which slow pitch jigging rod: UC Zeus, UC Challeger Xtreme or Blackhole CapeCod

[steelfish]

Im in the market for a good slow pitch jigging Blank for use it on North Sea of Cortez, Baja, Gonzaga Bay area and BOLA Bay of los Angeles (similar to fishing Cedros), I need only the blank since I will build the rod myself, I have read good things about the jigging blanks from UC Zeus 3 and Challenger xtreme CXJ-602 but dont know the difference on those blanks, also debating between those two blanks and the BH capecod special 250gr

US Zeus is $122.00
UC CXJ-602 $122.00
BH CapeCod 250gr $160

because of the price Im might go with UC blanks but any one can tell me the difference on the UC zeus line and CXJ?


I have never fished a purist Slowpitch technique but seems attractive to try it, currently using my Trevala 5.8XXH for Flutterfly jigs but I currently on the process to sell my factory rods so, I need a jigging rod to fill that space on my arsenal

as you know my local fisheris dont have large fish or heavy ones but from time to time you can get a nice 35# YT or a 25-35# pink grouper (Baqueta grouper), so, its better to have rod with the hump to get them from the structure from deep zones (normally those big guys are fished with livebait ), regular good fish on the zone are around 10#-20#

[Rivverrat]

  

   Alex, the difference will be in how far down they begin to load. They will have different feels to them. Now Alex I'm not a jig fisherman. I will be working hard this year to change that. I am sorry I cant give you a more definite answer. But jig fishing is at present completely outside my Wheel House.  

   I can say there are strong feelings about which of these two companies make the best jig blank with most on the east coast seeming to use Black Hole jig sticks & in Cali more UC.  If durability is an issue with rods getting knocked about, fishing from a Panga etc. I would gravitate toward the United Composites line. They are sometimes, not always, a bit heaver. The Black Hole Nano Tech material used is a different animal when compared to others. This is not a bad thing.

   I wish sometime I could bring 4 fists full of rods down there & you & I could could fish together with all of them testing them & come back here & give our honest thoughts. That would be a most wonderful thing... Jeff

[steelfish]

well, to tell the truth I leaning towards UC Zeus just because its bit cheaper and UC have a great reputation, also I consider BH blanks to belong a trully Slowpitch tech rod I dont know it can be use it for another way of fishing maybe cast a lure if you see a feeding freenzy and dont have another setup ready on the boat, we dont have many deep zones here to try a purist Slowpitch rod/reel/lures so, I dont know how many times this specialized rod will see action, but its a technique that really attracts me to try it.

our friend Dr. Johntuttle posted few years ago on BD that UC Zeus 3 has a kind of similar feel of the BH capecod 250gr, so that means a lot and that blank can deal with a 25# drag, thats a lot pretty sure I can deal with any local YT or grouper
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/united-composites-zeus-3.462426/

yep, and we can never forget the rod durability when the rod is banging on a panga when there are not enough rod holders, driving a boat on the sea of cortez is different than driving a boat on the Ocean, maybe because is a narrow gulf but 80% of the time its a bumpy ride driving over small waves all the time, at the end of the fishing day you normally have a lowerback ache, that bumpy ride for a rod that is not on a rod holder is killer for the finish, guides and structure, well, currently most of the sport fishing pangas are modified to be more comformable, I started fishing on modified pangas for sportfishing just 5 years ago which are very similar to a nice sporty boat with nice seats and plenty of rodholders but from time to time the nice panga boat you were going to get is not working and the only working boat is a normal commercial fishing panga, you're more worried on your rods than your lowerback LOL, so take that panga, cancel the trip or look for another charter.

for the reason explained above, 10 years ago I had my nice brand fishing gear for when fishing on nice sporty boats and also have my Penn 4/0, senator rod, 320gti, sabre rod for fishing on non-modified pangas when a local friend invite me to fish.

