Any one have any stand out favorites in a rod blank that handles 20-25 lbs. of drag? Wanting at 7'6" length with the capacity for at least a lb. or more lure weight. Mostly live bait use. A seeker Hercules would have been an option but with the present state of affairs I don't feel good about any product they produce at present. Any one got a fav fiberglass Calstar in this class of rod? Open to anything at this point. Dont get to experience many rods in this here in Kansas...Jeff
Just check with mudhole on the Calstar specs but you may want a good ole E glass stick. Beasty and cheaper than the high tech stuff.
As far Hercules goes I just had 3 big amberjacks pounding on my new GTS70H with fore grip on the rail and after they got tired I just winched them on up. I am always 20-25 lb of drag on that rod. They also have the 50-100 and I have one of those and it is a beast and will do what you want and doesn't weigh much either. at 7-6 it would need a short butt extension which is no big deal.
May be easier to just get an 8 foot 40-80 E glass from Calstar and cut 6 inches off the butt.
I'm really considering fiberglass blanks for these rods. I love the feel of my graphite St. Croix rods. However I have 4 that are presently going back under warranty by no fault of St. Croix.
I'm needing 3 rods in this class. They will spend most of their time soaking baits. But I'm thinking about using a graphite blank for one of them for casting while wading the river. I'm liking the looks of United Composites
Wahoo blanks for one of them.
Your idea of cutting the butt on an 8' is a good one. I love 8' rods. I hate banging & constantly running the tips of them into the ceiling & all other manner of stuff!
The unanswered issue I have with the Seeker Hercules at the moment is the question if the material they use in their blanks since changing hands has also changed to something cheaper? This seems to have happened in certain instances in Seekers finished rod line. Randy who was Seeker's production manager has left along with some other folks with Randy now the owner of United Composites here in the US. I have come to trust Randy's thoughts & direction on rod blanks....Jeff
I am looking forward to Randy's UC work myself. Just have not tried one yet and waiting for some good reports.
I had a phenix 809xh cut down [from the butt] to 7'6" built for 60#. Haven't hooked anything big enough to test it but hope to do so on a 7 day San Diego trip later this month. I may try it on wahoo if we find them :). The rod action is similar to the Calstars. Lots of backbone but the tip is soft enough to cast a saerdine.
ymmv
Go gettum
Mick
A Phenix hybrid 760xh would probably do it.
Quote from: MarkT on July 12, 2015, 03:39:47 AM
But he's looking for a 60# blank, not a 20#er.
Yeah silly me! I read it wrong thats why I removed my post. Thanks for the heads up.