Hi

I need an advice. I`m planning to build a 7'6"-8" rod mainly for casting and trolling for pike, with 6-8" cranks (up to 2-4oz, rather deep diving) and big soft baits (bulldawg etc. up to 3-4oz). I don`t want a stiff stick but a quite soft rod with a stong butt. It will be paired with Abu Revo Winch spooled with Tuf Line 40lb braid. As far as I know MHX line (MagBass mostly) they are much underrated, so I thing 25lb and 2-3oz will do the job. I have got MB785 for twichbaits, jerkbaits, gliders etc. and it don`t have any problem to throw 3-4oz baits.
Please tell me what do you think about::
L904
FS906
SW956
?

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Bartosz

P.S. Hope you understand my english;)

The SWB-967Blend might be worth a look as well. Batson has some musky and swimbait blanks to checkout as well as Seampland's T1 Alabama rig blank.

While th evast majorit of FW fishermen only care about the weight of the blank, the ones that I have seen for heavier fishing like you are looking to do are way too stiff to comfortably cast & fish those weights. If you want a rod with a softer tip and a more moderate action, tehj Seeker CSW 808 or HErcules 80L is going to work out really nicely. I've never pike fished, and barely FW fish, but I know both of these blanks really well and they'll do what you want, but they are a lot thicker and heavier than you are used to. HEavier in quotes, the HErcules 80L weighs like 7oz, I know that's a lot for all these pansy FW fishermen who worry about 1/10th of an ounce.

Thanks!
MHX are quite easy to buy in Poland. It would be a huge problem to get Seeker blank.

Bill,
If you had to choose from MHX line, what would it be?

Regards,

I too would go with the swb-967 in the mhx line.

______________________________________
Super Tight Lines......Don

Did anyone use FS966T-MHX?

Bartosz,

The blanks will do what you are wanting them to do, kind of... Take the last one FS966T, it has lure rating of 3/8 to 2 ounces; It will throw or flip baits in that range, but will have a sweet spot somewhere in the middle of that range that will work the best -- my guess would be around 1 1/4 ounces. It won't like throwing 4 ounce baits at all, and may even break if you give it a hard cast with that much weight. My guess would be, that blank would troll OK with maybe up to 3/4 ounce baits, but you'll just have to try it and see. It is a Flipping Stick, and it will cast some weight OK, and troll some weight OK, but it will allways be a better flipping stick.

All rods I build are done to do one thing well, and I build them around the middle of their rating. In other words, If my 3 ounce rod won't hold the bottom, I don't put 5 ounces on it -- I change to my 5 ounce rod and see if that will hold bottom... I don't use either of those rods for trolling, I use my trolling rods for that.

Throwing 4 ounces with a MB785 is a testomony to how tough MHX blanks are; however, that's an exsplosion waiting to happen! Joe and Don have given you a good recomedation: SWB967. You might find that when you get away from the Mag Bass line of MHX blanks, that they are not as tough; but using any blank above its rating -- and you are on your own.

Chuck Howard

Chuck,
Thanks for input but I can`t agree with you. In Poland we have different fish and different methods. We just can`t use your blanks and rods for the same purpose, we don`t use such techniques. Of course, we use many technique specific blanks as drop shot, spin jig, crankbait but there is plenty of freestyle in building rods for species that you don`t know. We use your S&S blanks for salmon as designed but also for trout, chub, asp, zander (european walleye) from big, lowland rivers. We use it for jigging, cranking or even surface fishing (asp for example). It is really different fishing.
I`m building rods for past few years so I know how to handle a blank or rod. Not even one rod from couple of hundreds was send back to me. I`m responsible for stuff I make.
90% of blanks from USA are underrated in my opinion (especially bass casting blanks). I mean for casting lures. We don`t flip, we don`t pitch, we don`t need to pull bass from weeds. We mainly jig, crank or troll. All my pike rods are in 20-25lb power range and they throw easily (!) baits from 1 to 4oz range (3C66HF, MB785, MU638). You will say I should go with muskie blank with 50lb 3oz, but that is to heavy. I can use it for 6oz baits which I don`t use (believe me, I tried). Same with freshwater trolling. My friend is using Batson Eglass 25lb, other is using StCroix 2C80HF and believe me it is enough, even for deep diving crankbaits. Most of my baits are around 6" and 2oz, medium or deep divers (up to 40' diving depth), I think the rod will be used in 70% for casting with jigs and soft baits (6"-8", 2-4oz) and 30% for trolling with cranks (rod in hand, speed 5km/h). Maybe this will tell you more.

Regards,

Bartosz,
If you can obtain - check out the Batson line of salt water blanks.

When I did a quick scan of these blanks, I could see quite a few of these blanks meeting your needs perfectly.

The idea of a composite graphite /fiberglass construction, can make for a softer tip, but still have plenty of backbone.

So, the composite blanks, or the all fiberglass blanks could very well be the ones that you want.

Also, for your needs, I would tend toward a moderate action blank, as compared to a fast or extra fast action.

Roger

[www.batsonenterprises.com]

Bartosz,
I personally feel that the SWB956-Blend would be the best option for your application. While similar to a Mag Bass in action it is a little heavier wall and will flex a bit deeper for the trolling application than the MB.

Regards,
Todd Vivian
Mud Hole Custom Tackle

todd@mudhole.com

Bartosz,

Oh no, thank you for your input, I now have a new place to add to the bucket list for fishing destinations. Alsways looking for a new twist for the ol'dance. And if you ever get this way (NC), look me up, it'll be a hoot - I guarantee it.

Just curious, do you all use down riggers for your deep trolling? We had a deep lake in Southern California, lake Silverwood, with land locked Stripped Bass to 50 pounds. At certian times of the year we had some sucess trolling deeper with a down riggers. We got the idea from a local who moved up north and spent sometime in Puget Sound, WA fishing Mooching rigs for Salmon. We would also use flasher rigs used for Lake Trout, hand tied Sabiki type rigs using large hand tied streamer flys and the hooks cut off ; as you can tell, in our youth, we never saw or heard of a spreader rig. Do you guys use these or anything like them? In our youth, we had more ideas then time and I figure we confused more fish than we caught...but it was good times.

One fall here in NC, we had large shad in numbers in the fall. We were having good sucess using larger blades on our spinner baits in the morning, but the bite would fall off early in the day. Don't remember why, but I put a feathered treble hook off another lure on the back of a lipless crank bait. The shad would come up and try and hit the feathered tail, and the bass could not stand the shad getting to this lipless crank bait first. It was such an innocent change that made for some great fall fishing.

But I digress off you topic... I would love to here from you more about what you all do, and how it all works. Your email is blocked, here is mine: CarolinaChuck@windstream.net

Chuck Howard

Oh, PS, it is like heaven to have the worlds best rod builders expo in your back yard once a year - Thank You Tom!!!