[Rivverrat]

 
  I remember John posting that thread. Alex my dream boat is a modified panga. Most likely with inboard motor. A very useful, utilitarian style boat. I would want the console pushed as far forward as possible. Leaving as much room as possible for fellas to fish... Jeff

[jurelometer]

My (contrarian) $0.02:

What a makes a slow pitch rod a slow pitch rod is that it is bendy (to help flick the jig at the end of  the lifting stroke), and relatively short and  light (to make it easier to actively work the rod for an extended time).

Making a blank bendy, light and durable is easier than stiff, light and durable:  just cut the cloth so that the weave runs at a greater angle.  Since the stiff fibers are not running the length of the blank, this makes the blank less stiff.  And since the fibers are now criss-crossing in spirals around the blank, the strain is more evenly distributed, increasing hoop strength.  So fewer layers are needed for the same or greater hoop strength, making the blank lighter.  When you see the "dual helix",  "w-weave", "super magic double spiral nanobuzzword tech" terms bandied about, it is just this diagonal weave.   The stiffer a light rod has to be, the less diagonal weave can be used at the expense of hoop strength.

And the more uniform the bend, the less complicated the work of figuring out tapers and layout schedule.   A blank maker has to be much more on their game and willing to expirement more to build a lightweight and durable casting blank.

If the rod is built with the reel seat fairly far from the butt,  the "swing weight"   (mass multiplied by distance from the fulcrum) is usually overwhelmingly influenced by the weight of the reel.  How much effort it takes to move a lever depends not only on the total weight. but how that weight is distributed.  That is why jigging reels are preferred to be as small and light as possible.  That is also why a difference of an ounce or two in blank weight is hard to notice.


This is a long winded way of saying that the functional/technical demands on these type of jigging blanks is not very high, so it seems tougher to me to justify paying a premium.  Just go with the cheapest blank with a good reputation for durability.  You might want to add Rainshadow to your list of candidates.  A lighter reel is a bonus.

Plus these blanks are optimized for drop jigging, so they do not cast well at all, leaving you  stuck to bringing an extra rod to toss irons at the boils.  The last thing that I want to bring on a panga with a couple other fishermen is even more rods.

If you want to think out of the box a bit, find a nice older, lighter fiberglass blank, like a Calstar in the 10 -25 lb range, and build out a 6.5 footer that can actually cast a bit, and is plenty bendy for working jigs.  Just print up an Alextech Baja SupreJig decal and start your own line of rods

The real benefit on these new jigging systems are the jigs themselves, designed for strong action on both the drop and vertical retrieve, usually at very specific velocities and start/stops.    The special rods, reels, gloves, hat, logo shirts, socks, shoes and underwear are much less important, but are driving tons of revenue for the industry.  I built exactly one jigging rod, but am still designing vertical jigs one after another.  The rods are pretty boring for me.  The jigs are a different story.

 
  I remember John posting that thread. Alex my dream boat is a modified panga. Most likely with inboard motor. A very useful, utilitarian style boat. I would want the console pushed as far forward as possible. Leaving as much room as possible for fellas to fish... Jeff

You will only want to ride in the front of a panga in steep wind chop once.  The smart old pangeros won't even put a center console in one.  They ride in the back in comfort with a tiller steer outboard. Passengers are seated forward as a spray guard

-J

[Rivverrat]

 
  I remember John posting that thread. Alex my dream boat is a modified panga. Most likely with inboard motor. A very useful, utilitarian style boat. I would want the console pushed as far forward as possible. Leaving as much room as possible for fellas to fish... Jeff

You will only want to ride in the front of a panga in steep wind chop once.  The smart old pangeros won't even put a center console in one.  They ride in the back in comfort with a tiller steer outboard. Passengers are seated forward as a spray guard
-J

   J, I understand where your coming from.   With hard head ideas being inbred into my head from the start... that being, anything other than an aluminum flat bottom boat being unworthy of fishing the river. I know of   teeth rattling rides that can send some looking for a chiropractor.

