Alright.. Been awhile since i posted, but im not 100% on how to approach this build.. I have a few wishs from the customer.. See what you guys think, or suggest..

First off, the rod is for lake Ontario, launching from Mexico Bay, obviously for kings.. The only times ive ever been salmon fishing was there with these guys.. And i cannot believe how much bend they put into the 2 interior rods alongside the motor, laterally bent in half.. Everything ive been taught tells me thats @#$%& for the rod, but these guys do it that way for years.. Soo... If its wrong, the build still has to hold up to some wicked abuse.. Any way, back to the rod and his requests..

He wants a 7' 1 piece fiberglass blank rated for 17-30lb test
Hypalon rear and foregrips
Batson aluminum reel seat for a Shimano Telora 500
Stainless guides

He had a rainshadow that our great guru, the legend only known as norman miller repaired while i was greener then green, so they do carry a rod that can withstand these stresses... Ive witnessed the repaired rod hook up while bent in half.. Took it like a champ.. Made me nervous as @#$%& since it was the repairs first voyage..

Im not sure on guide sizes, spacing i assume would just be placed in static position. Down know what reel seat size to go with.. @#$%& i dont even know grip length or blank to go with.. I was supposed to have the rainshadow thay was repaired to use as a guide, but it magically dissapeared.. Go figure..

He runs dipsy divers, and these spoons that are like 8-10" long.. If this helps.. Its a long way away from my ultralights, thats foe sure.. Lol

Suggestions? Help?

Anthony,

1. For this type work - the rod MUST be a fiberglass rod. A glass rod can be bent in a circle for its entire life and be just fine.

2. I would put at least a 12 inch rear grip and a 4-5 inch front grip for ease of use and use in a rod holder.

Take a look at this video for giving you a very good idea on the type rod that is needed:

[www.youtube.com]

Notice the size of the blank in the area of the reels. A really large diameter to give the beef to handle the required loads.

You can look at the Shimano rods in question to get an even better idea as to what a nice rod looks like that is commercially available for the purpose in question. The fact that Shimano sells a lot of these rods reveal that they work for the fishermen for the purpose for which they have been designed. In particular, look at the rear and front grips and their construction.

Take care

Thanks roger. So im assuming by that video there are specific blanks for each application.. Like downriging, dipsy divers, planers, copper rods.. All are classified as trolling rods correct?

I get you with the handle lengths, i have a penn long beach trolling rod ive never gotten the chance to use, hard to pass up for 10$..

I just built a very similar rod for my brother for down rigging on Lake Ontario, I used a MHX DR845. Its designed specifically for down rigging Salmon and Steelhead

I have used the Batson "RCLB70L" for that.
Also, the all E-Glass "GCB70MH", but it is a little lighter in power.
Here is a link;
[www.schneidersrods.com]

And always wrapped in "Turnover" style.

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

Anthony,
Remember, downrigger rods will be very different than any of the other trolling rods.

A down rigger rods line is attached to a down line that has a 6-16 lb weight attached to the end of the rigger line. Then, on the rigger rod a lure is attached to the end, an appropriate amount of line is let out say - 25 to 50 feet or so - the line is clipped to the rigger line and the rigger line is lowered to the desired depth. When the rigger weight is at the correct weight, the downrigger reel is turned to tighten the rigger rod line. The reel is turned so that the rigger line is bent down about 90 degrees from the angle of the butt section of the rod and then locked in place.

Since the rigger line will have a lot of slack when a fish hits the line and pulls it free from the down line -- the length of the longer rigger rod and the extreme normal bend in the rod, is enough to sweep up to take the slack out of the line and insure that the hook is set in the mouth of the fish. At that time the rod is normally removed from the holder and the hooked fish is reeled in.

For the case of flat lines as well as planer board lines, the line is already tight when the line runs from the flat line reel all of the way to the lure, so it is not necessary to have all of the extra rod sweep to set the hook as is required of a rigger rod. So, often the planer board rod as well as the flat line rods may very well be graphite or a graphite glass combination to do an ideal job for that function.

