Hi,
New to rod building and have 3 shimano stradic 2500 that I want to build rods for. I fish the N.C. waters for flounder, drum etc. Not sure what rod setup that I should look to purchase (from blanks to reel seat to the tip) I will be doing both casting with plastic and also fishing with live bait.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

I'm going to be doing a similar build soon and am strongly considering american tackle's inshore bushido blanks. handled a couple completed rods on the blanks and liked the feel quite a bit

Take a look at popping rods. 3 power for specks, 4 or 5 power for drum. You won't go wrong with any of the blanks found on the left. If you are close to me(Clemmons) give me a shout and you can stop by sometime. I will try to help

With an extra spool, one filled with braid and one with lighter mono, you can cover a lot of ground with that reel. I fish one as light as 6# and as heavy as 15#.

St, Croix has always been a "go to" name for my inshore work. An inshore 7 foot, 8-17# rated blank in SC3, is a nice all purpose choice. I also like Baston's titanium chrome popping blanks and their 822.5 is a crowd favorite. Lamiglas makes a great popping blank too btw. I'd round out the arensal with a light power hot shot blank for when you need to fish an unweighted shrimp/live bait or 1/8 ounce jig with plastic tail. Baston and MHX offers good ones at a fair price.

I really like the aero reel seat and have become a fan of carbon tubes for the handle/butt grip. Alconites might be a little old school but they still get the job done. I'd look at Kigan guides too.

If anything there are too many good choices. I'm not from your area and likely someone who is can offer better advice.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Beach or boat? That's where length can make a difference. I'm with J.P. It's hard to beat a good popping blank for NC waters. I prefer Batson but have built a couple of nice MHX blanks for friends. My favorite beach rod for spanish, blues and pups is an RX8 IP964........

Thanks for all the input. I am taking all in and yes just so many choices that I think it has me a little puzzled. I will be fishing from a boat without a T-top as to not get in the way of casting. It is a bay boat and on occasion I will troll for Spanish, king and throw at cobia around the Oak Island area out to bald head and cape fear, I have fishing gear for that but am new to the inshore type fishing. My first build was with a kit (MHX 7') and I really want to do more of choosing total setup. Keep all the info coming, I need all I can get.

Thanks,
Mark

For the king and cobia (and big 5#+ spanish) you could look into live bait blanks. The Batson rclb line is a great deal. Depending oin brand they can be had in 6,7, and 8 foot models. The 700xl is rated 12-25#. I consider it just perfect for 8KG/17#. Each step up is about another 8#...as in 700L is 22# rod.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

mb 843 from batson or the 782.

Mark I have 7 2500 Stradics and have made rods on these blanks Batson SXW76ML XSW72ML REVS610MXF Lamiglas PRO842 IMP843 MHX SJ841 MHXSJ782 MHX8600. I have made them with Aero reel seats, fuji sk2 reel seats and regular reels. Some with carbon fiber grips and eva. I live in the Cape Fear area. If you live around here you are more than welcome to check out these blanks and see it you like any. Oh yea, all my reel have 10lb braid and 15-20 lb leaders. Tom