  With that in mind I did say "MODIFIED" panga. To most panga hard heads they are most likely not a panga at all... But the ride is quite soft in all but roughest water... It's All Good ... Jeff

[steelfish]

...... If you want to think out of the box a bit, find a nice older, lighter fiberglass blank, like a Calstar in the 10 -25 lb range, and build out a 6.5 footer that can actually cast a bit, and is plenty bendy for working jigs.  Just print up an Alextech Baja SupreJig decal and start your own line of rods

that remained me that I already went that route  https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=32640.0

built a "slow pitch" rod outta an old glass super bendy Roddy rod, the rod was build on a similar fashion of a Slow pitch high dollar rod, at least in appearance, guides were not an expensive ones and grips were some EVA short ones, but that rod actually lifted 15# weight with no Problema (just like the adds of those premium SP rods again)
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=32640.0




I forgot to install the "Alextech Baja SupreJig" decal on it, maybe on next one.

..This is a long winded way of saying that the functional/technical demands on these type of jigging blanks is not very high, so it seems tougher to me to justify paying a premium.  Just go with the cheapest blank with a good reputation for durability.  You might want to add Rainshadow to your list of candidates.  A lighter reel is a bonus.

feel the same way (but I can change my mind) about paying premium for a too specialized rod, that mostly why I was eyeballing the UC blank, the rainshadow true slowpitch 100% new tech graphite blank is under the new Revelation line and it cost more than the UC blank, go figure, its $130 while the UC is $122, the knife jig blank is under the rx/glass composite line and it cost around $70, on my mind I might spend those extra $50 more bucks for a trusty USA made blank with a lot of good reputation company for a rod that will hopefully last many years, but expeding extra $50 its not the same that spend $90 more for the BH capecod blank.

by the way, I currently have an extra RCLB70XL 7ft 10-25 composite rainshadow blank, I built one and (you know me), and when I trying an extreme Static test I dead lifted 9# with no problem with it and it had a pronunded bend with 8# drag, so according to "your (contrarian) $0.02" I might just cut that blank from the but to get a 5'8" blank, pretty sure it will bend a lot more since the graphite is on the butt of the blank and put my signature on it  

attaching a pic of a guy lifting 5kg (11#) and also 10kg (22#) with the same blank, so, IT is a bendy blank

[conchydong]

 I have also been debating on spending the dollars for a slow pitch set up. In S. Florida the Temple Reef slow pitch rods are very popular. The Gravitate and the Levitate models are the ones most commonly used. It is a investment that requires a lot of research.

[MarkT]

It seems to me that most of the 'real' slow pitch rods are about having the rod put the right action on the jig, not fighting the fish.  They pretty much point the rod at the fish and fight it with just the reel. That old Roddy had way more back than the high-end slow pitch rods!

[jurelometer]

[

...... If you want to think out of the box a bit, find a nice older, lighter fiberglass blank, like a Calstar in the 10 -25 lb range, and build out a 6.5 footer that can actually cast a bit, and is plenty bendy for working jigs.  Just print up an Alextech Baja SupreJig decal and start your own line of rods

that remained me that I already went that route  https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=32640.0

built a "slow pitch" rod outta an old glass super bendy Roddy rod, the rod was build on a similar fashion of a Slow pitch high dollar rod, at least in appearance, guides were not an expensive ones and grips were some EVA short ones, but that rod actually lifted 15# weight with no Problema (just like the adds of those premium SP rods again)
https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=32640.0

I forgot to install the "Alextech Baja SupreJig" decal on it, maybe on next one.

Nice!  Did you ever get any feedback on how that Roddy fished, or have a chance to try it yourself? Would like to see how my theories panned out.

I have also been debating on spending the dollars for a slow pitch set up. In S. Florida the Temple Reef slow pitch rods are very popular. The Gravitate and the Levitate models are the ones most commonly used. It is a investment that requires a lot of research.

