I’ve been eye balling the SJ-725 X-Ray for a while. That or getting a couple more SJ-736’s (I assume they’ll have an IP over ~720). Anyone fished with the SJ-725?

Basically trying to complete my bass set up for me and my son. Any other blanks you recommend? My son mainly does finesse, chatterbaits, football jigs, swim baits, buzz baits, spinnerbaits. Rarely does he use crank baits. I’m the opposite, I mainly use hard baits (Cranks, lipless cranks, rattle traps, frogs, etc)

Current line up I have or will have:
-(two) 725 C602 IPs I don’t recall, same as everyone else though.
-SJ-736 X-Ray IP 687
-MB736 X-Ray IP725
-MB-735 HM (Will test IP tonight)
-Immortal 7’3” Heavy/Extra fast (Haven’t built it yet)
-765 NEO Challenger (Waiting for it to ship out. Will cut down to 7’2”)
-SJ-764 C6O2 ( waiting for it to ship out. Will cut down to 7’2”). Will be my first spinning rod build)

I expected my SJ-736 to have an IP of what I got on my MB-736 and visa versa. Personal rods, all good. If anyone has the CCS for the MB-735 HM, please share, I can’t find it anywhere. I’d like to know the ballpark #’s to expect.

Any other NFC blanks I should look into based on the lures we use for bass fishing? Mainly my 15 year old is doing all the fishing for now. He goes a couple times a week along with his High School fishing tournaments.


Me and my FIL plan to start replacing all our crappie rods soon. I plan to find 1-2 blanks and use them to replace all ours. I plan to keep it simple, build them all using the same components, etc. Might splurge on my dedicated crappie jigging rod. I’m going to make a handful of them casting crappie rods for tight lining with live minors. I’m thinking of going with the SJ-703 X-Ray for 1/2 of the builds then maybe a non X-Ray for the rest. We probably have ~40 total crappie rods to replace over time.


I’ll quit blabbing.

-(two) 725 C602 IPs I don’t recall, same as everyone else though.
-SJ-736 X-Ray IP 687
-MB736 X-Ray IP725
-MB-735 HM (Will test IP tonight)

You have a ton of overlap with these rods. This should cover your light plastics and finesse jigs (up to 3/8oz weight), mid size spinnerbaits, lipless (depending on how you fish it), smaller buzzbaits and mid to full-size topwater (90-120 size).

The sj 725 would be a step up in power over these rods wwith an IP ~800g. This would cover slightly heavier versions of all the things i mentioned. Bigger spinnerbaits, larger tx rigs, jigs up to 1/2 or 5/8oz, etc...

Another option is an NFC IM MB 739 which is a great frog and light flipping rod. IP ~925g. Could handle all you jig needs and tx rig up to 1oz not to mention buzz baits and frogs.

The Immortal 73 H/XF doesnt have CCS data published but based on the other immortal CCS data, I assume IP will be ~1100g so the NFC IM MB 739 would fit in nicely amongst your existing rods.

Patrick Coco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> -(two) 725 C602 IPs I don’t recall, same as
> everyone else though.
> -SJ-736 X-Ray IP 687
> -MB736 X-Ray IP725
> -MB-735 HM (Will test IP tonight)
>
> You have a ton of overlap with these rods. This
> should cover your light plastics and finesse jigs
> (up to 3/8oz weight), mid size spinnerbaits,
> lipless (depending on how you fish it), smaller
> buzzbaits and mid to full-size topwater (90-120
> size).
>
> The sj 725 would be a step up in power over these
> rods wwith an IP ~800g. This would cover slightly
> heavier versions of all the things i mentioned.
> Bigger spinnerbaits, larger tx rigs, jigs up to
> 1/2 or 5/8oz, etc...
>
> Another option is an NFC IM MB 739 which is a
> great frog and light flipping rod. IP ~925g.
> Could handle all you jig needs and tx rig up to
> 1oz not to mention buzz baits and frogs.
>
> The Immortal 73 H/XF doesnt have CCS data
> published but based on the other immortal CCS
> data, I assume IP will be ~1100g so the NFC IM MB
> 739 would fit in nicely amongst your existing
> rods.

