Hello everyone! First time poster and newish to rod building.

Looking to build a nice set of six big cat rods for myself.

I do a lot of fishing for big blue cats in fast current (Mississippi and Missouri rivers). I fish with heavy braided line (80-100#), big weight (8-16oz), big bait (big chunks of shad or skipjack herring--the size of a mans hand or bigger) with circle hooks while anchored. The average big fish for me are 30-40 pounds but I have caught them as big as 65 and want to be ready for the new record (135#!!!) I sometimes find these fish in currents as heavy as 5kts.

To date I have only used off the rack rods for this. the best "off the rack" rod I have found thus far is a serge elite. They are a MH 7'10" CASTING rods rated 15-40 line weight and 3-10oz lure weight. They have an aluminum rod seat and a total handle length of 25".

Really interest in what those on here with more experience than me would recommend. Thanks in advance for the help. I'll document my build on here once I get rolling for all to see (and learn from my mistakes!)

Thanks,

Dan

i would recommend the mudhole custom builder blanks. the eglass and composite inshore are both good. I have built some of the eglass for one of the guides on santee cooper and he really likes them. I used the eglass from mudhole. there are some other good blanks out there, but don't think you need to break the bank on a blank for your application. batson has some good blanks as well that will work

With the sizes and conditions you are describing, you should probably take a look at some saltwater blanks.
There are quite a few out there that are rated for 50+ and wont break the bank.
I would like to see some of your monster cat pics.

Thanks guys! I just added a few pics to my member gallery from a recent cat-fishing trip.

So you have mentioned a few brands of blanks. How about specific blanks? Action? Types of guides for that heavy braid and drag ripping action? What type of reel seats do you recommend?
Remember I'm a novice here : )

Enjoy the pics! I'll add more when I get a chance.

Dan,

Go easy on the fish photos, per the photo page rules. Custom rods are fine, but please limit the number of fish photos you post. Thanks.

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For what you're doing you probably would want something along the lines of a CalStar 660M or 655) teamed up with a short (15") Stuart Tuff butt. This would give you the all aluminum handle permanently joined and the ability to set the overall length of the rod. You'll have to check the diameters of the butt section of the blanks. CalStars have very fast tips but are "all guts" near the butt section (glass composites) and can be trimmed or turned down to fit the Tuff butts. Basically what you'd be building is a 20-30lb trolling rod blank and set up albeit with different guides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2010 11:42AM by Ken Preston.

Dan;
Here is one I build on quite often and the guys love them.
Rainshadow RCLB 70ML or MH , RX6 Graphite and E-Glass Blend from Batson Enterprises. The ML is rated at 20-40 lb Line.
The guys I build for are catching 40 to 65 lb Blues on average and using cut bait. They are trying to beat the IN/KY Ohio River record of 104 lb.

J.B.Hunt
Bowling Green, KY

I'll second on the Batson RCLB 70M also comes in longer lengths 8ft I believe

I fish the east coast in similar conditions on the Potomac, James and Susquehanna rivers, though lighter tackle than you for them...

I went w/ mudholes 20-40 7' eglass blank for my one set and matched it w/ a 13" cork rear grip and 6" foregrip and fuji seat.... They work well and I really like them, esp when handling big fish in current...

I've recently picked up some 20-50 7' blanks and 30-80 6' blanks from a guy who does a lot of different custom design (though I think bulk done overseas) rods that I really like the action on and during Mudhole's cybermonday specials I got 2 of the gator 7'8" or 7'10" 30-80 rod and I love the action on them, nice sensitive tips, but back bone to winch one of my fishing buddies out of his nice comfy house to go fishing with me in the winter...Looking forward to getting snowed in so I can do the work to put them all together this winter, Have all the handle making fixings and just need to figure out which eyes to go with for them.

I do not see the M/H on Batsons site in the rclb, they have a 20/40 ML and a 20-50 M, both are good cat blanks though, and should serve you well.

OK, guys! Thanks for all of the great advice wrt blank selection. I think I will go with the 8-foot RCLB80M.

Now for guide and reel seat selection.

I fish braided line so I am thinking a double footed SIC guides. Any suggestions?

Reel seat. I'll be using a level wind casting reel for this rod. I'm leaning toward a shimano Tekota so I'm thinking aluminum with double locking rings. Any suggestions?