I know that United Composites is not a sponsor, but I do buy them from sponsors like GetBit Outdoors. I just finished another DHX series build and fished it. I really enjoy them when strength is more important than ultimate lightness. Mine have come straight and perfectly finished. They don’t have the advanced, smooth tapers of a St. Croix freshwater blank, but they are so much more pleasant to fish than many composite or glass counterparts. I’ve really tested (border line abused) a 79 Mega and it took it without failure. Their moderate and moderate fast action blanks have fast recoveries. The new build is a UC78L. I built it to throw poor flying spinners long distances to silver salmon from a small boat. I’ve fished it in HellsCanyon with crankbaits and it did that secondary duty well enough. It’s not as nice as the SCV72MM for this use, but it backs it up nicely. Next winter I will probably build on one of their Finatic Swimbait rods for the stated use and coastal rockfish.

Are there any other United Composites builders here? Have any of you used the Zeus or UC jigging blanks. I am looking at a halibut specific build, too. I thought I’d share and see the experiences of others. I rarely see a post here about their blank options.

No United Composites for me but I know Stephen Pratt of CTS was taught about the helix designs of UC many years ago and has used the Helix and dual helix construction methods in their blanks . I have numerous CTS surf rods that utilize dual helix construction.

A CTS dual helix surf rod is one of my remaining dream builds, but I don’t think I can justify its cost as a near entry into surf fishing.

I have 7 ea., 6 FW, 1 SW70M.

I have an array of UC blanks for my personal sticks and built several for my fishing partner and local fisherman.

have yet to build any slow pitch style rods.

mainly building west coast surface jigs sticks 9'-10'

I've got a mix of around 30 UC's, mainly their heavier saltwater line up with a few lighter builds. I like the straight graphite blanks more than the composites but they have their place depending on the application. I've got a standard Zeus 0, 1, 2, 3 and a 7'2 Zeus 3 and they are great for jigging, especially for thinner profile jigs or tungsten. Don't have any of the UC series jigging blanks but they are on the to-do list, they have more recoil so wider profile or textured jigs would work better. Building a couple more of their 2 piece popping rods at the moment, the only series I haven't felt in action is the GT Surf.

Thanks, I’m considering the US55XXOS for a halibut stick. I often use the Pitbull Tackle Bora Jigs enhanced with 9/0 hooks and 12” hoochie. I take it you like the popping blanks?

The XXOS has quite a lot of recoil so if you don't mind that then it should work for jigs in the 16oz range. It's a speed jigging blank so I don't think you'd get a lot of utility out of it if you're mainly trying to target species on the bottom, you might get more action out of a CXJ or Zeus. How deep are you fishing?
I like the popping blanks a lot, they're not for everyone since they're more of a GT than a Tuna style rod but I've gotten away with overfishing the @#$%& out of the XL model at no less than 20lbs of drag with a full bend so I decided to add an H and XH for larger ~180-200g poppers. They have a reverse tapered butt end so they're a bit wonky to build on, but it does save weight to keep them in-line with other comparable rods from Ripple Fisher, Tenryu, Carpenter etc.

I mostly jig two features with one running around 325 feet in depth and the other at about 510. My friend keeps a small boat at a remote cabin in Alaska so we don’t safely have a large reach where the humps and ledges can be shallower. I normally have a freshly caught herring inside of the big hoochie. I get much better catch rates jigging this than using bait on halibut spreaders. Hopefully this extra information helps. I’m very much in the learning to intermediate phase of using saltwater jigs with Oregon/Washington lingcod and rockfish also in play a couple of times each year. I’ve built UC rods for that.

I’m looking to start popping for roosterfish in a few years (retirement). The other popping blank or rod companies you mentioned are up there in price so I was hoping UC was a viable option. GT is my ultimate angling dream. The roosterfish should help me work towards being more ready for them.