What do you do with a fiberglass rod that has no backbone or very slow action? It is for ice fishing and 36 inches long. I guess I just don't know if sanding down the tip would lighten it up a little and maybe add some backbone or cutting off a couple inches from the tip would do anything. I wanted to use them for walleye and perch dead sticks ice fishing but there just doesn't seem to be enough backbone to really drive that hook set. The blanks are mudhole deluxe tubular graphite and a the solid glass and janns netcraft composite blanks. Has anyone ever done this or have any ideas what application to use them for. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

The below might help , a data base of ice fishing blanks.


How To: Profiling Ice Rod Blanks
Profiling ice rod blanks is the process of charting the blank’s diameter per every inch of the blank’s length. Gathering this information provides a quantitative means to compare ice rod blanks based on their dimensions which directly relates to strength/stiffness per inch of blank length. In other words, profiling blanks will give you a basic idea of how stiff, or flexible, a blank is at any given distance from the tip. You can use these blank profiles to select a blank that has a bit more backbone in the 6-9” range verses a blank of similar materials. Profiles are relative to the material the blanks are made of – fiberglass compares to fiberglass and carbon to carbon. Tubular blank construction does not compare to solid blank construction.



I figured it'd be helpful if I shared how I develop new blanks, baseline the final version, and create a repeatable guide for building duplicate custom blanks. I call this process profiling an ice blank.


[www.rodbuilding.org]












Another thread below with the rod scientist Roger Wilson chiming in on "Ice Blanks" :

[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2019 09:04PM by herb canter.

Austin,
These are perfect dead stick rods.

Put on a jig, a minnow and drop it down the hole. Put the rod on a holder and let the minnow do the fishing for you.

Assuming that you have razor sharp hooks that you check with your thumb nail after ever fish caught - and resharpen it with a pocket diamond hook sharpener - you need very little hook action to set the hook. Also, if you really need to get a better hook set, simply hold the rod vertical with the tip pointing down the hole and use your shoulder to vertically lift the rod to set the hook. You need 0 rod back bone to set the hook this way.

But, by having a very flexi flyer rod blank so to speak it is the ultimate dead stick rod to give you a very good indication of a bite with the fish feeling 0 back pressure when it inhales the minnow.

Good luck

Sounds like a perfect snare rod, With no need for a wire spring bobber. Run one more guide on it than you think it needs, and let it flex while slowly loading up. The fish will hook themselves with a minnow and a single spilt shot on the line. Paint the tip bright orange or even better, make an epoxy ball on the tip and die it fluorescent orange or put Glow Powder in the epoxy mix.

Hey thanks guy I appreciate the feedback. I will have to just set one up and see how it does I feel a little more confident about them now at least and it's worth a shot I already bought them might as well use them.

I ordered a dead stick from bass khang and it had a real heavy tip with a parabolic bend. Didn't care for it, I chucked it up in my power wrapper and sanded it down into a power noodle blank.