Looking at building a few rods for large game, mainly bait not lures trolling for marlin of SC. Reels will 50w with 130lb holo to 100 mono top shot. All standup in a harness not out of a chair. I am a fan of using high quality ring guides with a roller tip over all rollers is that viable here or should I just bite the bullet and go all rollers? I will accept any all advice about building these rods but my main question is what blanks do y'all recommend?

Im open to all brands just let me know what y'all like, also what finished length do y'all like?

What line class is the rod rated for? Typically I'll go on and move to all rollers once the rod rating moves above 50lb class. Otherwise stick with heavy duty ceramics. There are pros and cons to both.

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We’d recommend any of the following Rainshadow blanks
RCTB56H - [www.rainshadowrodblanks.com]
RSU60H - [www.rainshadowrodblanks.com]
FSU56XH - [www.rainshadowrodblanks.com]

The ALPS Heavy Duty HXN-Guides would work quite well.

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

further down in the post I say I am also looking for blank recommendations. I much prefer ceramic rings but know for larger game rollers are preferred however with braid I was thinking the ceramic would be better and you segues landing large swords on rods with just a roller tip all the time

further down in the post I say I am also looking for blank recommendations. I much prefer ceramic rings but know for larger game rollers are preferred however with braid I was thinking the ceramic would be better and you segues landing large swords on rods with just a roller tip all the time

I would direct this question to a South Carolina charter boat captain, who likely has by far the best information about this topic.

As long as the fine diameter of the braid isn't prone to getting down into the roller, between the roller and frame, rollers remain fine for your purpose. There are various style roller guides on the market.

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If you are fighting stand up style with a harness, you want to be certain you can break the line. There have been more than a few fishermen that got pulled into the drink because they were using stand up gear with line that was too heavy. This is fine if the fish are not as strong as you are but on the bigger species you need to use some caution here. Some use braid, I won't.

I appreciate the advice and is very good advice but I have some experience fighting standup larger fish with braid so I'm confident that I can run this set up. I will take the proper precautions don't worry. Im not just some rookie that who is now fishing in the ocean and wants to chase the biggest fish out there. I just don't have an rods that a dedicated to this style of fishing and want to make some but before I jump into it want to gather as much info from others first.

Toss some turbo SIN guides on there. An adjustable Winthrop butt aluminum reel seat and call it a day

Mike Ballard Wrote:
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> If you are fighting stand up style with a harness,
> you want to be certain you can break the line.
> There have been more than a few fishermen that got
> pulled into the drink because they were using
> stand up gear with line that was too heavy. This
> is fine if the fish are not as strong as you are
> but on the bigger species you need to use some
> caution here. Some use braid, I won't.

For this very reason I added stainless gate type hooks to the clips on my stand up harnesses. If you lose your footing....slip on something on deck....whatever...and end up in the water simply knock the hooks out of the reel lugs. Much easier to manage than the closed snap clips.

To answer your real question, I have built a few dozen shark and tuna stand up rods for guys on the South Shore of Long Island on Seeker S6460H up to 80lb....there are xh and xxh models too.... Most with roller strippers and tip tops with boat type running guides. The guys seem to like them simple. Less to worry about.