I will soon be looking for a medium action extra powerful rod blank 6 1/2 or 7 feet long to complement one of the spinning reels I have seen in the latest catalog I have received.
Here are the reels I refer to and their advertised specifications:
Cabela's SSSF-5000 - - - capacity - - - 310 yds. 17 lb. test - - - - maximum drag - - - - 33 lbs.
Daiwa SASURF4500 - - - capacity - - - 240 yds. 14 lb. test - - - - - maximum drag - - - - 33 lbs.
Penn CQR7000 - - - - - - capacity - - - 250 yds. 17 lb. test - - - - - maximum drag - - - - 32 lbs.
Shimano SP6000FB - - - - capacity - - - 300 yds. 10 lb. test - - - - - maximum drag - - - - 27 lbs.
Shimano SRG14000F - - - capacity - - - 350 yds. 20 lb. test - - - - - Maximum drag - - - - 44 lbs.

A graphite, fiberglass, or even solid glass blank would not be strong or light enough to employ the full capabilities of these reels, specifically their maximum drag. The only material I can think of to make a blank which would handle the specifications of these reels and still balance with them would be titanium - solid titanium. If you know of such a blank let me know. Meanwhile I'm going out to mount a ten-ton winch on the front bumper of my Prius.

Phil; Your line ratings will determine what you can use as a drag settings. You can also point your rod at the fish and put all the pressure on the line instead of putting a bend in the rod.

I built a Spinning rod for a customer here on a SS CJBF70M for his Stella 20000 and we put 40 pounds of drag on it. I tied him off to our fork lift and backed up until he broke the 85 pound braid he had on the reel. The rod worked as it should but was never bent more than 45 degrees. It just shut off.

I think a crane would be perfect for your application. you could probably find a decent one for around 120K.
good luck!

Phil, as Jim has just explained, it is an easy matter to find a "normal" blank that can do what you need.

I started to respond to your post below WRT realistic drag settings. I think what would be best is if you tell us what you are going to fish for and the manner in which you wish to do it. I have found the guys here to give good solid advice. It is just a matter of indentifying who has experience with the type of fishing you wish to do.

I can promise you, no matter what the specs claim, none of the reels you have listed can actually fish those drag settings....in the real world.....on real fish....fish .that can run far and fast....for any real amount of time.

Actually that isn't as bad as it sounds because chances are very high that neither can you.....and I mean no offense. Now if you intend to fight from a chair that is different but at that point it isn't wise to look at spinning reels. You will need the torque and heat dissapation ability that only a quality 2 speed lever drag reel offers. If you intend to overpower moderate sized fish that is different too.

Now if you must have a spinning reel to do something like jig for amberjack and smaller tuna around oil platforms.....and then horse them away from structure quickly.....get a Stella as it will last. It can handle fishing those drag settings on smaller fish and can fish drags in the 20-30 pound range for hours on truly big fish. If you never intend to catch fish over a 100 pounds or so the spheros can do it but the sargossa is a much better reel. I wouldn't buy less than a 10,000 size reel and bigger (spool) is better (to get rid of heat).

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

I followed the advice of using line ratings to select a proper matching blank, but it wasn't easy. Now a guy has a Shimano STL8000 SW which weighs 23.7 oz., has a capacity of 235 yards of 16 pound test line, and a maximum of 55 pounds of drag. Naturally, this guy wants a rod which can fully utilize his reel's capabilities. There's a pretty good agreement among experienced anglers that the strike drag on a reel should be set not much higher than 35% of the line's test strength, which means the Stella 8000SW can easily handle a 130 pound test line and be loaded with 130 pound test GSP braid to utilize its drag's full potential.
Unfortunately, the Stella 8000SW only has a capacity of about 150 yards of 130# GSP. I found a 7 foot 130 pound line-rated blank to go with the Stella: a Phenix 700X3H, which weighs 10 ounces. I figure the built-out rod will weigh only a pound or two more than the reel; in other words balance it perfectly.
Now the 130-pound-class line line rating of this reel and rod pretty much restricts this outfit to giant tuna, blue or black marlin, and sharks as fair game. The somewhat limited reel capacity for 130 pound test line will require a boat which can back down really fast [probably a double-ender] but should produce some truly frantic and exciting fishing, and employ all the strengths the reel has to offer - and he paid for.

Are we getting into the realm with our fishing tackle that the gun world continues to go through? Bigger is better, flatter shooting is better. Don't concern yourself with the massive recoil and your complete lack of ability to hit a barn or practice past your massive flinch.
Any of these people actually tried to stand up and enjoy fishing against that much drag? Most people I fish oversized sturgeon with on my boat are all done after one good sized fish, my drag settings aren't anywhere near those they are talking about here.

Phil,
With respect to drag settings, reels and rods:
One only has to look at the TV show about the Blue Fin commercial tuna fishing industry on the east coast of the US.
This show illustrates the hard use and heavy drags that are encountered every day in this fishery.

To maximize the price of the huge blue fin tunas that are being caught, it is necessary to minimize the time to land the fish. Many of these fish are in excess of 1000 lbs. As a result, the rods and reels are both massive. The reels are geared appropriately to be able to crank up these giants from the depths. They want to have the fish to run exactly 0 times. Any runs by the fish generates lactic acid in the body tissues and drops the market price of the fish. As a result, along with the heavy rods, and reels, the fishermen use heavy poly coated gloves to further winch line onto their reel. The rod is held in the rail so that it doesn't snap off or get tangled up in any kind of harness.
In the last couple years of shows, I observed only one instance of a broken rod. The captain later explained that he was worried about that particular rod, because he thought that it had been munched in the winch on the previous day.

When the price is good it is easy to get $6 - $10,000 per fish. So the winching ability of these rods and reels to quickly winch these giants to the decks of the fishing boats is essential.

Roger

Winch reels and the rods built to exploit their commercial benefits have almost nothing to do with a recreational reel weighing 23.7 ounces, even if this reel can apply the proper amount of strike drag for 130 pound test line. Rather than seek a rod designed for 130-pound-class line to match this reel's advertised capabilities the angler would be better off buying a fish-eye lens for his camera and an elbow-rest to support holding a fish at arm's length.

Ah am I the only one puzzled by those reel specs? How in the world can you even get close to the max drag of those reels using the line class they were designed for? 33# max drag with 17# line? I don't think so!