Tom printed an outstanding, informative article (I think it was a reprint from years prior) on “Building Live Bait Rods” in the V21-4 of RodMaker magazine. I employed its contents to build an awesome live-bait rod for Calico out here on the Left Coast. Tom outwardly had a preference to one particular brand of blank,”The Seeker CLB rod blanks come to mind although they are no longer in production”. He also stated, “In the 20+ years of building and fishing live bait rods, I have not found any blanks which work better than this for live bait fishing scenarios…” I built mine from a (yea, you guessed it) vintage FG Conolon blank and absolutely love it, and so do my buddies; it is the stoutest (15-20lb?) of the remaining stock of Conolons.
I recently decided to build a dedicated 20-30lb live-bait rod for Yellowtail and started searching for an appropriate blank. Low-and-behold, the CLB is still available and the CEO of Seeker made it sound like it always has been; and they have a good variety of pound test models. I purchased the 30lb version and am blown-away with how light the tip is yet the butt half is incredibly stout! I am still waiting for the hardware so obviously have not built, let alone fished it yet. But from preliminary observations, Tom was right on point with the CLBs possessing an extremely light tip backed by a very stout butt section. I can’t wait!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

"extremely light tip backed by a very stout butt section"

That is what live bait blanks are all about! I fish them a lot.

The CLB is a stalwart. The Rainshadow RCLB is a value leader. The Calstar Grafighter is more new school. American Tackle has some comparable to the RCLB's. Some of the Lamiglas TriFlex will do if you aren't casting delicate baits. The Lamiglas are under rated and beasts, I don't think you could break them if you tried. Yellowtail are serious adversaries and prone to attack from sea loins so you want to muscle them in.

But for a vintage guy like you I'd seek out some of the old Sabre blanks. IIRC they were made by Pac Bay.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russell,
Your replies and insight are always welcomed, acknowledged and digested = thanks. The objective of the post was to inform those who may not know that the CLBs are still available. I am certain the others you suggested are fine as well. The first saltwater rod I purchased (some 40 years ago) was a Sabre and I still use it on occasion. While I may be admittedly a bit goofy for these vintage Conolons, none the less I still build, fish, acknowledge and appreciate all of the offerings available! Blinders inherently create voids!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

I ended up deciding to try the CLB and Rainshadow. I had read a lot of posts where Tom recommended the CLB I ordered a Black Steel 704 blank and I got a CLB704(wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a CLBF704) but it feels amazing and can't wait to fish it. I'm getting it finished up and will hopefully get it out on the water in the next few weeks. This will be a 15lb live bait rod for stripers.
Compared to the RCLB70XL, the seeker tip is much softer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2021 08:11AM by Al Jones.

The Seeker model is glass, tip to butt, with a outer wrap of carbon that begins about 1/4 back from the tip and gets progressively thicker (more wraps) as you move towards the butt. This was an ideal means of taking an already good live bait blank and powering up the lower areas without affecting the lively tip, while keeping diameter and weight down. I'm glad to hear it is still in production.

The other blanks mentioned may be as good or better. I can't say as I haven't tried them.

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