WIth some blanks (some of the Calstars), straight thru isn't really an option. The slick butts are between a 15/16"-1" ID (American Tackle) and others are listed at 1.07" ID and some blanks are well over that at the butt. A Baja Boomer is 1.175" at the butt, Boomer Jr is 1.125" at the butt. The Boomer Jr you may be able to fit if you ream out the slick butt and take a
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I usually slice down EVA using a lathe, mandrel and string. Put the EVA on a mandrel, chuck it up in a lathe and turn it on. Use the string against the EVA as it's rotating and it will slice cleanly. Or you can use a razor blade, but you want to have it supported on the tool rest of a lathe for safety and precision. Rubber Cement is often used to glue up EVA rings because it is slightly flexi
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I agree with Bill. An 80 IGFA type blank is designed to be used from a chair or from the rod holder with the #4 Unibutt and around 45# of drag IIRC. A #4 unibutt is HUGE!!! Most people fishing 80# line do not want an IGFA (ie very slow, and stiff) blank, but something designed for stand up fishing using 80# line! Fishing 80# line, I go anywhere from a 40-100# blank to a 50-130# blank, depe
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Black Hole has a Cape Cod Special in a 5'8" 450 gr jigging blank and a longer popping blank. I dunno if these are what you are referring to but they are the ones that have Cape Cod in their name. There are also some other blanks that should work. I would look at the Calstar Baja Boomer or the Grafighter Tuna series GF755XXH, Super Seeker SS-CTSF55XXXH or SS-CTSF63XXXXH, Black Steel
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Rumor has it that the Batson blanks are the same as the Riley, but with a different finish. The Batson, Riley, Mudhole, AmTackle, JAWS are under $100 and the Spinal, Synit, Hercules, OTI, Jigging Master are all over $100 retail. Something to consider budget wise!
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I've built up a 500gr Mudhole and I've messed with the Batson 500 and 600gr jigging rods. Also, JAWS makes a very nice 63080 blank that I built into a tuna jigging rod. All are nice, my preference goes to the JAWS first, then Batson; I like their TiCh finish over the Mudhole blanks and they are a bit more powerful. The Hercules will also work well, but they are a faster action. I have 2 of th
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I use a Harbor Freight 1x30 belt sander to prep guides, works great! they are like $40 now. I use the Scotchbrite type discs to polish after I prep. Takes less than a minute per guide. Much easier and quicker than using files! A belt lasts a long time, too. I use the slack belt portion from the side so it rounds the edges nicely.
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Go with the Pac bay version of the Titanium Turbo's from @#$%&. They are closer price wise to the Virtus Heavy in Titanium frame. The 25mm Virtus Heavy should be pretty close to the same height as the 25mm Turbo guide. I like the Turbo style as they flex a little better with the rod than some of the other heavy duty guides, like the Fuji HB series. Aftco makes roller tip tops down to like a 5
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You can also use the Am Tackle Titan Turbo or the Pac Bay version. A little different frame style and still nice, but the frames aren't locked in like the Virtus are. I have one of the Phenix BD Hybrids, the 760XH and it is a powerful and light blank! The 660X2 or X3 looks pretty sweet! I've been very impressed with the Phenix line of blanks. I think the Tuna series are a bit more powerf
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Yes, the Batson seems to be a tad stiffer than the Mudhole blank; I had the 500gr's side by side and I preferred the feel of the Batson after flexing them. It was stiffer/stronger feeling throughout. The guy I sold my 500gr blank to was lifting 25# off the floor w/o a problem with it! The 600gr Batson is pretty stiff. The 500 felt very nice. The HB 25 is one of the tallest 25mm guides out th
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I usually use a 14" EVA rear grip, either a Perfection Ball Gimbal or an ALPS gimbal. For my rear grips, I have actually been using the 14" tapered foregrips in the 1/2-5/8" diameter; they fit nicely off the reel seat so I don't have to turn the EVA down much! I usually use a Pac Bay Channel lock reel seat with Graphite body and Aluminum hoods, or an ALPS Centralock aluminum or P
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It goes on very thin and saturates very easily, so I do a very thin coak, let soak in and then let it rotate for a bit. After the left over finish gets thicker, I apply a second coat with the thickened epoxy to get the build I want. Makes 1 coat finishes possible with it.
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The Calstar tips are much floppier than the Batson, haven't handled those Seekers. The Super Seeker Hercules tips are between the Calstar and Batson, they are soft, but are still powerful, but I don't know about those exact Seeker blanks. The Calstar tips kinda flop out easily.
