The name says it all, as my first rod I plan on building a light action rod for Spanish mackerel from the pier, now what im confused about it what blank and the guide selection, I am looking at a Rainshadow Reveation 6'2" Light power Fast action and dont know about guides, I am looking at Carbon Fiber for grip material as it will match my Penn Conflict 2500 perfectly. Tell me anything I should know or if i have something wrong

TIA
Kevin

I don't pier fish but i do fish off the beach close to the piers in the very early morning hours when nobody's around and i catch spanish quite regularly with my surf rods throwing metals . If i was choosing a blank for myself and planned to fish off a pier for spanish i personally like longer blanks absolute minimum would be 7'6 " and my favorites are 8 feet . I find them superior at casting distance and people do throw far distances off piers when targeting spanish and other species . Most pier anglers just fish around the pilings and it's a very effective method since that's where bait congregates and game fish routinely patrol very close to the pilings but on many occasions a cast much further away from the pier is what is required and a light action 6 foot rod is NOT going to cut it in those situations.


These are just my opinions and what i prefer , i have fished plenty of rods in the 6 - 7 foot length and they pale in comparison to 8 footers when the angling will be land based. Now if you were angling from a boat i would choose the 6 footer no question about it but not in this case. Guides can be Fuji KW 's , KR concept (Which i use on all my rods) American Tackles Microwave , Sea Guide , Pacific Bay Minimas's , CRB (Mudhole) Batson's forecast guides or higher end ALPS guides, all these companies offer quality saltwater guides for inshore angling applications .

Exploring what they have to offer is easy as the sponsors are listed on the left side of the page.

All sorts of fish hang around piers - where the bait is. I suspect bluefish and other predator species show up around your pier at times and you will be under-gunned at these times. If you are going to use lines of 12# test or more I suspect you will be better served with a medium action blank.

thats the fun of it, using an underpowered rod it gives the fish a chance, what im mainly confused about is guide sizes and what sizes i need to get in what quantitys

Using a light leader gives the fish an equal chance and allows you the flexibility to pursue a wider range of target species. I try to land fish with deliberate haste whether for release or to dispatch as food.

Assuming you will be fishing braid, or light mono, anglers resource has an on-line calculator for guides.

A longer rod gives the fish a leverage advantage against you and makes them feel bigger.

I doubt anyone would advise an inadequate gun to deer hunt with in order to give the deer a chance. You don't want fish breaking you off on pilings and swimming away with hooks in them.

For smaller fish on light jigs, I'd look at a 7' to 8' rod rated around 6-12# or 8-14# with a lure rating around 1/16-5/8 ounce or 1/8-3/4 ounce.

A spin/jig type would normally be used but a hot shot type would be fun if you want sporting and have finesse. You wouldn't want to high stick or flip a bigger fish with a hot shot blank though. They are fragile and have a light enough tip for bluegill yet have the strength in the butt to have caught a lot of big bonefish, permit, and even cobia in open water with no structure. Look at the HS9000 or HS9001.

For the first build I wouldn't spend too much and would wait on the costly options like carbon grips and titanium guides. You will come out ahead to go with EVA grips, alconite guides, and put the extra 15-50+ bucks into the blank, line, and reel (IMHO).

Guide train will likely look like 20KLH, 10KLH, 5.5M, and 5's or 4's the rest of the way out. Maybe even 16, 8, 5.5 if reel and line are small enough. And remember, the higher end the blank is, the more fragile it is. You don't buy a Lamborghini for off road use. Typically pier and jetty rods lead a rough life. Rodgeeks SC2 inshore would be a safe bet. Something like their C2SW76MLF. Get an extra spool for your reel, load one with light mono at lower end of blank rating, and other with braid at upper end, and you can cover a lot of ground.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

hello Kevin.

I've got about 35 years fishing NC piers and Spanish and king mackerel were my targeted fish.

For king I fish with 30# gear and 8-12# for Spanish, I have always liked "Hot Shot" rods on the pier, but lately (since they made them) I have been putting "Micro Wave" guides on them.


Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

Robert, I have noticed you are also a fan of hot shot blanks, even using them for smaller dolphin.

Is it my imagination or do they seem to be going towards the wayside?

Seems hard to find anything but Batson RX7 or MHX HS9000.

Could be I don't know current line ups. Been injured and out of the loop but hope to get back to building and fishing in the future.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Hello Russ.

Yes I like the HS for 3 or 4 uses, I have about 15 of them set-up 8 or 9 different ways, from drifting the old ATC HS7000 with small pieces of squid on treble hooks for small dolphin to the MHX HS9600 for jigging for Spanish & blues off the pier, to Batson's older HS9001 using small live bait (we are talking silver sided sardine size) drifted either from pier or boat, I've even used HS's for large trout and medium red drum.

Yes they do seem to be going away slowly but there are also some mfr's making other rods that have quit a bit the same build giving the heavy butt and the extra-fast tips.

Good Luck on the Medical side.


Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

Ten or twelve years ago, just for kicks, I built an 8' hotshot blank into a fly rod for myself. It turned out to "like" an 11 weight line for me. The timing of the cast is a little different, but after I became accustomed to it a 70' cast was not difficult, and that rugged lower 2/3 of the blank could put a whole lot of pressure on a 30# and bigger fish.

Hello Phil.

Yea Phil Big backbone extra soft tip great for live baits and some jigs like the got-cha, not being much of a fly guy I don't know much about that.

Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

Unless you’re using a net to retrieve the fish to the pier I would think the rod might snap trying to reel the fish from the water to the deck. I have a revelation 6’2” I built for light freshwater fish, It’s a great rod but I would think it’s too light for Spanish mackerel from a pier. I’ve also notice when using lighter than a 20lb leader these fish cut me off. My setup for Spanish Mackerel a is 7’3” MH 10-20lb rod, Stradic 5000 reel, with 20lb braid to 20lb mono leader or sometimes wire. These fish give me a pretty good fight on this setup. The reel is overkill for Spanish Mack’s but it’s nice to have the larger spool for better casting distance and line capacity for when something larger grabs the lure. You never know what’s lurking around the piers.

Hello Michael.

I "LIKE" to use a net, but don't have one, so I just point the tip of the rod straight down and reel the fish up.

I use 25# mono leader 18" long with a loop for the Got-Cha to move around on.


Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.