Looking for some advice from more experienced folks here. I have someone asking for a rod for them to use out of their kayak for salmon & steelhead fishing in the Great Lakes. They plan on fishing for spring fish staging in shallow water, using torpedo weights and planar boards.

My first inclination had been to look at downrigger blanks, but I'm thinking that they may not be quite right for this application. Would it be better to look at a hotshot blank or a heavier crankbait blank? My thought is that the downrigger blanks might be overly heavy, and the hotshot/crankbait blanks are available in lighter ratings and give a better fight.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks

Tom

These guys better eat their Wheaties if they plan to tow planer boards and torpedo weights around by paddling a kayak.

If the fish are shallow, as they are in the fall much of the time in drowned river mouths, then casting and simply "flat line" trolling something like a deep Thunderstick Jr. in one of the patterns with green, chartreuse, and /or pink should work.. I agree with Phil about the energy required, and furthermore think the planer boards are an unnecessary hassle. If the fish are shallow, no weights are required.

For trolling a med-heavy casting rod (simple spiral) in a rod holder has worked for me, the rod setting the hook on the strike.

For casting spoons a 6 - 8 M-Hvy mag bass rod has worked well for me. For casting the Thundersticks a long spinning rod with 15-20 braid is my choice.

How these preferences work in a kayak, I really don't know.

My dad uses Lamiglas XCC 705 rods for similar purposes, but from a rowboat. He catches salmon, steelhead, and striped bass up to 40+ lbs. Uses everything from lip less crankbaits, deep thundersticks, flat fish and Maglips. Casts all the relevant stuff also. Since they have glass tips they hold up well to abuse and rod angles dangerous to graphite rods. There also is a longer version at 7 ft 9 in. it is slightly more powerful so maybe not as nice for steelhead. The blanks are the HCCB 845M and 935M. Very lively tips that let you know if your offering is still working, or fouled.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2018 10:43AM by Spencer Phipps.

From our RainShadow lineup we’d go with the RX4 BP1024 (specs: [www.rainshadowrodblanks.com] ), it’s a 2-piece so easy to transport and break down while in a kayak.

You could go with crankbait blanks but honestly feel like it’s splitting hairs, so go with what’s designed for those applications.

James Taylor
Batson Enterprises
BatsonEnterprises.com | RainShadowRodBlanks.com | ALPSForeCast.com | Build2Fish.com

Very valuable post by Spencer.

Thanks for the advice all. We decided to go with a downrigger blank in the end, as he has tried out a hotshot rod and found it to unforgiving at closer ranges.