I’ve been eying the IMMWS62MXF for a new jerkbait rod for pointer 110’s. What do you all think? It will be built as a bait caster using 10 & 12lb flouro

I myself like a little lighter powered blank for that and I think this blank will no longer be supported by Batson, it looks like it's discontinued. I called a more avid bass angler I know, and he told me I was all wet, one of the best he says he ever picked up that could still be available was a copy of the G Loomis MBR 782C IMX or GLX. That info puts your blank in a good light, though neither one of us has fished it and I bet NFC has a blank in the Loomis blank pattern in their catalog, call both companies and ask, it's all part of rod building.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2024 12:52AM by Spencer Phipps.

I made a jerkbait rod out of a NFC Xray SJ703 that I cut a few inches off the butt. It is a really nice jerkbait rod if you like a lighter jerkbait rod and are not power ripping luke KVD.

I'm not familiar with your blank but have built a few blanks that work well for different size jerkbaits. I'll use the megabass 110 and 110jr as reference points as I think they're the most universal jerkbaits at this point.

Nfc xray is694 - 110jr and down size jerkbaits. You could throw a 110 on it in a pinch, but I wouldn't make that a regular occurrence

PB691MLXF - 110 to 110jr very well. Wouldn't go much above a 110 though and could go a little under a 110jr

NFC xray mb684 - a little slower action (not by much) than the PB691MLXF and a little more powerful (not by much). Fishes nearly the same range as that rod maybe just a hair heavier baits

PB691MXF - good all-around full-size jerkbait rod. It wouldn't be my dedicated 110jr rod if that's what I threw most of the time, but it throw and works it well. It can go up a size over the 110 too.

For BFS size jerkbaits, the xray sb683 is a great rod. It's probably my favorite build to date. It's just a lot of fun to fish. Anything ~3-7g is it's sweet spot.

Pardon the long post, but I think there are some unusual complexities in this. My driving interest in rodbuilding is matching fishing techniques, and jerkbaiting is my favorite one. My preference for jerkbait rod action is a stiff tip with some flex in the midsection. I’ve weeded through a few hours of jerkbait content on the major fishing channels. This action matches what most of the frequent jerkbait anglers on the tours and fishing channels are reporting that they use, with a few exceptions. Some of the rod company sponsored guys aren’t admitting to using this action when it’s not in their official quiver. I’m skeptical when they say they prefer a rod really heavy for the weight range of these casting challenged baits when their sponsor just happens to only make a rod for big topwater plugs in the appropriate length range. Anyway, Matt Allen has a great breakdown of jerkbait rod action under a fall jerkbait fishing banner. I think he is spot-on after quite a few hours fishing builds emulating the action he recommends.

The stiff tip section helps me work the bait more precisely while using less effort. The effort difference is really noticeable. The Pointers have great side to side, “dog walk-ish” action, but this does require more effort from the angler than baits like the Visions. A little flex in the midsection and fluorocarbon line helps keep quality fish pinned on those smaller treble hooks. The Rainshadow XF jigging rods feature softer tips and stiff mid-sections. That’s the opposite of what I prefer for jerkbaits. I have worked a Pointer (size 100, though) on my Rainshadow ETES610MXF, drop shot build to see if it was a suitable backup. It worked, but I wouldn’t want to do that for a couple of hours in a row.

I cut three inches from the butt of an SCV70MF on my last jerkbait build and have really enjoyed the rod. It’s the longest rod I can work from the boat I most often fish from without hitting the water. These are fairly poor casting baits (Pointers are better than some others) so giving up more length than you need to isn’t ideal. I can’t prove it, but I think butt-cutting slows down the butt and midsection more than the tip. I asked that question once here and didn’t get any definitive opinions.

Often rod and some blank manufacturers offer technique specific rods for techniques that don’t seem to require anything specialized (like the 47, err 48 now, different techniques for sliding and/or hopping baits in the same weight range along a rocky bottom). Jerkbaiting is in the running for the most rod dependent technique in freshwater fishing. Yet, it likes kind of an opposite action to what is typically offered in the industry. Maybe a blank manufacturer will soon design for this technique and solve the riddle. I have no doubt that a dedicated taper would be better than butt-cutting.

Excellent information gentleman! It is greatly appreciated and I’ve a bit of decision to make.

Have a great one
Tom

I most definitely agree with Kendall when he says that a really great jerkbait rod is an animal all its' own. What he likes in a jerkbait rod mirrors exactly what I like. And again as he says, I don't think any factory rod that I've actually flexed, or checked out on various tackle web sites, seem to have what I look for in a jerkbait rod.

