Being a novice, I need some help here. I am going to build up a couple catfish rods for myself and a few friends. I settled on the American Tackle blank, E-glass blank GFW701MH (7ft, MH, 6-28 line wt, 0.600 but dia, 9.0 tip diameter). 1 rod will be a spinning blank and the other two are going to be casting

The casting rods will be spiral wrapped....how many guides should I go with. If I use the easy spiral wrap with text book spacing, I get 8 guides (7 plus a bumper)...the last 48" from the tip. Another post using a baston rod showed 11 guides (the last 58 inches from the tip). Just looking for how many I should order...and I will try to static test before I cinch the guides up.

Another question is about the length of rear grip. The store bought rods seem to be in the 15 to 16 inch range from the reel seat. what will the longer grip do to the action of the rod...should I add blank length of equal diameter as the butt and make the rods longer?

Any help on these questions (and any I may have forgot) is greatly appreciated.

Take'er Eazy
Andy Doc



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2010 07:22PM by Andy Dochterman.

If you're spiral wrapping, then most of the guides will be on the bottom of the rod and therefore you don't need more than about 8 plus a tiptop. That should be plenty.

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What kind of catfish are you going for, Channel or Flathead ? In strong current in a river or still water in a lake ? Or are you drifting ?

We'll be fishing the mighty Mississippi...mostly for channel, but a flathead is bound to also be in the cards

Take'er Eazy
Andy Doc

For channel cats I prefer 9' steelhead rods. You can get the blanks for various line sizes and actions. I fish both lakes and rivers and have several .different rods to meet the conditions and styles of which I'm fishing. Something like fishing for bass. Most generally you have a rod for crankbaits, worms, jigs, spinners ect, ect,. Any way you get my drift.

I just finished up my set of three for my boat, I didn't do the spiral wrap design but on a 7 ft rod I put 8 plus tip on it. I'd probably use 8 or 9 for the spiral wrap.

The blank choice depends on what your fishing for. I fish for Blues, Channels and Flatheads and made mine for Blues (up to 70lbs) in open water and potentially high current and channels(up to 20lbs) in light-moderate cover. I used a 15-40 blank with a 14" cork rear grip and 6" eva foam foregrip and an 8 double foot guide set plus tip.

The longer grip doesn't effect the action of the rod at all for me... I use a 12-14 on mine for better casting leverage and it feels right when I'm fighting a fish. It gives the right amount of leverage that I want... I have another custom from florida I use for Flatheads that has about a 18 inch butt and a 10 inch foregrip on a 78" 30-60lb blank to be able to muscle the fish out of cover (It was originally a grouper/snapper rod). It all depends on your individual needs and what kind of structure your going to face...