St Croix Mango Stick

[Newell Nut]

Well written but what makes life very interesting and confusing is that each manufacturer puts their own twist on those terms.  Fast Seekers tend to be softer than fast Calstars. Fast graphites are a lot stiffer the fast e glass or S glass.

[BonitaBch]

Looking forward to a good break in tomorrow if Mother Nature cooperates.

Have you been out to use it yet?  And if so, your impression?

[Mac53]

Well written but what makes life very interesting and confusing is that each manufacturer puts their own twist on those terms.  Fast Seekers tend to be softer than fast Calstars. Fast graphites are a lot stiffer the fast e glass or S glass.

Your absolutely correct.  Without Standardized definitions for rod manufacturers it all amounts to what one thinks.  Look at the fishing line breakage claims.  What a farce that is.  But I don't want to shanghai this thread so I'm done.  Nicely done rod, Dwight!

Mac

[Newell Nut]

Looking forward to a good break in tomorrow if Mother Nature cooperates.

Have you been out to use it yet?  And if so, your impression?

St Croix ratings of 50-100 are a joke. No place for all graphite rods on the ocean in my opinion. Factory rep said the musky guys use 21 to 25 lb of drag and that 28 may cause the rod to fatigue. Set my drag at 21. First snapper hook set took about 4 seconds to snap the rod about 3 inches from the fore grip. St Croix has replaced it with a very expensive blank with FRS which is their version of E glass with a moderate bend. Weird thing is that on their site it is listed as a spinning blank. This is an extremely robust rod and nobody would build a spinning rod out of this thing unless using a 12 oz jig or something. Thinking of building another bottom rod out of this one. This time the rep tells me to stay around 18 lb of drag. This one is a 40-80 and feels like 60-120.

[Reel 224]

I like St Croix blanks, however back several years ago I had one snap under stress forcing a stripper in that was probably close to a 50# fish and St Croix replaced it also with a much higher class rod. Ive not had the opportunity to build a blank that is a glass & graphite mix yet, I have looked at the various Pac Bay blanks and the next rod I do I will probably give one a go. The rods that I have done are in the lighter class then those that you are building, mine are more the 20-40 class and 7' to 7.5' maybe a .75" but with a 7.5 tip. med fast to fast action. I consider that stout for that length of stick. But I'm not fishing for Tuna or Shark either.   

[Newell Nut]

The Rainshadow RCLB79ML in 20-40 is a terrific blank you may want to try. I have built offshore spinners out of them and they work great. Designed for big tarpon but the tip is soft enough to cast light baits. My buddy Kevin fishes for tarpon with the XL version for very light bait casting and he has not broken any of his Rainshadows. I just added a bunch of Rainshadows and Seeker Hercules blanks to my stash for future projects.

[Reel 224]

The Rainshadow RCLB79ML in 20-40 is a terrific blank you may want to try. I have built offshore spinners out of them and they work great. Designed for big tarpon but the tip is soft enough to cast light baits. My buddy Kevin fishes for tarpon with the XL version for very light bait casting and he has not broken any of his Rainshadows. I just added a bunch of Rainshadows and Seeker Hercules blanks to my stash for future projects.

Would that also apply to use as a bait casting stick, or is it not a dual purpose rod?

Okay I just checked to see the blank you are referring to, because I was looking at rainshadow rods from Batson  a few months ago. Funny thing is I was looking at the RCLB70ML-CG and the RCLB70M-CG.