Like him, I like a fairly stiff tip on my jerkbait rod,. While I don't personally fish a Pointer, I do fish the Staysee 90, and other similar deeper diving jerkbaits that are larger in size than the Staysee, as well as the more universally used MB Vision 110 baits. The stiffer tip really comes in handy when trying to drive deeper diving baits down deeper. It also comes in handy when you really want to make a bait like a Vision110 really dart erratically. I fish jerkbaits for smallmouth more than I do largemouth. And there are times when the smallmouth really want a bait that's ripping hard through the water column.

Then as he said, you need that flex deep into the mid section of the blank to keep those fish pinned on at times, some quite small treble hooks. I've built two different dedicated jerkbait rods. Both built on trimmed down blanks. The first one built on an MHX SJ783 trimmed to 6', proved to be a failure. It had the tip I liked, maybe a tad to stiff, but the biggest problem was that it was far to stiff in the mid section. The second one I built, I like much better. It's built on a Rainshadow Revelation REVS68ML blank that I trimmed down to 6'1". It has a perfect tip and good flex into the mid section of the blank under the load of a fish.

The only thing I wish about it, is that it had more flex deeper into the blank. I'm happy enough with my current jerkbait rod that I won't be building another, but if I did ..... I'd consider giving the REVS72ML blank a try, and play with reel seat location to see how much I'd want to trim from the butt.

I again agree with Kendall in that a dedicated taper from a manufacturer would be great. But in the mean time, it seems, at least to me, that trimming a blank is the only way to get the characteristics I'm looking for in a jerkbait rod.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2024 05:37PM by David Baylor.

I'm on a similar quest for the perfect 110 jr rod.
I built a P700 for fishing the Rapala ULM-6. I think this is the perfect jerk bait action for my taste in that UL weight class; I just wish they made several different powers.

I am building a P702, but I think the action may prove a little fast for my taste. I will report back after I have a chance to fish it...

I'm curios if anyone else can read NFC well enough to decipher their offerings and find other rods with a similar action to the P700?

NFC Delta 664 it's really amazing!

Mine has a super short handle, weights 99gram built, and has enough power to handle +1 or deeper diving jerk baits. I've also thrown megabass 90mm baits.

Highly recommend and it is a great top water rod in the summer.

I understand that Shimano and Megabass each make a dedicated rod with the action we are talking about. I’ve never seen either. They are more expensive than what am willing to pay for a rod I don’t get to spec out and build the way I want it to be. They are often sold out for many months. The Shimano was for multiple years after its introduction splash. I see that the scope anglers have discovered that jerkbaits work well with that tool. There seems to be good volume left unfulfilled here.

The PB691MXF (600g/76deg) is currently my favorite jerkbait rod. The XRay MB 684 (625g/75deg) is a very close second...I think value wise it can't be beat at $75.

For comparison, I fished Megabass rods for many years before I started building my own rods, IMO they made some of the best factory jerkbait rods...Which makes sense given they make (arguably) the best jerkbait too. I measured almost all of my MB rods before I sold them off.

Destroyer 110 Special: 625g/70deg
XX Jerkbait Special: 600g/73deg
X4 Oneten Stick (the 'original' 110-dedicated rod by Shin Fukae): 425g/60deg



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2024 10:02AM by Logan Summers.

Logan Summers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The PB691MXF (600g/76deg) is currently my favorite
> jerkbait rod. The XRay MB 684 (625g/75deg) is a
> very close second...I think value wise it can't be
> beat at $75.
>
> For comparison, I fished Megabass rods for many
> years before I started building my own rods, IMO
> they made some of the best factory jerkbait
> rods...Which makes sense given they make
> (arguably) the best jerkbait too. I measured
> almost all of my MB rods before I sold them off.
>
> Destroyer 110 Special: 625g/70deg
> XX Jerkbait Special: 600g/73deg
> X4 Oneten Stick (the 'original' 110-dedicated rod
> by Shin Fukae): 425g/60deg

Are those your own CCS numbers?

The xray mb684 I measured (525g/74deg) was way off that IP number. The PB691MXF is in line with what I measured (612g/76)

And fwiw, I measured the Shimno Expride A 610M at 580g/70deg and it's also regarded as one of the best jerkbait rods around.

Yep, I generally only post CCS numbers for rods I've measured myself. I've built 4 684's now and they are all right around those same number, though admittedly I didn't put every single one through CCS. I've also measured the MB724 and it was 600g, supposedly the 684, 724, and 764 are all the same pattern cut to different lengths.

