One of my favorites is the saltwater 6 from St. Croix, 5FS906.4. One of the best rods I have thrown for 200-250grain sink tip lines. I use it for shad in the James river, specks, reds, schoolie stripers etc... here in the lower Chesapeake. Higher price point but I'd put it right up there with some of the others. Another line of blanks you don't hear much about are the Beaulah blanks. The Pla
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Some blanks to look at for spinning set up: Batson IMU76H or MH Phenix PSW760M St. Croix 2SWS76MHF
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Spinning, conventional or fly?
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Eva shaped the way you want then covered with some flocked shrink wrap is a great alternative to the leather wrapped grip. One thing I do is spray the EVA grip with 3M Super 77 adhesive, then place shrink wrap over and heat. Never had the wrap slip or change using this method. Think K. Batson shared this technique with me a few years back.
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ProWrap 822 is as close as I have found. A tiny bit darker once finish is applied but looks really good. Wrapping a couple Batson IMU72MH's with it right now.
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I haven't checked them out yet either. The two I seem to be using are Aftco and Alps. Both are very well made.
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I like to run a black underwrap and put a thin coat of finish on. Once that is cured, I then start introducing pigments, layering them from dark to light. This creates a nice depth look. To keep some seperation in the colors, i add a little Trelikes sap. The sap also thickens the pigment/epoxy mix so you get some "stringyness" when you pull from the cup and adds a cool look when you
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I would look for another blank as well. Has to be a blank out there that meets your build criteria.
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Look forward to seeing you down in NC Kevin. Need to pick up some of that pretty gold and some blue this year. Travel safe.
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I am with Bob and Bill with regards to sizing. I use titanium strippers then usually go double foot recoils for the snakes if rod will be going in and our of gunwhale rod tubes/racks. Definitely look at the 4 piece if you ever have plans for travel. What blank are you going to build up? Ton of great choices out there.
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Any thought of going with an aluminum butt? Probably a number 4 would work for you.
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I'd be less concerned with the ring material and more so on the frame material. Saltwater 3-4 days per week can be tough depending on how you take care of your equipment. My personal inshore spinning and fly rods all utilize titanium framed guides (REC's for snakes). No corrosion with simple freshwater rinse and wipe. Alconite, zirconia, SiC, Nanolite, Coalite etc... all work great great with
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By adding a feather inlay, you will be utilizing CP to hold the feather in palce so I would just roll with it and give the wrap a complete coating to avoid any patchy fading. CP will never hurt you or your wrap.
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Didn't they have a hexagonal shape? Pretty sure they did go out of business a number of years ago.
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My experience has only really been over on the east side of Baja. I would not go any less than an 8 weight, and have a 10 ready to go at all times. Depending on the time of year, you can encounter some big roosters up on the beach and the 10 will be required. The 8 is great for picking around at all of the other stuff and is helpful with any breeze. The water gets really deep right off the bea
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Batson's RX7 and RX8 fly blanks are great blanks and offer tremendous value. Some other blanks to consider would be the Quickline by PacBay, Beulah (particularly the platinum series), Sage, St. Croix, and even some of the MHX blanks. I am hoping to order some CTS blanks shortly to try out. It would be helpful to know what your client's casting ability is. If he is a bad caster, no rod will m
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I have been a Bauer user for years and for panfish, their Little Mac is tough to beat. Great US made products and service to boot.
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Any chance you can twist your own? I saw some twists that Kevin did for a couple of his rods at the show this past year and they looked slick.
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I ciould see the guys dragging big planers at high speed using the big drag but some of the other stuff is bragging/marketing material. When I fly fish for tarpon I typically set my drag between 6-10lbs. Landed plenty of fish over 100lbs while staying in my shoes.
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I just picked up a United Composites Challenger Platinum CP65H-F blank for mixed use but mostly offshore live baiting (mahi's, AJ's, small tuna, wahoo, tilefish, sharks). I know a few guys in the NE that fish the UC Challenger Elite series for togs, cod, and fluke but don't know if any in that range would cross over to small tuna. One of the Seeker Hercules blanks might fit the need, possibly t
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Batson XF904-4, MHX F904-4 are great choices. If 8'6 is ok, then the NFC is another fantastic option.
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Maybe a Batson Forecast RX6, F764-4. Have built a bunch of these for brook trout streams and are fun to cast. It is 7'6" so not sure if your client minds the extra 6".
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Will shoot you a message shortly Scott.
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I have an extra 18" block I could get to you if you wanted. .375" bore.
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If your line has any memory to it, the lack of any tension can cause it to coil a bit creating the line slap.
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Don't know if you need (4) double foot guides. I usually go with a 20 stripper, then a 16 and a 12 for the 9 wt's and up. Then I use double foot recoil black pearls either 5's or 4's out to the tip.
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I know some folks use the gun blueing "paint" as well.
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My saltwater fly set ups are close to what Bob detailed in terms of sizing. I stopped using the ceramic running guides in favor of the REC double foot snakes for my 8wt's and above. I think the REC snakes hold up a bit better for those who fish out of a skiff or bay boat. Most store their rods in under gunwhale racks with the tip section in some sort of tube. As you slide the rod tip into the
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I don't like the foot prep you need to do in order to get the size down where it doesn't overhang the blank width on the smaller weight fly rods, just my preference. I am not sure how to much line wear from the guides occurs on the lighter weight fly rods, say #3wt and less-hard to measure. My personal lines usually lose performance with dirt or the occaisional boot trauma. On bigger sw fly ro
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Usually butt is trimmed when trying to get the overall length you need. The few 50's I have built are 6' overall length so I end up trimming a good 10-11" off the butt (FSU56XH). Butt then fits in the #2 ferule no problem.
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