Getting ready to order up some components for some tuna jigging rods, but have some questions i would like answered before i order (incorrectly).

5'8" blank rated for 50-100lb - used for Tuna Jigging Conventional Style with braid

Aftco Aluminum Reel seat and matching Gimbal

EVA thin walled rear grip (long enough to fit in rod holder) with EVA Foregrip...in what length? What is typical for a 5'8" blank??

Customer wants Spiral Wrapped. I was thinking of AMTAK Virtus Heavy NBRLVH. Will these work for all guides to the tip?

My fear is this....that the first/butt guide won't be high enough off the blank, and the braid, under high drag pressure will cut into the EVA and or thumb/fingers (especially if the foregrip is too long). Any advice?

Thanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2011 11:11PM by Jesster Brindisi.

Sounds good. Check with Billy Vivona. He probably has all the components and a great blank for this application. Those guides are awesome. i have the lites and they are great.

I usually use a 14" EVA rear grip, either a Perfection Ball Gimbal or an ALPS gimbal. For my rear grips, I have actually been using the 14" tapered foregrips in the 1/2-5/8" diameter; they fit nicely off the reel seat so I don't have to turn the EVA down much! I usually use a Pac Bay Channel lock reel seat with Graphite body and Aluminum hoods, or an ALPS Centralock aluminum or Pac Bay Channel Lock reel seat. Foregrip is between 8 and 12" long, depending on what the customer wants. I've been using the cross cut EVA foregrip lately and really like it. I would get a 25mm Virtus Heavy, and then use all 12's for the transition and running guides, Fuji SiC top top. I do a 2 guide transition, so you would probably need 2 transition guides and 3 or 4 running guides. I am guessing either the Mudhole or Batson 500gr blank? The Mudhole is a pretty soft blank (I did a 500gr as a spinner), so you may want to get a Fuji HB style guide, either in SiN2 or SIC for the stripper, you should have plenty of clearance with those!

i would get one of the seeker hercules blanks.

[northeastrodbuilders.com]

GTS 60 XH is great for this. you could just cut 2 inches off the butt of the rod, or leave it as it is. the thing is indestructible. if you scroll down a little bit you will see some testing billy did. that was with the blank that was one model lighter. he can hook you up with all the components also.

Kevin Knox is a great resource and builds these types rods...he may chime in and can address the guide height issue..i have heard that phenix has a good offering of blanks as well..billy can tell you about the hercules series and I believe he had input in the design of them

i would change the rear grip to a slick butt... if he plans on using it a lot and in n out of a rod holder like i do trying to find the tunies, the Eva will wear down and get cut. As far as guide height i will only build spinning jigging rods for that reason. guess i need Mr. vivonas opinion on it as well?!

We spoke for a week, the green color of the 60XH wasn't going to work for his customer. Hopefully he finds a blank he's looking for, Jesse's a good guy I wish I had somethign to fit what he was looking for.

Thanks guys....I spoke to Billy about those Seeker blanks, and like he mentioned, the color choices (red and green) are not going to work. They look like true workhorses and in the pics of Billy testing them, I'm wondering if he superglued his feet to the stoop!

I've talked to Kevin about blanks and some other stuff, so maybe he'll chime in on the guide height concern.

Wes....I suggested to my customer about spinning reels, however he already has 2 AVET HX's on order.

Would the Batson 500g blank have some more backbone than the Mudhole equivalent? Both are equally priced with the same specs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2011 08:46AM by Jesster Brindisi.

Jess,
What are you thinking for first guide size?

A 25 Fuji HB or Virtus heavy... with 12's on out to the tip

Just don't want the braid to cut into a hand or the forgrip under extreme bendage which leads to length of foregrip??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2011 09:53PM by Jesster Brindisi.

Good answer. 25 for the first guide is fine as long as you keep it kinda close to the 8" forgrip. 25-12-12-12-12-12-10 t10

Spiral would be 25-8-12-12-10-10-10 t10

Yes, the Batson seems to be a tad stiffer than the Mudhole blank; I had the 500gr's side by side and I preferred the feel of the Batson after flexing them. It was stiffer/stronger feeling throughout. The guy I sold my 500gr blank to was lifting 25# off the floor w/o a problem with it! The 600gr Batson is pretty stiff. The 500 felt very nice. The HB 25 is one of the tallest 25mm guides out there and should give you clearance. Depending on the total lengths of everything in the handle, the Virtus H 25mm may work as well, like I said in my first post. I did the Mudhole 500gr as a spinner because I didn't like the amount of flex the foregrip had with 25# of drag on it. I prefer stiffer/faster actions for conventional/spiral rods.

I would not do a slick butt for the rear grip for a jigging rod. It will add a good bit of weight. You don't fish with the rod in the holder for jigging usually. If you are worried about the grip getting scuffed up, well, it will happen no matter which handle you use! You could always Quick Grip or use the X Flocked rubber heat shrink tubing over the EVA if you want. Some rod holders are rough and you can sand/smooth the edged down or get inserts that are smoother. The Slick butt won't be very comfy under your arm and they are only up to 12" long; most guys like a longer (ie 14-16") rear grip for a jigging rod. A Carbon Skin grip would be hard enough, but shaped to fit you properly, but again, the finish will get scuffed up anyway. One thing I found is with a square gimbal on the butt of the rod, the rod holder edge is right near the end of a 8" slick butt. The rod holders are around 10" or so deep, but they may vary. If a customer wants a split grip jigging rod, I set up the split section so that the split portion is above the edge of the rod holder so the rod holder will rub on the grip material, not the wrap or abalone in the split portion.

When I do a tuna jigging rod, the stripper guide, usually a 25mm turbo style, 25mm HB style, Or Virtus Heavy 25mm is very close to the foregrip because of this exact issue. I have some rods with 12" foregrips (faster action rods), but with the slower/more parabolic blanks, I have been dropping down to 8" due to clearance issues. Also, you can taper the foregrip down a bit as well like Shimano does to help the foregrip from getting cut, but you still need to watch your hands!