So I have been looking at the individual blanks on North Fork's website and was wondering what some of the data means.

For example:

1) Why do they use different weight sizes to load the rods in their charts? It seams if they used a standard weight, say 20 ozs, it would make it easier to see/compare how the rod bends differ, with the same size load applied.

2) What does the "881 @ 20oz on the SJ 736 X-Ray" versus the "890 @ 20oz on the MB 736 X-Ray" Mean?

Just trying to get my head around the charts for selecting new rods.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Leonard: Except for fly rods there is a tradition among rod-makers and rod advertisers which replaces numbered measurements of rod performance with terms such as "fast" or "extra-fast" or "medium" or "smooth" or "powerful" or even "soulful"! These meaningless terms promote buyer's remorse but sell a whole lot of rods. Probably the best you can do is ask friends if you could test-cast their rods.

The numbers 881 and 890 are the stock numbers (SKU) for the SJ736 X-ray and MB736 X-ray, respectively. The chart basically shows that the SJ has a little faster action than the MB, and maybe a little more powerful. The reason for varying the weights used is that they cannot use the same amount of weight for comparing all blanks since it would be too light for some blanks, barely causing them to bend, and too heavy for others, causing them to bend in half. So the weights used are based on the power of the blanks being tested. They use a weight that puts a nice bend in he blank so you can see it bend profile. I personally don’t think these bend profile charts help that much except for giving some very general visual information on action and power. NFC at one time published the CCS numbers on their blanks, but they no longer do this.
Norm

Rod house France offers a tool to compare different blanks. Works well if you want to compare a known blank to something else.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Many fishers blame their casting deficiencies on their equipment rather than their casting ability. Those who sell fishing tackle heartily endorse this delusion, and promise better equipment will make them better casters - sorta like better (more expensive) golf clubs will lower your score.

I agree that poor casting is usually due to operator era the vast majority of the time. However, I would not want to Drop Shot a Finesse Worm on an 8' Flippin Stick.

Thrasher and others do the same thing, look hard enough and you'll see flex board pictures from all of them, they just don't all put them on their sites for us to see, it's a tool they all use. They pick up kids, buckets, weightlifting weights, all manner of things also.

Leonard, IMHO some of the listings on the Xray blanks are wrong. I think they have some numbers associated with the wrong blanks. In general, I'd say the blanks are a little weaker than you'd expect compared to other companies. The SJ series is stronger than the MB series. Also seems in the past people who ordered the same thing didn't always get the same thing so that makes it hard to compare. They definitely seem to be getting their act together these days though. I find it helps to look through other sections for the same blank and see if it is consistent in how it is rated. If you look enough you will find what you need. Like they list the SJ 703 as stronger than the SJ 732, But the SJ 732 has a bigger tip and butt. I would suspect the SJ 736 is a stronger blank than the SJ 725 but I don't have the SJ 725 to compare so I could be wrong.

The RodHouse compare app is quite good. Highly recommend you use it.

P.S. Don't be afraid to try their Hm and IM blanks.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russell 725 is more powerful than 736!

Russell Brunt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Leonard, IMHO some of the listings on the Xray
> blanks are wrong. I think they have some numbers
> associated with the wrong blanks. In general, I'd
> say the blanks are a little weaker than you'd
> expect compared to other companies. The SJ series
> is stronger than the MB series. Also seems in the
> past people who ordered the same thing didn't
> always get the same thing so that makes it hard to
> compare. They definitely seem to be getting their
> act together these days though. I find it helps
> to look through other sections for the same blank
> and see if it is consistent in how it is rated.
> If you look enough you will find what you need.
> Like they list the SJ 703 as stronger than the SJ
> 732, But the SJ 732 has a bigger tip and butt. I
> would suspect the SJ 736 is a stronger blank than
> the SJ 725 but I don't have the SJ 725 to compare
> so I could be wrong.
>
> The RodHouse compare app is quite good. Highly
> recommend you use it.
>
> P.S. Don't be afraid to try their Hm and IM
> blanks.

I checked out the Compare Tool. That was pretty good. Thanks