Looking for a couple new blanks. Just watched the American Tackle video about European carp fishing and realized how little I know about the more specialized blank/equipment.

I love to fish from the beach in front of our condo. Especially love catching pompano for some reason.

Last year for Christmas I got myself two 9' MHX SU1087F-2-MHX blanks. Here are the details 9'0" | 12-25 lb. | 1 - 4 oz. | Fast Action | Medium Power | 2 Piece | 6.5 Tip | 0.620 Butt | Clear Gloss Finish

They really are great, but I would like to find something lighter... If I catch a 4-5lb pompano it's really a prize. I usually use 15lb pound test. I am just south of Clearwater on the west coast of FL. Not fighting the huge surf on the other side. I use 2oz sputnik sinkers 95% of the time. I have a couple 12' red St Croix blanks for throwing heavier lead when it is really rough. Also two 12' NFC blanks. They are really overkill for a pompano, whiting, redfish etc... in my opinion at least.

I searched and saw this topic had been covered before in the past. One of the posts I found was suggesting a Rainshadow 993 steelhead blank that has been discontinued. Looking to see if there are any new suggestions I could try out?

Rod has to be 2 piece. Spinning rod. I prefer a 50/50 split so I can leave them in my cart in the elevator and going through the gates to get to the beach. I would like 9 or 10' to keep the line out of the grass when it's out there. I usually use #1 or 1/0 circle hooks on pompano.drop loop rigs I make with live shrimp or chinks of shrimp. More distance I can get without throwing the shrimp off would be great.
Love using a 7.5' NFC popping cork rod out there, but it can't handle the 2oz weight. Something to make catching little 3lb fish more fun. Any ideas?

The 993 is still made, but it will not throw 2 oz. not even close, about the same power as a 2 power popping rod. The salmon rods with the same line rating as your surf rods are considerably less powerful, 3 oz. really push them into lobbing only range, 2 oz. should be OK, their lighter power and moderate action makes tender bait fishing easier, they were designed for it from day one. Call Batson and talk to them, the REVST1144F may also be an option.

About a third of the time I have to use 4 oz. sputniks on medium-heavy 10' rods to hold my bait in place. It lessens the "sport" of cranking them in but I still release them into a frying pan. Yum! Circle hooks and allowing the fish to hook themselves is the way to go. Circle hooks have limited the old full-body, all your might hooksets to T.V. fishing shows. I use two #4 circle hooks on droppers and small pieces of clam, which stay on the hook and reduce time wasted fishing without any bait.

I am currently building a CTS JetStream 8'6" 1-2oz for Pompano on the Alabama gulf coast. This will be my third build trying to get it "just right" and based on the way the blank specs and feels I think I'm there. I will load #20 braid on a 3000 series reel using a KL20H as a stripper. I need to hurry, the fish are due any day.

Hey Dan,

I really do enjoy taking home a couple pompano for the dinner table. It is hands down one of my favorites. For my pompano rigs I like to use something in a medium power with a moderate-fast action in 10'. The reason I prefer those specs. is when the pompano run the troughs further from the beach i like the rod to load more, achieving little extra velocity on that 2oz sinker. The blank i would recommend for the dropper/pompano rigs with some shrimp and fishbites is the AXSU100M-2.

However it sounds like you would rather do some pomp fishing on much lighter tackle. In your area the goofy jig's work magic. I love using a Bushido MB710/8-15 for the lighter techniques. I can use this blank with a 1oz and a pompano rig. Where this blank really shines is when i have the 10' in the sand spike and then I can cast some goofy jigs on the beach which produces some nice fish for me.

Rodgeeks has a 4 piece surf blank for super easy transportation that fits your weight range to perfection.

9' | Mono. Line Wgt: 8 - 20 lb. | Lure Weight: 1/2 - 2 1/2 oz. | Moderate-Fast Action, Medium Power

[rodgeeks.com]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Glad to see that I am not the only one that loves seeing them and thinks they're worth some special rods!

Spencer... I'll have to find that post from here again. They said 993 but it had been discontinued like 15 years ago. You are probably right about it not handling the weight. Their post just gave me the idea of thinking out of the box to find something different.

Phil... Those sputniks are amazing. I am amazed at how well the little 2oz ones hold. I buy them on @#$%& from some guy in PA. You're right about the circle hooks. Takes time to learn not to jerk the hook right out of their mouth. Every time I give a rig I tied to some tourist i try to explain just that.

Jim Ising... I might have to look for that CTS blank... I bet it costs a kidney though! I used either 3000 or 4000 series reels with 15 or 20lb braid. Pretty sure I met you at ICAST a couple years ago while I was mesmerized by Billy V spinning his weaves at the Fuji table. Hopefully I'll see you guys there again this summer. Need to figure out something new to buy and sell.

