Had a query from a friend regarding these blanks for offshore bait or popping blanks. Tuna, jacks in GOM.

Any opinions, I haven’t heard or read any reviews.

Thanka.

Try Edge Silverback rods, their Pelagic series. NFC is the blank side of the business.

Never used the silverbacks but just ordered 3 of the xray RPK (rail/popping/knife jig) blanks and the reviews I have found on them are great.

The blanks are insanely strong and light. Designed from the ground up for targeting tuna and can be had on sale for $60 right now if you're on the NFC email list.

The 2 RPK 7'8" will be built as spinning popping rods for YFT (we launch out of Venice usually) and the RPK 7'0" will be built as a rail/jigging blank for BFT out of San Diego. I am excited to build these blanks.

I dabble with tuna and have built+caught a lot of fish on a few of the Silverback blanks using live bait over the last few years. Here's my rundown:

Silverback Pelagic SW765 - Versatile 15-30lb live bait rod, great for stops on kelp, small grade schools of tuna, and when line size seems to matter (i.e. need to run 20lb fly line leader to get bit). I would classify it as a finesse flyline rod. I have finished six of these for multiple people to date. My personal build has landed the majority of my offshore fish for the last 2yrs.

Silverback Standup 50lb - Great heavier flyline/live bait rod for pulling on <100lb grade tuna. I would class it as a 25-50lb blank, I think it's capable for 100-150lb fish but it would be a decent work out - the sweet spot is that 25-100lb grade window. I have only built two of these for people so far, I anticipate more requests for it. It's now one of those "must have" personal builds for my offshore trips going forward.

I have an RPK70 built out (trimmed 6in) for jigging but haven't pulled on anything yet...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2024 09:10PM by Ken Delbridge.

Thanks guys. Very helpful info. The request came in from a relative who travels to Louisiana quite a bit for “work” and was looking for a few new rods.

With some of their bend profiles, I can’t tell if they are crazy fast or just not enough weight to test the blanks capabilities. Same could be said of the newer glass rods (I do like the FW counterparts).

Patrick, I do have an rpk in the cart. At this point in life, I prefer lite and bendy..

TS



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2024 09:39PM by Tim Scott.

Tim I wouldn't say they are crazy fast, both blanks I mentioned above will bend into the middle section of the blank with 6-10lbs of drag peeling.

Thanks Ken