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Posts: 242
| I was going to try and get a custom rod made to cast a 2 Pounder, but was wondering what would the optimal length of a rod be to cast a lure that heavy? I figure a short rod would not make the lure feel not as heavy while holding (shorter moment arm), but with the shorter rod, you lack the leverage to really cast it that far. I assume the converse is true with a long rod. I currently use a TI 9' XXH rod to cast the 2 Pounder and was wondering if a 10' or 11' rod would be better (or would a 7' or 8' rod be better). What are your thoughts? |
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Posts: 8782
| I would question why one would want to cast a 2 pound lure, but that's just me! |
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Posts: 242
| Haha...I guess I figure, Go Big or Go Home. |
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Posts: 791
Location: North Central IL USA | esoxaddict - 7/21/2012 1:52 PM
I would question why one would want to cast a 2 pound lure, but that's just me!
Probably throw out my back in no time!  |
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Location: Yahara River Chain | gregk9 - 7/21/2012 2:19 PM
esoxaddict - 7/21/2012 1:52 PM
I would question why one would want to cast a 2 pound lure, but that's just me!
Probably throw out my back in no time! : (
My elbow, my shoulder, my wrist, etc........ |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | You might try to email a custom rod builder too. Jeremy with Tuscadora Tackle has built some "interesting" rods for guys with specific needs.
Here is his contact page:
http://tuscaroratackle.com/contact/
James
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Posts: 1638
Location: Minnesota | i had thorn bros build me a xx hevy 9' 8" had a ti xx hevy but it felt like is was going to snap in half i was afraid to use it on pounders a 2 pounder no way ive only used my thorn bros rod on the pounders works great i like the long rod easer to work the bait at the boat |
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Posts: 908
Location: South-Central PA | For heavy baits, I prefer a longer rod. You certainly don't have to put as much effort into casting when using a longer rod. 6" can make a huge difference. If you're used to a 9', going to a 9'6" would be a fairly significant difference. Going to 10' would be a big difference. If you're interested, shoot me a PM and we can discuss some options.
jeremy |
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Posts: 78
Location: In the Weeds | IMO 9' to 9'6" is good for large baits |
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Posts: 63
| BloodyCarp - 7/23/2012 9:11 PM
IMO 9' to 9'6" is good for large baits
yep.. What I would do.. I use an 8'6" now will get going with a 9 for all of my bigger baits like pounders etc when the money come in.. |
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Posts: 242
| Well, I talked to a guy I know locally who is a really good rod builder (he has modified rods for me before) and looks like I am going to get an 10.5' (possibly 11') 2-piece, spiral wrapped, full grip, XXH (can handle up to 36 ounces) rod. This thing should do the trick and help me sling those 2-Pounders a little further than I do now. Thanks for everyone's opinion and advice. I appreciate it. |
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Posts: 908
Location: South-Central PA | LCM,
I talked to your guy on another site about the build. I think it will be perfectly suited to your needs!
jeremy |
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Posts: 242
| Jeremy,
Thanks for your help. Rod building must be a small world. Have you ever made a rod that long from the XXH blank? I was considering having Scott make a 1-piece rod that long, but there is no way I can transport or store that sucker effectivly. I hope that added length doesn't overstress that blank to the point of failure. I guess we'll see. Thanks again! |
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Posts: 908
Location: South-Central PA | LCM,
I haven't made a rod that long from a TI XXH...yet. I have a few of James' blanks sitting in my shop right now that are slated to be built into 9'6" or 10'ers. The best part is, I'm building them for myself! LOL I'm also working on building a rod rack that will allow me to transport my rods with reels attached on top of my truck.
I don't see any problem with building a 9' two-piece XXH into a 10'-10'6" rod. As long as the ferrule on the rod is wrapped, it won't go anywhere. You won't have any issues with overstressing the blank by extending it, it's a beast!
