I've run across, in ANY area of interest, on the web.

It's become apparent that many of you guys have stuff available that's either not in your catalogs/online 'stores', or they are just too 'unusual' or 'odd' to list.

I'm hoping that some of you can help me with a special need. I'm pretty familiar with 'normal' freshwater bass tackle, and am becoming conversant with fly fishing stuff as well. However...

I've come up with a need for an 'odd' rod set up to accomodate a specialized bass fishing application.

What I need is a blank that's in the 10 to 12 foot length, at least two piece, that will have a medium fast to fast action, handle baits in the 1/4 to 5/8 ounce range, and be fairly light in weight. Longer is better than shorter, and weight is a factor, otherwise a 'surf' style blank would suffice. I'd prefer a 'sensitive' tip with a stout 'butt' section for hooksetting/fish fighting abilities, but 'close' will be okay. The real key to this is the length and a reasonable weight.

I don't require a high modulous blank, since there won't be any casting distance needed, nor is vibration transmission critical. I probably will need at least a graphite composite to achieve the action/weight range I need, I 'think', but here I'm not certain...

Since it's for a very limited application, I really don't want to put too much money into the blank. I've looked at heavy fly rod blanks, but I'd need around a 10 to 12 weight, and it's been hard to find them in the 10 foot plus length AND for anything close to 'inexpensive'.

Perhaps something designed for Steelhead or such, or maybe they are using lighter rods in the salt than I think they are?

The closest thing I've seen is in the Cabela's catalog, and that's a 10 foot rod at around $75 for the blank. I need two of them, and that effectively puts it out of my price range.

If anyone out there has something that they believe would work for me, I'd appreciate hearing any suggestions.

Thanks.

How is the rod going to actually be used and what would be the lb. test line you will be using??

Bob McKamey -- Custom Tackle Supply

There are many factors to cover when building your kind of rod. What I would do is email Todd. Todd is employeed by Lamiglas as a rod designer engineer. Go into search on this site and typ in Todd or Lamiglas.

Bob,

I'm building these for a couple of older gentlemen that I fish with. Both have balance problems, and have to fish sitting down. We flip a lot, and they are having trouble getting the distance that I do standing on the front deck. The water here is very clear, so a bit of distance from the target is helpful. I'm hoping that the extra length will give these fellows a bit more 'reach'.

The rods will be used for 'flipping' with UNWEIGHTED soft plastics. Line test will be in the 12 to 20 pound class. We are mostly useing Senkos whacky rigged with circle hooks, so 'hooksetting' power is not critical (occassionally we'll use texas rigged when weedless is required), but SOME muscle in the butt section would be helpful in gettting the fish up and out of the cover.

I'd like to keep the actual weight of the rod low, within reason, to alleviate any fatigue problems. The flipping rods we are now using weigh out at around 8 to 9 ounces, and I'd like to stay close to that if I can.

Thanks.

We carry a blank from the Rainshadow Co. -- IGSP 1445 - 12' and rated up to 20 lb. The blank weighs a little over 6 ozs. A 12' blank with some meat to it for flippin', is goin to have a little weight to it. Let us know if we can help. Be glad to send you one and if it did not work out, you could send back and we'll try something else. For the money, lb. test line, length and something with some gutts to it, I believe this is it.

Bob McKamey -- Custom Tackle Supply