Best wishes.

I know nothing about down rigger rods, but I think it might be of benefit to build it spiral wrapped.
If I remember correctly the rod you sent me to repair used a Batson RDR blank and it certainly did not appear to be a heavy duty trolling rod but rather a fairly light powered rod that did not seem appropriate for the type of fishing you described. I don’t think at the time either of us understood the type of abuse that rod took. I am surprised the repair held up as well as it did from what you described. For this build I would certainly use a more powerful blank that would be more up to the task. However due to my lack of knowledge on this type of fishing, it is quite possible that the blank previous used is up to the task. Good luck, and thanks for the compliment.
Norm

I think solid glass rods are more durable than fiberglass rods. Choice of materials depends on the priorities of the buyer - and I would touch all bases before building.

Simply put, he loves his rainshadow.. He built it years ago, norm can attest to it being a definate first build.. Lol he wanted a twin, but has no idea where the rod got to.. So i cant use it as a reference.. It will be used for a downrigger, only reason he said fiberglass is he understands the stress it goes through.. He had 2 okuma rods, they both broke, bkth got replaced and broke again.. I assume improper use.. He is very hard on his gear...

They say that rainshadow is the best rod they ever fished with..

Thanks for all the input guys.. Any suggestions on reel seat size yet?

Spiral wrap would be the best way, but ask ASK HIM FIRST, many don't like the look, regardless the benefit.

Ive asked him about spiral wraps the first time i went out with him.. Hes honestly closed minded to them.. He just cant see the benifit of them..

Im going to go over a few things with him this weekend, specifically find out of hes going to use it for a down rigger explicitly.. And if hes open to other blanks, not just rainshadow.. I have my eye on that mhx.. Lol

I would e-mail Batson or Utmost and tell them what you're looking for. This is right in their wheelhouse. They're working from home in a lot of cases calling is not good right now/ Read the posts 5 and 6 down from here..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2020 09:39PM by Lynn Behler.

True thanks lynn..

Ok, so i glt ahold of him.. Gonna go with the MHX DR845 i kind of have a thing for MHX blanks.. They havent led me wrong yet.. And atleast the ones ive built on Can take a beating..

Going to put a 12" haplon rear grip, not sure on foregrip yet..

The reel seat and guides im still not sure on.. He wants all aluminum for the seat..

I corrected him, the reel is,t a Telora, kts a Tekota.. Hard to get reel specs from a production rod name.. Lol so its a Tekota 5000 with counter.. Does anyone have one? Or does anyone know for sure what size seat to use?

The guides.. Stainless is all he said.. I assume he means stainless frames.. Does anyone have a suggestion on ring type? And sizes? I may just try and find a Telora rod somewhere and copy the guide sizes..

I would go with a size 20 reel seat to be sure that you will have a large enough reel seat.

Ok, im guessing you think a 22 is too large?

He may not want ringed guides.

After further review I will politely bow out of this topic. There's likely no one with less knowledge about downrigger rods than myself, and I'd just cloud the issue.

Your alright lynn.. I had the same thought when he originally asked me about it.. He kinda cought me at the most inopportune moment at work.. I was making a weld between 2 sheets of heavy guage metal.. That requires a bridge.. So you hit the weld, welder comes towards you, jog forward, welder goes back.. Jog forward to the other side of the bridge, repeat.. The sheet was 36" so theres no time for error.. At all.. Towers comin down.. Last thing you want to do is stop the line of customer heavy guage copper.. (The solution burns the metal) and this... This is the time he decides to talk to me about it lol

All of the rods he has have rings... The one im replacing had Sic if memory serves..

The MHX DR845 has an OD of 16.55 mm 12””up from the butt, so an 18, 20 or 22 reel seat will work. I would go for the smallest that fits the reel foot. Does he want a tigger reel seat or not?
Norm