I had a post a few weeks back about building a trolling rod and I have narrowed down what I want and the specifics behind the rod but still want a few opinions.

I will matching this rod up with an Avet HXW raptor with 80lb braid and a 60lb mono topshot. It will be primarily used to troll off the Carolinas with dead bait for dolphin, tuna, wahoo, and occasion billfish. The rod will have a #2 aluminum butt with ring guides (debating between a roller tip) and be 6' long. I will have under 20 pounds of drag most of the time and may occasionally bump it up. I will sometimes do other types of fishing with these rods such as chunking or live baiting for tuna and don't want to have a rod capable of doing more than just trolling but mainly geared toward trolling.

The blanks I am considering are. Feel free to recommend a blank I don't have listed.

Batson RCJB84XH
Clear Gloss 7'0" 1 40-80lb. 4-10oz. 0.950 9.0 F XH 11.5oz.
Batson RCJB84XXH
Clear Gloss 7'0" 1 50-100lb. 6-12oz. 0.925 10.5 XF XXH 12.3oz.
Batson FSU56H
Gloss Black 5'6" 1 30-50lb. N/A 0.870 11.0 / 11.0* M H 9.2oz.
Batson FSU56XH
Gloss Black 5'6" 1 50-80lb. N/A 0.915 12.0 / 13.0* M XH 11.7oz.

I don't have anywhere near me where I can go feel out blanks so any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Firstly, where are you located? There's more places than you think to pull on blanks.

Second, why just Batson? Not that they are anything but great blanks, just wondering why only these models?

I am in Charleston, South Carolina. I am open to all companies but the Batson products seem to be a fairly nice product and at a good price. I have been interested in them and have been wanting to try them out, thought this rod would be a good opportunity to do that.

I fish those waters alot, well out of Oregon Inlet and Hatteras, and even out or Rudee Inlet in VA Beach. The blanks you listed will fit your needs, but for me, I use the American Tackle AXST60H and AXST60XH. The AXST60H is a 30-60 lb blank and is 6'. The 60XH is 50-80 and 6'. For your Raptor with the fishing you described, I would recommend the AXST60XH, (just incase BOSCO shows up) with or without the roller tip. I have a 6pack of 50 TLD's on the AXST60XH's and have 4 TLD 30 's on the 60H for my tuna rods. These blanks perform and are easy to handle.

Capt. Craig Freeman
Grading Scales Sportfishing and Back River Rods

Brandon, we are located in Rock Hill, we are a Batson distributor as well as the exclusive dealer for Artico blanks. Currently we have only a handful of the batson blanks in stock, I'll have to check to see if any of those models are here, but you are always welcome to take a day trip and come by the shop to see anything we do have in stock.