Guys, great feedback and things to consider.

Roger, 10-4 on the two-handed casting. Couldn’t agree more. Love the analogy about the musky and 1000s of casts. Next time I come home empty handed from the coast I’ll tell my wife the musky weren’t biting.

Lance, drop me an email. We probably tromp around in some of the same areas down here on the Tx coast so I’d love to continue this conversation offline on blanks.

Tom, Jim, David….love the discussion on tip velocity and I have some thoughts, but I’m going to abstain from this discussion for a sec and go back to blank selection.

I’m going to start my blank selection research with what I know and what CCS #s I have. So here’s a question….would rods from the same model line, in this case the Rainshadow Immortals have the same rod performance if the listed specs are close. For instance, would a 7’ Immortal P70M generally have the same CCS#s as an Immortal P76M? Both have identical line and lure ratings, action and power. The P70 has smaller butt but a shade larger tip. And it weighs a bit less.

Same question goes for the Revelation blank line. The 7’6” RevIP76M has almost the same specs as the ImmP76M I own. Same question for the RX6 line 7’ 10” SP943. Again I’m looking for a starting point w respect to CCS# of what I know, compared to what is listed in the books. Plan to have this same discussion with the guys at Batson as soon as I can. Gonna do the same with other blanks that I use for the application that I previously listed.

Any thoughts are appreciated. As always, thank you.

Berk

Tom, agreed.

Edit for addition. Larry, I see you were doing your post at the same time I was replying to Tom. I can't really speak to the longer blanks you're talking about, but I can share some CCS #s for an Immortal blank that I built on that might fit the bill. I absolutely love the Immortal blanks. I've only built on two different models thus far, but as you have experience with them, you know how truly good they are.

I built a rod on the Immortal IMMC73ML blank. I built it as a conventionally wrapped casting rod, for throwing tube baits, semi light Texas rigged plastics, and swimbaits similar to and including the Keitech's 4.3 Fat Impact. All for large and smallmouth bass. The total weight of the baits I throw with it are probably right around 1//2 oz. .

CCS #s for it are AA - 72. IP - 605. It fishes to its listed specs, which by other blank manufactures standards would probably be labeled medium, and not medium light. It's an absolutely fantastic blank, and can easily cast beyond the distance of getting an effective hook set.

Not directed at you, but just my general feelings about casting distance. I think anglers can become too per-occupied with casting great distances. I can see that for some baits like a deep or even medium diving crankbait, where you need the distance to give the bait time to get in the strike zone, but if it's a bait that you have a chance at getting bit at the end of that super long cast, then I think they are asking for trouble. For one you can only hope that you get a good hook set. Even with braided line, which I believe gives people a somewhat false sense of security in that regard. Sure braid is a lot better at long distances than nylon or fluorocarbon mono filament line, but people would be surprised at just how little pressure there is going to the hook at the end of a 60' or longer cast. Anyhow .... I guess what I am saying is when casting, more needs to be taken into consideration than just how far a rod can cast.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2020 02:47PM by David Baylor.

David, as usual, thanks for your input. The CCS# on your blank really scatter the book specs all over the place as is sometimes the case. By those #s its definitely not a ML considering the #s I have for the P70M are 70/350 g (AA/IP) and the P70M is listed as a med power. Nevertheless, since the weight range I'm looking for is close, and you vouch for its casting prowess, I'm going to put the 73 on my shortlist. Thanks again.

Larry, that's the great thing about CCS #s. You don't have that whole manufacturer X's medium light fishes like a medium from brand Y. If you know how the numbers relate, then you can know what to expect from the various blanks. As far as the Immortal blanks and Rainshadow's named powers go, they're kind of here and there. Some of there named ratings and lure weight ranges match that of other manufacturers. Some of them don't. The other Immortal blank I've built on is the IMMC72MH. Medium heavy power in name, which by pretty much any other manufacturer has a 1/4 - 3/4 oz lure weight rating. The 72MH has a 3/8 - 1 0z lure weight rating.

Looking at the CCS #s for that blank, it's a heavy all day in pretty much any other manufacturers book. It's got an AA of 75 and an IP of 1079. It fishes to its CCS #s. It too is a fantastic blank. Actually it's a phenomenal blank. Perfect blend of sensitivity and power. It definitely has the "it" factor going for it.

Anyhow ..... great thread. Enjoyed the conversation.

Specifying a rod's performance without factoring in the expertise and strength of the caster is pretty much a futile task - but it sells a lot of rods and blanks!