I am here asking for the experienced rod builders advice or knowledge . I have built a total of 5 fishing rods ,thats right I dont know much yet lol. My experience with the rods I have built has been amazing to put it mildly . When I first decided to build my first fishing rod I was more than a little skeptical if it was worth my time or money . Long story short , it was worth both big time ! I am a crappie fisherman so thats my focus on building fishing rods . I like longer fishing rods somewhere around 9 to 12 feet long . I am a bank fisherman who fishes lakes so one of my main priorities is achieving as long of casts as I possibly can . I built a fishing rod using this blank RAINSHADOW REVELATION REVS90L-2SB SPINNING ROD BLANK, 9', LT 2 PC . This fishing rod is amazing in my opinion . It casts very well is light and very sensitive . I used Fuji guides and followed the Fuji K Concept . My question is this . Are there better blanks than what I just used and can I improve on what I made with a different blank? I know there are more expensive rod blanks but are they better? If they are could you please elaborate on why they would be better please. I am trying to learn here is my point in asking . Any thoughts would be appreciated .

I don't think you'll get a better blank for the money, especially in that long length and light power. Revelation is a sweet spot in blanks, in my opinion. When you start paying more for blanks than Revelation, blanks can get better as measured by weight, sensitivity (measured by TNF), and possibly some other virtues that I don't recognize (toughness? Resistance to damage?. ??) But the amount by which they get better is smaller and smaller the higher the increment of money paid. It's a lot like many things-there is a price/rewards curve that tends to flatten.

One problem you have is that you are building a specialty kind of rod, and not all makers make what you're dealing with.

If you were asking about a 7 foot bass finesse rod, then I would have a different answer.

I make a lot of 9’ crappie spin rods and I find it’s hard to beat the RX7 Revelation S90L-2 or the ST90L both are excellent. They are my go to blanks for long crappie rods. The PacBay T2SH blanks are also quite good and are less expensive. It’s hard to find suitable blanks that can be used as long crappie spin rods. I prefer a fast to moderate fast action blank, however many of the longer light powered blanks are just too slow for me.
Norm

LiveScope has opened my eyes to a whole new crappie fishing technique. I recently made a trip to Toledo Bend with a crappie guide. I brought several of my favorite 9' to 10' crappie rods and the guys who had TB experience told me to leave them in the truck. The guide had a bunch of 7' medium light spinning rods with light line on small spinning reels. These rods aren't like normal spinning rods in that the first choke guide was a 16, the second was a 12 and the remaining 7 guides were 8's. Not intended for casting but for vertical jigging. We would spot lock over the guides brush piles in 25' of water and you could see the massive schools of crappie on the Scope hovering over the piles. Kind of took some of the suspense out of fishing, but it was super productive.

To your question about other blanks, I've been using 2-piece salmon/steelhead blanks from NFC. Norman steered me that way a while back. Check them out.

It is not the reduction train that sounds "abnormal" about those rods-Fuji KLH uses 16-8-5.5 with light line. It is the large size of the runners. I see no reason for 8's, but they probably know what they are doing. I just don't see it.

You will find that "better" blanks are pretty much a matter of personal opinion. Precious little data is published about the actual physical performance of rod blanks, and if you ask for such the odds are you will be told "find this information for yourself" - which of course involves buying the blank before you can test it !!?

Some of us get our own objective data through our testing and sharing, and in time have a very good idea of what to expect when buying blanks. Point Blank, some of the NFC products, and some of the Rainshadow products, have published CCS data that is easy to get. Not all of us are victims.

Thanks for the feedback . It looks like I got lucky when I bought the Revelation rod blank. Its a lot of fun building fishing rods the only draw back is a guy only needs so many . I have made a couple for friends and they love em . Theres a lot of crappie fishermen around here who I know would really like these rods . Getting into selling rods sounds like a whole new ball game though . I am very happy that I was able to successfully build a fishing rod . Thanks again this is a very good forum .

In his CCS data Hanneman cautions that fly line weight accounts for "less than 10% of rod loading" while the remaining +90% of rod loading is due to the speed of the the line. You can restrict the speed of your fly cast to how fast you can move one arm (or one wrist!) - the one holding your rod - or you can haul on your fly line during the cast and cover a lot more water and spook a lot fewer fish. A lot of nonsense about fly casting rests upon the assumption that the power of the rod unbending somehow pushes the line to greater distances - and hauling line during a cast is only for l-o-o-n-g casts! How's your shoulder?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2022 07:33AM by Phil Ewanicki.

Phil Ewanicki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In his CCS data Hanneman cautions that fly line
> weight accounts for "less than 10% of rod loading"
> while the remaining +90% of rod loading is due to
> the speed of the the line. You can restrict the
> speed of your fly cast to how fast you can move
> one arm (or one wrist!) - the one holding your rod
> - or you can haul on your fly line during the cast
> and cover a lot more water and spook a lot fewer
> fish. A lot of nonsense about fly casting rests
> upon the assumption that the power of the rod
> unbending somehow pushes the line to greater
> distances - and hauling line during a cast is only
> for l-o-o-n-g casts! How's your shoulder?

I may be wrong but I believe Steve Stolle is using a spinning rod set up.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2022 08:31AM by Steven Paris.

Yup a spinning rod . Started out with Zebco 202 seems like another life ago lol . All of you have a great day tomorrow !

Norman,

I have always been curious how those to Revelation blanks compare to each other. What are your thoughts? Would you have any CCS data?

Thanks!

Steve Paris:
Are you declaring that Hanneman can't tell the difference between a fly rod and a spinning rod? Or are you declaring: Hanneman casts flies with a spinning rod? Your wording leaves room for no other interpretations.

Michael, they may be trying to slow down the recovery rate of the rod with the heavier guides to get deeper hookups. That,s just my guess. I think glass would do a better job, if that,s the reason..just postulating..lol. I think the trend of higher modulus and faster reacting rods is over. The fish need time to take the bait. Graphite is just getting too quick and that,s the reason many fishermen are turning back to fiberglass but the high modulus crowd is doing their mischief again..lol.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/24/2022 10:13AM by ben belote.

I wonder what percentage of prospective rod buyers or blank buyers ask to see CCS data before they buy a rod or a blank? I have never seen CCS data accompany a new blank or a new rod. Advertisers apparently find it more profitable to talk about "powerful" or "smooth" or "soulful" fish poles.