They sure are popular, but I am skeptical. Looks like the Jeweled 5th Anniversary (5th, - really ?)   Temple Reef rods are available now for a mere half a grand    if you want to go whole hog

For just about any industry, the Chinese factories that are pumping out product for big-name vendor A, are willing to pump out some more product for newcomer vendor B.   Vendor A has a valuable reputation to protect, and experience and investment in offshore production and quality management across a bunch of products.  Vendor B will not be operating at the same level of scale or experience, making offshore management that more difficult.   Just because it comes out of the same factory with the same materials does not mean that product B  s the same quality.   For example, if some of the prepreg carbon fiber cloth is getting past the use-by date, whose rods do you think it is going to go into?  Which production line gets the rookie employees?  Which rods are built by the graveyard shift?

Don't know if Temple Reef is the real deal or just another Vendor B with a slick marketing campaign.

Warranty is also  consideration.  Most jigging rods have a a short enough warranty period that whether the company will still be in business is a not too much of a worry.   Temple Reef is a bit funky with the terms: https://templereef.com/rod-warranty/ They only warranty the bottom third of the rod on the models that you mentioned and will replace for free only for six months from date of purchase.  

Which leaves us with the actual functional characteristics off a rod that will not be cast, just dropping a jig, shaking and winding.

Once a reasonably heavy jig drops down very far in the water,  minor variations in the action of the rod will have virtually no effect on the action of the jig.  Especially if there is much current or wind drift.  The friction of the water along and across the line is too great. You are mostly pulling against the line. There was one line of rods advertised as designed to work at up to 1000 feet (don't know if it was Temple Reef).  I had to laugh.  Lifting the tip on any rod will lift the jig at 1000 feet (or 300 for that matter) exactly zero inches.


I'm with Mark- I'm kind of lusting after that Roddy a bit.  Especially if Alex makes a jeweled 1st anniversary edition

-J

[Benni3]

Well you know how much I like black hole rods,,,, and the 450g rods,,,,,,,

[boon]

None of the blanks you have linked are slow-pitch blanks. They are all fast-pitch rods at my estimation.
It's not just about being a bendy noodle - in fact, that misses the point entirely. The recovery of the blank is vital in imparting a good action to the jig. A noodle that doesn't recover won't flick the jig; just lift it, so the jig will never go into the falling state and have any action.

Can you catch fish by dangling a slow-pitch jig off any old rod? Sure. Will you enjoy it more and catch more fish with a dedicated slow pitch blank? I'd take that wager.

EDIT: For reference, my PE1-2 slowpitch rod has a butt diameter of 0.39" and takes a size 4 tip.

The other giveaway is the weight. CXJ602 blank is 6.2oz - that's more than a completely built slow-jig rod.

[Benni3]

None of the blanks you have linked are slow-pitch blanks. They are all fast-pitch rods at my estimation.
It's not just about being a bendy noodle - in fact, that misses the point entirely. The recovery of the blank is vital in imparting a good action to the jig. A noodle that doesn't recover won't flick the jig; just lift it, so the jig will never go into the falling state and have any action.

Can you catch fish by dangling a slow-pitch jig off any old rod? Sure. Will you enjoy it more and catch more fish with a dedicated slow pitch blank? I'd take that wager.

EDIT: For reference, my PE1-2 slowpitch rod has a butt diameter of 0.39" and takes a size 4 tip.

The other giveaway is the weight. CXJ602 blank is 6.2oz - that's more than a completely built slow-jig rod.

I think I had thinking care of the problem,,,,,, go big or go home that what I say and the fish,,,,,,

[steelfish]

None of the blanks you have linked are slow-pitch blanks.

EDIT: For reference, my PE1-2 slowpitch rod has a butt diameter of 0.39" and takes a size 4 tip.

no even the BH capecod?
btw whats the brand dnd model of your pe1-2 rod ?

[boon]

Unless you mean the Cape Cod Special Slow Pitch, no, they are all fast jig rods.

My PE1-2 is a Jig Star Tai Kabura.