Yeah, Did you mean I don’t have a ton of over lap? It’s on purpose. My son mainly uses them for the things you mentioned. He rarely uses cranks or lipless cranks. Most his usage is finesse/bottom baits, chatter, and football jigs. . He’s been using his Falcon rod for his bigger baits and a store bought combo spinning rod for his shakey heads/wacky rigs until I get others built. My wife uses baby brush hogs a lot. The SJ-764 C6O2 will be cut down to 7’2” and his spinning reel for shakey heads or wacky rigs. . 765 NEO, it’s pretty versatile I think. Plan to start building a few with more power at some point to check those off.

I knew the Immortal would be have an IP over 1,000. It will be used for frogs, heavier baits.

Thanks for mentioning the MB-739. I’ll check it out. Still learning all this stuff as I gain more familiarity with these blanks. Probably pick up the 739 and SJ-725 at some point in the future. After those two, should be good coverage for all applications we use. I hope.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2024 05:51PM by Jeremy Moore.

The MB765 Neo is probably the most recommended chatterbait blank. Its excellent with full sized chatterbaits from 3/8oz-3/4oz.

Its also a good deep/big crank rod and a small glide bait rod.

Folks have also used it for large spinnerbaits but I dont have any experience with it like that.

For a longer sacalait rod, voodoorods.com makes one that a lot of people like: [voodoorods.com]

I have used the xray ds6100 for deeper vertical jigging slabs with 1/16oz+ jigheads and the xray p700 is an awesome BFS blank that excels when throwing light jigheads on casting gear. I assume it'd perform excellent as a spinning rod as well.

SJ 725 is one of my favorite blanks. IMO is a "standard" bass fishing MH power blank and can be used for a wide variety of techniques. I know we all talk CCS and IP, and I use them too....But sometimes applying a basic label to the blank is more helpful. If you need some power, but not frog or flipping power, the SJ 725 is a great option.

If you like the SJ725, do yourself a favor and pick up the SJ765 X-ray. Awesome stick for the 1/4-3/8oz jig window. I don't think I'd throw it to heavier cover, but for structure fishing a jig that blank is nothing short of amazing.

For crappie, or for dropshotting, the NFC DS6107-IM is pretty cool. It's a great rod for dropshotting bass or for targeting panfish with live bait. Very fast tip but handles a 4-8lb fluoro leader very well. I typically run a 6lb or 8lb leader with 15lb braid on it.

Thanks everyone. I’ll get a few of these headed my way on a future order. I’ll probably order two SJ-725’s and a MB-709 IM or 739 IM and go from there.

I ordered the DS-710 X-Ray C6O2 to try out for my main crappie jig spinning rod. (Since it’s on sale). I really don’t like anything over 7’3” on my rods. Probably because I’ve rarely used any rods over 7’3”. To replace all my crappie rods, I definitely won’t be ordering C602 models to replace them all. We do a ton of tight lining with minnows for crappie too. I prefer casting rods for this. I was thinking the SJ-703 X-Ray might be a good one for this. Not sure how it would fare jigging with light jigs though. I’m sure I’ll need at least 2 different blanks to replace what Im after, unless I get lucky and SJ-703 is good for all applications. I’m fine going with non X-Rays too. Probably a trial and error thing until I find what I like.

Ken Delbridge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you like the SJ725, do yourself a favor and
> pick up the SJ765 X-ray. Awesome stick for the
> 1/4-3/8oz jig window. I don't think I'd throw it
> to heavier cover, but for structure fishing a jig
> that blank is nothing short of amazing.
>
> For crappie, or for dropshotting, the NFC
> DS6107-IM is pretty cool. It's a great rod for
> dropshotting bass or for targeting panfish with
> live bait. Very fast tip but handles a 4-8lb
> fluoro leader very well. I typically run a 6lb or
> 8lb leader with 15lb braid on it.

Thanks, I’ll check it out. I assume the drop shot blanks would be ideal for “tight lining” (what we call it around year) with live bait for crappie. I assume drop shooting is the same as “tight lining”. lol. Thank you