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For wholesale accounts, that shipping selection is automatically applied/checked off unless you change it, like if you want to pick up the items at the ICRBE show, or local pickup, etc.
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2 St Croix blanks that should work: 2S60MLF2 6' 2 piece 4-10# 1/8-1/2oz lure rating 2S60MF2 6' 2 piece 6-12, 1/4-5/8oz lure rating No need for a UL blank, St Croix and Lami make 6' blanks like this!
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They check this board, too!
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The Mudhole/American Tackle blanks, Batson and JAWS will all work and have a moderate action. With the Hercules from Seeker, it is a fast action and has a softer tip and more backbone. I had the 60H up to around 30# of drag and near the foregrip isn't even flexed. The 2009 OTI 600gr blank is more of a mod fast action, where it flexes a bit farther down than the Hercules, but takes more to do i
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Those are different blanks, Grant! The RCJB84XH is a 7' 40-100# blank similar to a Calstar Grafighter 700XH. The Knife Jigging blanks are shorter (500 and 600gr are 5'8") and have a different bend and finish. I built the rod in the RCJB84XH post and when I saw that rod in action, I ordered up more of those and the Knife Jigging blanks! The 500 and 600gr knife jigging blanks are nice from
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The ProKote is much thinner, so when you heat it to release bubbles, you will often 'cook' the epoxy and make the bubbles worse. I let it sit in a shallow foil tray to let the bubbles pop (or blow on it with a straw) so when I apply it with the spatula, there aren't really any bubbles in it. When I apply the second layer from the same batch of epoxy after it thickens up a bit, you can use the h
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Try it, you will like it! It is billed as a medium build, but starts out way thinner than TM Lite, and thickens slowly, so you can get a decent build out of one coat, by letting it soak in while thin, and then adding more as it thickens up a tad.
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I started out with TM High and Lite builds. Now I use Mudhole ProKote almost exclusively. It makes TM Lite look thick!
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Mudhole is changing some of their website stuff and it's harder to find some items. They used to be in the Aluminum Butt section, but are now under "Grips" then "Other".
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I just built one of those a few weeks ago! 14" EVA rear grip, Perfection Ball Gimbal, Cross Cut EVA foregrip cut down to 8", Am Tackle Typhoon guides (40, 25, 20, 16, 12), size 12 Fuji SiC tip top. I did a metallic underwrap, and then a double wrap of thread over the guide feet, epoxying each layer of thread. I went with a Pac Bay Aluminum Channel Lock Slim reel seat, but the Fuji DP
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Phil, where do you see the MHX are only available to custom builders??? Anyone can order the blank from Mudhole's website.
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Yeah, I know a Capt who snapped a Stella reel stem, drag was around 40# or so! Some of the guys I know test gear by tying it off to their friend and having him run and they try to stop him with the rod/drag. The lines were strong enough, but now with the braids and splicing hollowcore lines, you can have pretty much full line strength. The newer blanks have serious power behind them; I saw guy
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Yeah, I dunno if the rods were set up "properly" in a spiral or not, or any other info than the guys broke a few rods with that type of spiral setup. I have built up several with the 1 guide to bump the line off the blank and the gide doesn't load up/down at all and the pressure pushing it back into the blank is minimal like you said, but I also know if you put the 90 degree guide in t
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I'm trying to get more info from the guys to see exactly what it was. I dunno if the rod was set up properly in the first place, maybe the guide had a burr on the bottom that eventually caused the issue. I know I have talked to people who have snapped rods there and other builders looked at it and determined that the single guide was the cause. But I have fished several spiral wrapped rods wit
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Tom, the guys I spoke with about it often fish well over 30# of drag on tuna rods. It wasn't that the guide penetrated into the wall of the blank physically, but something about different types of Torque and how the single bumper guide placed on the short side of the oval made a stress point there from the forces acting on it. IIRC, the issue was found with the newer, thinner walled blanks that
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I find that with out CP, the metallics turn very slightly darker in color, at least the Robinson Anton J Metallics do. Very slight, but noticeable. But I prefer the darker color usually, so I just leave off the CP.
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With rods that flex farther down the blank, the 1 guide at 90 degrees may cause a failure at higher drag pressures due to the feet pushing into the blank on the short side of the blank oval. A few guys I spoke with have snapped rods like this with over 30# of drag. I used to do most of my rods like this and haven't had an issue with breakage yet, but I switched over to the 2 guide transition to
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