All,

I'm looking for suggestions on a blank for bottom bouncing while drifting the Niagara River. These will be built for my dad and his cousin, and they can't be any longer than 7' to fit in the rod locker.

The rig they use is typically a 3 way rig with 1-2 oz pencil weight and a trailing kwikfish or egg sac. Typically they'll be catching brown trout, steelhead, or smallmouth bass, but there is the chance to run into salmon.

They originally asked about just matching a standard 7' MH fast action bass rod, but after talking with them a bit about why I thought a more moderate action would be better for this purpose, they agreed.

I'm currently leaning towards something like a 7' MH inshore popping rod (something like the Rainshadow Revolution or Immortal) for this purpose but want to make sure I'm not way off base. If people have other recommendations I'd be happy to hear them.

In my experience the Rainshadow popping rods are much less powerful than their "bass" rods at the same power. I have an immortal 7' heavy popping blank and it has less than 600 grams of power (sorry I don't remember the exact number). I do agree that a more moderate blank makes sense for that application. Maybe one of their crankbait blanks would be more appropriate?

I have no experience with popping blanks, but from what I understand is that they make excellent crankbait blanks because of their more moderate or moderate fast actions. Peter saying that the Rainshadow popping rods are much less powerful than bass rods of the same named power, applies to crainkbait blanks for bass as well. They aren't as powerful when compared to an MB or SJ blank.

If you're thinking you may want more power than a popping blank can provide, but still want that moderate to moderate fast action, you may want to look at a lighter powered flipping blank. NFC might have something you'd be interested in, in their flipping blanks.

And as far as the crankbait blank suggestion that Peter made. The Judge crainkbait blanks from Rainshadow may be a blank you want to consider. Looking at the Rodbuilding.org CCS data base, it lists the 7' MH Judge crankbait blank as having an IP of 573 grams. That sounds like it would be close to the 7' heavy power popping blank Peter mentioned. There is a heavy power Judge crankbait blank that probably has more power than the MH, but I can't be sure. There isn't a listing for the heavy power in the data base.

Myself I would go two piece like the NFC HS 7600-2, 2piece. Since it works so well on plugs (designed for it), Lindy rigging, and I have caught chinook salmon to 25 lbs. on one in the Columbia River, walleye fishing a worm rig. I accidentally caught 2 Spring Chinook on the Willamette River while shad fishing, the 13-15 lb. footballs were hooked on a #8 Siwash hook attached to a #1 Dick Nite trout spoon.

Peter and David,

Thank you for the feedback on the popping and crankbait blanks. I'm ignorant when it comes to popping blanks and honestly thought they'd be more powerful than similarly rated bass blanks, so I'll have to give that some more thought.

Spencer,

I was hoping you'd have a thought since I think you do some similar fishing on the west coast. If I was building this for myself, I'd definitely be looking at a multi piece longer rod, but they want the convenience of a one piece that they don't have to break down to fit in their rod locker. Definitely means I won't be able to give them the absolute best tool for the fishing, but I'm going to do the best I can.

Do any of guys have any thoughts on some of the multi-material blanks out there? I'm thinking of something like NFC's NEO or delta blanks?