I hope everyone is staying healthy. I posted a month or so back inquiring about sturgeon rod blanks. I really appreciated those responses. I have some information about how the captain is fishing and would like to get some more thoughts on blank suggestions. The captain is fishing the St. Clair River, in the section he fishes the current is typically 4 - 6 mph. He uses 8 to 16 oz weights to get a large ball of worms to the bottom. He is currently using a Shakespeare BWC 2202 MH Action line rated 30 - 60lb. I happened to have a Rainshade E-Glass SWB70 MH 15 - 30lb rated blank and I had him check it out, the rainshadow blank definitely has more power. We think this might be a little too much. We are trying to find a rod that can handle 20 to 30lbs of drag but have a tip soft enough to see small sturgeon playing with the bait. This seems like a pretty tall order but I look forward to your suggestions and comments.

Check out the American Tackle AXVJ7040 ... I think your customer would be very happy with it.

[www.americantackle.us]

_______________________________
God Bless, Don Morse

800-516-1750 ext. 1207 / don@americantackle.us

Rod Building..... It's What We Do.

For your area we'd suggest the Rainshadow RCLB79L ( [www.rainshadowrodblanks.com] ) or the SW967 ( [www.rainshadowrodblanks.com] )

Though if you're getting in the 200lb range then the SWB70MH (or 80MH) would be the choice.

James Taylor
Batson Enterprises
BatsonEnterprises.com | RainShadowRodBlanks.com | ALPSForeCast.com | Build2Fish.com

My favorite legal size sturgeon blank was the Batson SWS597, no longer made, 15-30 lb. line, 3/4 to 3 oz. lure weight, the lighter tip really telegraphed the light bite, with a 5.5 tip, but it had all the butt needed for even a reasonably larger fish. I've used Penn Gti 320 reels for decades on oversized fish to 10 ft. below Bonneville Dam, using up to 3 lbs. of lead, using 80 lb.braid. They have never been overpowered by a sturgeon, max drag on those reels is 12 to 15 lbs. I've see the same fish caught on the old Penn 209M's, my grandad used the for salmon in the 60's, in the same river, fish to 60+ lbs. That amount of drag is just not needed, nor built for.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2020 05:09PM by Spencer Phipps.

I have been looking at building a sturgeon rod for a while and was going to order the SWS597. I liked the 5.5 tip. What is a comparable option?