I can't say which is "right" just that the ones I got measured out that way.

600ish for IP seems to be the preferred power for jerkbaitd... Though I will say that original X4 Oneten Stick at 425g is still one of my favorites, the slower action makes it feel more powerful than the #'s indicate.

That's interesting about the mb684s. I bought that blank hoping for something around ip 600g and was a little disappointed by its power. Maybe the 1 I measured is an outlier. I'll have to try another. The PB691MXF i have is significantly more powerful the the mb684.

Because of the way NFC flex tests their blanks to see if a blank fit the model number they give them, there can be a pretty wide range in power. I questioned Alex in a couple of e mails about the posted dimensions of blanks I ordered, versus the actual dimensions I received. In those e mails I mentioned how changing the diameter of a tube affects that tube's strength, which would affect the CCS numbers for the blank.

His explanations, which he later shared in a thread he posted on this site, that he answered questions members asked, was that in order for a blank to pass the flex test for it's model number, it couldn't flex into a power adjacent to the listed power.

An easier way to make sense of what I just said lol is ..... using an MB 704 as an example. It's an MB 704 as long as it flexes enough not to cross into the realm of what constitutes a 3 power, and as long as it doesn't flex so much that it crosses into the realm of what constitutes a 5 power. He didn't share how much weight was used to flex the blank in the example I just laid out. Industry secret I guess. In CCS terms ..... and these are just random numbers. If a 3 power has a high side IP number of 450 grams, and a 5 power has a low side IP of 600 grams, there could be a 150 gram difference in IP from blank to blank and both blanks would still be classified as 4 power blanks.

Now I wouldn't think there would be that wide of a range from a high side 3 power, to a low side 5 power, but I have done CCS tests on blanks I've built on, and some of them are vastly different than other CCS IP numbers I have seen listed, for the very same model blank. I did CCS on an SB 724 X ray I have here at the house. I got an IP of 513 grams. There are two other SB 724 X ray blanks listed in the Rodbuilding.org data base, one with an IP of 398 grams, one with an IP of 463 grams. Could be mistakes in testing on my part or on the other contributors part, but could it possibly be an illustration of how widely the IP of a rod can vary, and still be called a 4 power?

I wish I could remember the title of the thread that Alex posted. If I remember correctly, it had the words "blank quality" in the title. Honestly, I think the range in IPs that a specific model can have, might be part of the reason that manufacturers haven't started posting IP numbers for their blanks. When you see a number, especially if that number comes from the manufacturer, I think you automatically expect the blank you buy, to have the exact same number, or one that is very close.

But, as Alex explained in the e mails we exchanged, and in the thread I referenced earlier, there are variances allowed in the materials a blank is built on. Those possible variances from blank batch to blank batch, will cause a blank wrapped on the same mandrel, to have different dimensions, as well as different powers and actions. These aren't blanks that are built on a CNC type machine. They're hand made, There are going to be variances. Whether we deem those variances acceptable or not..... that's up to the individual.

I have two SJ 765 X-Ray's in my shop right now, one is 850g and the other is 800g....Just measured last night with this thread in mind. I'll have to borrow back one of the 684's I built to measure it, because now I'm curious about the ones I didn't measure :)

None of the other companies blanks that I have CC'd over the years have had repeatable values, if you do the math instead of just look at the numbers the percentage of difference is surprisingly similar for the most part.

So far I ordered the Northfork x ray 684, the point blanks will be ordered soon

For anyone interested, I found the thread started by Alex, referenced in my prior post. If some tried searching for the thread based on what I thought the possible title was, my apologies, because I wasn't even close. lol

Anyhow ....... here is a link to that thread. [www.rodbuilding.org]

So my approach to rod building comes from building rod for wading inshore waters, mostly Texas, very shallow bats for speck and reds. Jerk baits, corkys, Double Ds, MR27s, shadow raps....the list goes on of the typical baits thrown.

An extremely popular blank I use is the Rod Forge 6'3" Medium xtra fast ( IP=430 AA=83) HTD from Rod Forge. The Medium Fast (IP=500 AA=78) HTD from Rod Forge is great for the larger jerk/twitch baits. Lastly the 6'10" ML xtra fast (IP=400 AA=82 ) has been popular with lighter jerk/twitch baits.

When I wade I will always have the 6'3" Medium xtra fast with me with a jerk/twitch bait tied on. Weighing only 1.2 oz and having an AA of 83 degrees it is not a forgiving rod with high sticking, but it is something special for jerkbaits.