Hey guys I had a friend ask me to build him a rod for redfishing in Louisiana. My builds are primarily for bass, crappie and trout so this is out of my wheelhouse. I use NFC blanks pretty much exclusively. Can anyone recommend a NFC blank best suited to this type of fishing? At this point I’m not sure if he wants casting or spinning so I’d appreciate recommendations for either. Thanks and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas

Find out how he wants to fish and build on the bass blanks you know will fit that technique. Mag bass and spin jig blanks do a great job in the salt, and there is a greater variety. Most of the G Loomis Greenwater Series rods are on bass blanks of one type, or another, the rod number on the rod tells it all, unless they have seriously changed things.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2019 12:00AM by Spencer Phipps.

Commonly caught redfish range in size from the three-pound range to the fifty pound range here in Florida. Will he be seeking "eating-size" reds in the 18" - 26" range or bull reds in the 42" - 50" range?

I’m pretty sure he’ll be going after the 18-26 inch fish. He’s not a hard core angler so I’m looking to put together something for general use. I just want to make sure I don’t overbuild or build something too light.

You just want to get a blank that will easily cast the lures or baits he is going to use. For most of my Redfish and speckled sea trout fishing is done with lures or baits that weigh less than one ounce. Medium to medium heavy bass or popping rods will work just fine.
Norm

Bait fishing in tidal waters also affects rod choice. When fishing bait in tidal areas a 4 ounce sputnik (minimum) is often a necessity.

7' medium power for lures and light popping cork / live bait combo and a 7' medium heavy for all heavy live and dead baits. Look at the 704-1 series NFC blanks that are in in medium and medium heavy ranges. 7' Mag bass styles will also work. 7' is just a good all around length for inshore saltwater species.

No time like the present for a first post. I'm new to rod building (first rod built July of this year). I've now built seven. I'm throwing my 2 cents in because I'm on a similar search. I understand your comment about overbuilding or building too light. I've always looked for the perfect rod without it being too light (I have no interest in prolonging the battle - right tool for the job type approach). Experience level of angler makes a big difference in rod blank one can use comfortably and "properly" - imho. As a point of reference, I've been inshore fishing all along the West Coast of Florida (including the Everglades) for about 40 years now. I just purchased two blanks to build for West Coast of Florida inshore fishing. I mostly fish spinning when inshore fishing (flats or around mangroves and docks) I bought the P 704-1 and P 703-1 (both in Lambda LMX) as test subjects. I'm anticipating the 703 will be a flats trout rod while the 704 will be used to target reds & snook. I'll fish ci4+ 3000's on both with 10 lb braid. I was going to start with the PSI LMX flavor but they didn't have stock and I wanted something quick (they delivered the Lambda LMX blanks in 7 days - they had inventory). I have fished exclusively Loomis blanks for the last 20 years. One of my favorites is the PR844S in GL3 flavor. I have caught slot to oversize reds & snook on that rod for years and couldn't be happier. I usually fish 3/16-3/8 oz jig heads with plastic. I will also use it with a popping cork and shrimp or greenback and I also throw mirrOdines with it. While my response isn't helpful to your situation because I have yet to build out the 703 and 704 and provide actual user feedback my hope is it might prompt someone else to chime in and/or give you another option to research and talk to your customer about. I am of the opinion that the Loomis PR844S is one of the all time great inshore general purpose rods. I like a rod that has relatively soft tip for tossing jigs and or live bait but has the power to handle something overslot when it happens. Based on specs at NFC I believe the PSI LMX (IM) would have been closer match to the Loomis 844 but my hope is the Lambda (HM) is newer tech and even more to my liking though the blank feel/response may be a bit different. I'm all about lightweight sensitive rods with power in reserve when I need it. I have visited this site often since summer of 2018 when I first started researching building my own rods and the finer details of rod blank technology and the components.. Took me a year to decide I wanted to take the plunge. This place is an incredible resource for rod building. Thanks to all those that contribute and to Tom K. for providing/managing this resource. Hope my response helped in some small way.

Thanks so much for all the feedback! As I’ve built several rods on the 705-1 blanks for bass fishing I guess it’s not such a stretch from what I’m used to working with. You guys are awesome.

Pete,
My 35 year old PR844S in Gl3 has been a very versatile rod for many things, including getting a 2/3 oz. oval style spoon under a tree and behind a rock to catch the biggest summer run steelhead I've seen since I was a little guy. I agree with your assessment of the IM and GL3 being pretty similar. I have a casting version in GLX that is probably pretty close to the HM blanks of today.