Anyone have both care to comment on how the blanks fish next to each other. Or have CCS #'s for the IS703? Looking for a blank for throwing 1/16 - 1/8 oz hair jigs to redfish in the marsh. Thank you

I am also interested in this. And the IS693 as well. I asked a little while back but didn’t get an answer. I am about to build a couple SJ703s for inshore soft plastics (generally on 1/8oz jig head).

I have built the SJ703, IS693 and IS694. I built the SJ703 as a spiral wrap and the other two I built conventional casting rods. Unfortunately I have not had a lot of time to fish them but have used all 3 at least once.

I generally fish weightless, 1/16 or 1/8 jigheads with a 4-5" soft plastic. Shallow water, no reefs or structure, mostly grass and sand flats of south Texas. I used fuji guides for all three.

I have fished the IS693 most recently and was very impressed by its ability to handle large upper slot and oversized redfish. Grass was bad so I was throwing a weedless/weightless rig and catching 29-31" reds. The rod cast great and I was able to land the fish no problem.

I have only caught small trout on the SJ703. It cast great but I have not put it to the test fighting a good fish. I did let a friend test it for me and he caught trout to 5 lbs on it and said it performed great throwing top water and corkies.

The IS694 i have only fished once and I really liked it. That day I was only throwing 1/8 jigheads with a 5" soft plastic down wind in waist deep water (winter time trout). It had a good feel and cast great. I haven't put a big fish on this rod yet but I know it wouldn't have a problem with a big red.

I have 2 more IS693 blanks and intend to build a spinning setup on one of them for sight casting on very windy days

I have built the IS 693 and it’s my “go to” for light jig fishing. I fish for walleyes and live up north, but it handles light jigs well. Depending on the size of fish you are after, it might be a bit light for handling big fish well. I’ve caught walleyes between 5 and 10 lbs on it and I would imagine anything much bigger would be difficult to handle with this blank. It’s very light in weight which I like. My total build weight came in at 2.82 oz.

Thanks for the feedback Eric and Todd.

Todd,

You mentioned on my thread that you might be able to take CCS measurements. Would you be able to do that? It’s not too hard to do.

I have a casting IS703 and both spinning and casting SJ703. The SJ703 is noticeably faster. I prefer it for sight fishing. I use the IS703 as a treble hook and jerk bait rod. Both handle redfish in Florida slot just fine. Both would work great, but for your application and most customer builds I do, I recommend the SJ703. That’s exactly what I use this rod for along side ned rigs. It just feels better if that makes any sense.