Ancelmo I have that American Tackle blank saved in my shopping list at mudhole. I probably will buy it and try it out. That's exactly what I do too... Put one or two rods in the sand spikes and mess around with a goofy jigs or little knocker rigs on my smaller blank while I'm waiting. It sounds weird but I put a little shrimp tail or chunk on the goofy jigs then jig and drag them along the bottom. It catches a ton of flounder for me.

Chris... Never thought of a 4 piece. I have a 4 piece rod geeks travel rod I used to take to Europe. Haven't used it in a long time but I always like it.

You guys gave me some great ideas... I think I'll order some and try them out. Hopefully someday I will find the "perfect" blank for me!

Your comment " Hopefully someday I will find the "perfect" blank for me" got me thinking about what I have done .


If you know exactly what you want take advantage of what CTS can offer you . They are the only blank manufacturer I know that is willing to build you the blank of your dreams . I asked a whole bunch of blank manufacturers in the past if they can manufacture a surf blank to my exact specs and as expected they all turned me down saying not unless there was a big desire for a particular blank would they consider it .

Except CTS , they said they would do it but there will be a design fee on top of the price they quoted . I couldn't believe they said they were willing to do it . The price seemed fair for what I wanted since they do not offer blanks in their regular lineup that offer the higher performance capability that I wanted but they were willing to roll a blank to my exact specs. I have been blown away with their performance , simply awesome compared to everything else I have tried over the years.

If you have a dream rod CTS is one outfit that maybe willing to listen and roll a blank to your exact specs.

The 993 has always been there and is the REVST993F now, was the IST993F till the change. The good thing is Pac Bay also had the same blank, at least on paper, same rating, length, and tip and butt dimensions.

I bought a 9’ CTS JetStream version of the Jet Stream 8.5’ Blank that Jim bought Have not made it up yet but I think it might be a excellent choice. I’m currently using a couple of salmon blanks as pompano rods they work extremely well, but are rated up to about 1.5 or 1.75 oz. The area I fish does not have a lot of current so I don’t need heavier weights. I just recently built an MHX SA1086F 9’ salmon blank rated up to 2.5 oz. The person I made it for is using it as a spillway striper rod, but I think it is close to what you want. It is a very nice blank. [www.mudhole.com]
Norm

Chris... I feel like Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder.... I lack the vocabulary to build my own blank I just chuck the lead! Honestly I don't know what exactly what I want, or how to describe it. I think that is really cool that CTS does that for you though. I have heard good things about them, but have never used or held one of the blanks. Lots of people in this thread suggesting it though. Have also read a lot about using salmon blanks like Spencer and Norman are suggesting, but I've never held one of those either. Maybe I will order a couple of the Salmon blanks and try to get the CTS jet stream they are talking about also. See what I like. If I don't like the others I can always build them up and give them away to friends on the beach. Half the fun it trying to make every rod just a little better than the last for me. I am going crazy right now trying to decide what rod wrapper I want to buy now too. I'm ready to give up on the Pac Bay I have been using for years

If you are using monofilament switch to #20 gel-spun braid, #10 leaders, and #4 circle hooks, which are plenty enough for pompano. If that doesn't work then you can start building different rods?

I'm going to go in a different direction. Just don't know if they make anything like what I am talking about anymore.

There was a seeker S glass blank that the bass guys discovered was great for A-rigs and such. It wasn't too heavy and would cast a wide weight range really far with little effort. IIRC it was the Seeker BS756S. The Seeker Blue Lightning CSW808 might be worth a look. You will have to extend if you need 9 foot. These blanks are designed to be trimmed and have a nice soft tip that keeps fish buttoned up well. Pompano often like to peck a bit before they take the bait and a soft tip can result in more hookups in clam waters.

You can search on here for the "Rich Forhan legacy elite". Just thought I'd throw out something different.

I do have a HS1025F steelhead blank. I don't think it would cast 2 oz but it is a rocket launcher with 1 ounce (and I think it would do 1 1/2 oz). The light tip make small fish more fun but it is still overkill. But then any graphite blank that can cast 2 oz is going to be.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

I know this is older. But after building the SU1087F from MHX, I build a rod on the Black Hole Suzuki Special. SUPER light weight, very sensitive and great for throwing 1-3 ounces (though I lob 4 ounces for surf perch with it.....pretty sure it's destined to blow up if I continue to do so). I have the 10 footer which is the lower power of the 2. Fully built, it is 195 Grams..6.878 ounces. Stupid light, can launch 1-2 ounces out of sight and has the ability to carefully cast up to 4. It's also very cheap compared to most blanks.