First off I'd like to say thanks to everyone on here. I'm 10 rods in and have learned a ton from both recent discussions and archived posts on here.

But I digress:

In advance of an annual trip I make to the South Llano river in Junction, TX every October, I attempted to create my perfect 4-rod river bass arsenal. Fishing exclusively from a kayak, I need multipurpose rods with some overlap amongst them.

All rods were built as casting rods with an RV6 butt guide followed by 4 kb5 and 5 kt5 fuji alconite guides. Tip top was a 5.5.

1. NFC Xray SB683 - I built this as a pseudo BFS rod and it did not disappoint. I threw a whopper plopper 60, Shimano Macbeth 39 crankbait, and Rapala Ultra Light Pop. It cast everything very well (30ish yards accurately was no problem) and whooped a sporty 17" river largemouth without too much problem. Probably my favorite build.

2. PB691MLXF - I used this rod for smaller walking baits like an Evergreen Shower Blows 77.7, Owner Cultiva Zip'n Ziggy, as well as small 1/8oz buzzbaits, a Bill Lewis ATV 1.0 squarebill and a small custom 1/4oz spinnerbait. It handled it all well. It casts the shower blows further than I feel comfortable fishing it.

3. PB691MXF - This rod was my cleanup/do it all rod. I threw a shower blows 105, bigger spinnerbait, the same ATV 1.0 crankbait, and a 3/8oz chatterbait mini max. It can throw such a wide range of baits. I loved it most on the mini max but all of those baits are in its wheelhouse. I caught big fish of the trip, a 19.5" largemouth, and it was a fun fight on this rod.

4. NFC Xray SJ736* cut down to 6'9 - I wanted a rod to replace a 6'9" Kistler Helium LMH I have for throwing baits on the heavier side of the river bass spectrum. I CCS'd this blank at full size (IP 750, AA 76) and at the cut down length (IP 680, AA 73) and the cut down length was a perfect match. I used this rod for throwing a Jackall Kaera frog (1/2oz), a 3/8oz chatterbait mini max and a Megabass Mag Draft 5" (3/4oz). I think the magdraft was probably stretching the rods capacity a little bit, but for short target casting and skipping under trees it worked fine.

Overall, I am thrilled about the builds. Fishing an entire weekend with my own builds was an awesome experience.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2023 09:54PM by Patrick Coco.

There is no X-ray sj763 that I am aware of and the X-ray SJ703 is much lighter in power. Did you mean SJ765?

Dean Veltman Wrote:
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> There is no X-ray sj763 that I am aware of and the
> X-ray SJ703 is much lighter in power. Did you
> mean SJ765?

Ah thanks for catching that! I meant sj736.

Patrick - great report. I've built on both of the PB blanks you mentioned and agree they are really nice responsive blanks that can handle a wide range of baits. Also, thanks for posting up the CCS data for the Xray SJ736 with and without the modifications. I'll add that into our ongoing CCS Spreadsheet info.

What I was most interested in was whether you had any CCS data on the Xray SB683? I've been looking into those blanks and with an Xray SB682, SB683, and SB684 in the NFC lineup was trying to get an idea of the differences. Currently we don't have any CCS data in our spreadsheet for any of those three blanks. If you have measurements or can get some on the SB683 would greatly appreciate it and will add it in our data available over at this link: [www.rodbuilding.org] and directly on the spreadsheet here: [docs.google.com]

I've got some data that might be helpful for you:

SB683 - IP 258, AA 63
SB684 - IP 452, AA 69 (haven't built this one yet)
MB684 - IP 525, AA 74

I also noticed the new inshore xrays in the 6'9 length, and the IS694 has the same blank deflection picture as the SB684, so I'm assuming they're the same blank cut to slightly different lengths. I'd love to get more info on those 6'9 inshore blanks as well as the sb682 you mentioned.

I have another SJ736 that I have yet to build at it was noticeably less powerful than the one I cut down:

SJ736 - IP 720, AA 78

The xray IS 693 looks to be a little faster and more powerful than the SB 682 but they're both in the same ballpark. I think I'll order both with my next NFC order and get some CCS data on them.

That way we would have the SB 684, SB 683, SB 682 and the IS 694 (same as SB 684) and IS 693 all covered. Plus the MB 684.

Patrick - thanks for the additional info/feedback. A bit surprised by the significant difference in power and action between the SB 683 and 684. Interesting but great to have some numbers.

Will update the CCS spreadsheet here soon.