Hello everyone, with striper season soon upon us in the great garden state, I have some friends looking for a custom surf pole. While I can provide that i have no experience building them (but am willing to give it a shot) or selecting a blank or guides and whatnot. For this reason I decided to look at the surf rod kits on mudhole for a better idea. My problem though is what style (weight and length) is the best for bunker chunkin, and what are my best bets for a jigging blank? Thanks Everyone. Tight Lines.

dont know much about jigging blanks. But if your looking for a surf rod the standard in Cape Hatteras is a 10 to 12 foot rod that will throw 5 to 8 oz. with bait. If you want to look at a few go to mud hole and look at Tommy Farmer rods. Breakaway has a nice light rod that will throw 6to 8. The Red Drum and Hatteras Jack on the island have a good assortment.In Buxton Joe Moore will also help.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2012 07:40PM by Maryann Cohen.

Tyler I lived on Cape Cod for 4yrs. back in the 70's. Did a lot of stripper surf fishing.Never did get a big stripper but caught a lot of blues.Basically you want a 11 or 12 ft'.rod rated for 15-20 lb. test and will throw a 3 to 5 in. pencil popper.They"ll probably bait fish with it too.Most people use spinning outfits and ask if they want a 2 piece. I've looked at those blanks you mentioned and they would be fine. Good luck.

Tyler I live in Cape May and my GO TO Blanks are Batson Rainshadow SUR 1386 rated 3-8 it is perfect for our local beaches

If you are building rods for sale and have to ask this question, you shouldn't be wrapping rods for sale.

Maryann and Michael thanks for the help. Barry that blank is just a little out of price range but seems superb, I have heard many good things about the rainshadows and hopefully will be able to start working with them once I need a new rod. And Billy I really was looking for inputs on weight and length because my (store bought) rods are not very specific on how much and what to be throwing with them and was looking to get a better idea of what to be using for how we fish. I think I should have mentioned too that they aren't for general public clients either, its for my fishing buddies.

If you're building them for your buddies then nothing is going to be out of their price range because the blanks + components will be cheaper than a factory rod. I carry Fiber Star Composite blanks which were designed by John Martines, who fishes the beaches in NJ. HEre's a link to the full blank line up: [northeastrodbuilders.com] I'm located in Staten Island, he's near Allentown PA. I host rod building gatherings at my shop as well as one in Tabernacle, NJ, check The NERBs gathering page to see when we'll be in NJ (prob mid October) and you can see the blanks first hand.

KEep in mind that shipping will add a bit to your order, especailly on long 1 piece blanks.

I built a Tommy Farmer Cast Pro (11 ft 2-5oz) last year for light surf fishing and throwing spoons with alconite guides (K series). It is a really nice blank. I am in the process of finishing an MHX 10ft 2-5oz rod for my friend. In comparison to the Tommy Farmer blank, the MHX is thicker at both the butt and the tip and seems like it has a more parabolic shape when it is loaded during a cast.

look into the ron arra lamiglas rods there nice plug rods

The Rainshadow SU1418F is the Striper chunkin rod for NJ, DE and MD beaches. If you wat something a little heavier, try to find some old stock Rainshadow SU1502 blanks.

I use Fuji NSG on all my personal rods.

i mainly surf fish from the MD/VA/NC beaches. if your looking to throw bunker or "8 and bait" i recommend 12' and something rated to at least 8oz. i have several heavers that are rated to 6oz, including a Batson 1418 and Tommy Farmer CCP 13' (rated 2-6oz), i love that rod but most of the time i need to throw 8 oz. The Farmer blank that is rated 6-10oz is a good, light blank that can handle the weight. or a Batson 1509, IMO one of the best all around surf rod/heaves. I have caught many 6-8 ft sharks off this rod, big stripers on AI, and just in the past 7 days i have caught and landed 6 bull red's off of sand bridge in va beach.