I would like to build a saltwater 20 to 40 lb trolling rod with a wooden handle. I will be using a Pacific Bay Ferruled Saltwater Aluminum Reel Seat where the butt is inserted into the reel seat only about 3". Does anyone have any suggestions on the type of blank I should use.

Traditionally such rods were often made with solid glass rod blanks. These easily handle the stress of a short ferrule mounting. But so too will just about any heavy walled tubular rod blank.

I think from here it really comes down to how long a rod you want and what action you prefer for the type fishing you're going to be doing.

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I will be using it for salmon fishing on party boats trolling, using a 2 1/2 pound weight. I like 7 foot rods.

Thanks for your help,
James Arlett

Trolling with a 2 1/2# weight does not sound like much fun to me. I troll for salmon a lot and at the most, I use 8 oz. of a keel wt. If I need to go deeper then we use a down rigger with an 8 # wt. You are going to need a rod blank rated for at least 50# test line I think.

I think I would have to agree with Mr Kuwe. You'll need a heavier rod in order to handle the weight of the weight alone in a trolling situation. A 20-40# blank would handle it at a slow pace but I wouldn't trust it to a fish with that weight.