jeremy |
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Posts: 242
| Well, I got a little clearer picture on the question I posed several months ago. A local rodmaker (Scott a.k.a. SH Fishin' Sticks) finished up my 2-piece, 10'3" rod on Friday. This rod was built on the Tackle Industries 2-piece 9' XXH Blank (James doesn't sell the 2-piece blanks yet, so Scott purchased an assembled one and stripped it done to the blank, extended the rear handle, put on new fat cork, a reel seat, and spiral wrapped the guides. The amazing thing to me is that by adding 15 inches to the rod, he only increased the overall weight by a few ounces). This thing is a beast! I gave it a work out on Saturday in 20 mph winds. This thing launches those Pounders (I wanted to bring a few 2-Pounders with me, but forgot to pack them, though, I did test cast 30 ounces of weight in Scott's back yard and it was able to get that weight out there pretty far). Also, with such a long rod, the Figure 8's are effortless and I was able to really make wide turns without having to really reach out. The other benefit I saw was that I could get my 8's deep without really having to bend over too far. Usually, the next day I am sore after casting a Pounder for over 5 hours, but I wasn't after Sat. I can only assume the added length of this rod allowed me a little more leverage to cast the lure out there without extra strain on my shoulder and elbow. Don't get me wrong, it still takes some significant energy to cast these lures, but I found this rod allows you to do it longer with less uncomfortable after effects. So I would say that added length really was a benefit, but I could imagine a rod any longer than that would start being a little more cumbersome to use. Plus, this rod didn't seem to handle to lighter baits as well as I hoped, but I did get it as a Pounder rod, which it seemed to function quite well at casting and fishing. I did make one more discovery with this rod. It fished bucktails EXTREMELY well. It would launch those heavier bucktails a mile and as mentioned before, really allowed me to transition into the Figure 8 well. Overall, I am very pleased with this rod and do think around the 10' mark maybe the optimal length for the applications I was wondering about.
Attachments
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 Rod 1.jpg (53KB - 174 downloads)
Rod 2.jpg (70KB - 164 downloads)
Rod 3.jpg (35KB - 171 downloads)
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| Any issues with netting a fish solo? You'd think with such a long rod it would be difficult to keep them close enough to the boat while trying to extend a net out with the other hand.... awkward at least. |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | I am curious as to why the spiral wrapped guides were done on this rod as opposed to conventionally placing them inline along the blank. |
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Location: Latitude 41.3016 Longitude 88.6160 | With Spiral wrap guides you will have no rod twist when fighting a fish, and with a 2 piece rod that is a good thing.
Looks like you went with Fuji K guides, GOOD CHOICE. |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | That makes sense. The only other time I have seen spiral wrapped guides was on a custom float rod set up to be used with a bait caster instead of a float reel. |
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Posts: 242
| guest - 10/9/2012 1:15 PM
Any issues with netting a fish solo? You'd think with such a long rod it would be difficult to keep them close enough to the boat while trying to extend a net out with the other hand.... awkward at least.
Unfortunately, when I used this rod on Saturday, I didn't catch a fish. The net I have has a pretty long handle and don't foresee netting a fish a major problem, but again, not experiencing a fish yet on this rod, I am not sure. I'll let you know when I finally get one on it.
As for the spiral wrapping, it was done for the exact reason Pikemaster had stated. Scott said that by hoisting and casting so much weight with a 2-piece that the spiral wrap would keep down the torsion on the rod that those heavy loads would place on it with the guides upright. It also helps eliminate any torsion put on the rod when fighting a fish. He also offset the first guide off to the left so the right side of the guide would line up with the center of the reel so the line won't load more on one side. I don't notice any difference in fishing performance between this spiral wrapped rod and my other rods, which have guides wrapped on the top. I assume it did it's intended purpose, because the 2-pieces didn't come loose at all the whole day (though, as mentioned before, I didn't test out how the spiral wrapped guides benefitted me on a fish. I hope I will soon enough).
As far as the guides go, they were all Scott's idea (actually, everything on this rod was his idea. All I told him was that I wanted a long rod as rod as possible to cast Pounders and he did the rest. He said he could have made it even a little longer, but he wanted to make sure of the duribilty and after fishing with it, I'm glad it's not any longer). |
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Posts: 2378
| Awesome. I have one ten footer now that I "rebuilt" myself from a St Croix Surf Rod blank. I love it for big blades, big rubber, and twitching minnow baits. I'd love to have a couple more like this too. I really like the two piece also as I have a very short rod locker in my boat. Wish I could some of those two piece blanks from James... |
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Posts: 242
| I also wish James would offer a 2-piece blank. I know that would have saved me some money on this build. (James, if you are out there listening, or should I say reading, please consider offering 2-piece blanks. Thanks!) |
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