Hello everyone. I'm new to the board and a fairly new rodbuilder. I was curious if anyone has had any experience with these blanks. I'd like to build a fast action 7' for light tackle/saltwater/inshore. I think mudhole sells them for $250. Thanks in advance.

They are very nice blanks but in my opinion are overpriced. I have builtup one but have not yet fished it. You can find many first quality blanks for much less money. Try Lamiglas, Calstar, St. Croix.

Hugh Miller

Aaron,

No experience with the Cape Fears but I do have a couple of the original Aussie McGinn rods that Cape Fear bought the technology off and I love em.

First fish on my 10lb 7 ft spin rod was a Giant Trevally (Jack Crevalle) that went 25 kg (over 50 lb in the states).

They certainly are pricy, you can still get them over here for $180 ozzy peso's or about $ 90.00 US.

Good luck
Kev

The cost to performance ratio is certainly not as good with the Cape Fear as it is with so many other tubular type blanks. I built some fly rods for Billy Pate on the first couple of Cape Fear prototypes and aside from being very durable, they were very heavy for the stiffness. Still, they have their devoted fans who will fish nothing else.

If you have your heart set on one, then by all means give it a try. The biggest difference will be in the fitting of your components due to the shape of the blank. Finishing the wraps is also just a tad different again due to the shape you are working with.

I am sure one of the sponsors here has them in stock and will let you know what they have available.

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My two cents -

I will fully agree with tom above that the cost to performance and the degree of difficulty associated with assembly is something to be considered.

Eariler this spring I built for myself 2 calstar 270-7 and 1 270-8 for tuna this last summer. I fished them with 12 to 17 lb test almost every weekend and their performance in my own opinion was teriffic.

Albacore and bluefin from 10 to 57 lbs. They have a good backbone when needed and are well made.

These blanks ran me about $60 each. I have many other calstar rods ranging from 5.5 ft tuna standup tuna rods to 10 ft. jig sticks.

Tom
Since you built the rods were for Billy Pate I have to assume they were fly rods. What weight rods were they? I have a 14 wt that is feels lighter and casts bettter than any other 14 wt I have handled. Just curious as I have been told that they no longer make fly rods.
NeilB

Neil,

They were 12' one-piece rods. Later I made some ferrules that could be used on the particular shape and tried them on some more Hextek blanks. To me, the blanks always felt very heavy and sloppy for the stiffness involved. At least compared to similar powered tubular blanks. The big selling point for the Hextek blanks seems to be extreme durability, so if that is important they may indeed be a good choice.

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