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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | A few Pounder rod discussions have come up, and had me searching some on my own. A few years ago the Calstar 9' H blank was getting some attention. Those that had a rod built on that blank seemed to love it. Praise was given to how it launched Pounders and fought fish, with the fiberglass tip blended to graphite backbone.
My question about this blank is how well does it do at RIPPING Pounders all day? I've used a few rods that have relatively soft tips that cast Pounders pretty well, but get a little tiresome trying to rip them with any speed or force, due to the flex in the tip loading the rod a lot on each rip. How does the Calstar blank handle this?
Not looking for a pool que that doesn't give, but if the 1/2 the rod loads significantly on the rip it starts to wear me out quickly.
2nd question: I'm considering building this rod myself. I read somewhere that the blank has been changed, and a size 22 reel seat will only allow this rod to be built to 8'6" due to the large butt diameter. Is this true, and is there a way around this, or are larger reel seats available somewhere? A quick search on Mudhole didn't reveal any bigger reel seats but I may not know where to look.
Tucker |
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Posts: 1405
Location: Detroit River | I haven't seen a graphite reel seat the size that you're looking for but they do make aluminum saltwater reel seats bigger than 22 but they don't have triggers on them. You might have better luck asking this on the rodbuilding.org forum. |
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Posts: 908
Location: South-Central PA | The 900H makes a beast of a pounder rod, but it's pretty heavy because of the e-glass. I think that's the reason you don't hear much about it anymore, there are much better alternatives. If you don't want an extremely long rear handle length, you can trim it or you'll need to use a larger spinning seat, a 24 would work.
Two very good alternatives are the Premier XH or TI XXH. If you trim 2" off the tip of either one, they are beast pounder rods and MUCH lighter than the Calstar. Let me know if you decide on the TI blank, James is out of stock but I have a few left. Also, I can get the Premier blanks in 13 different colors.
jeremy
(Custom Blank Colors.jpg)
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | Does not help you right now but we are redesigning all of our rod blanks to a better materiel, adhesives, etc. Hope to start making some new rods by Spring. Got a surprise coming too but I need to see how they work. LOL Jeremy (Tuscarora) is the only one who knows about it too but he will be making the prototypes for me  |
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Posts: 45
| James. When will you have the new blanks? |
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Posts: 908
Location: South-Central PA | James! It's not a secret if you tell everyone!!! LOL
jeremy |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | Interesting. Haven't ruled out building the Calstar to 8'6" or so but the other options you mentioned sound interesting Jeremy.
Can you explain how the TI XXH behaves after cutting 2" off the tip? Cutting from the tip usually slows a rod down, correct? I would guess it would also beef the tip section up a little though, and maybe give a little more power for ripping Pounders harder? How easily/far does it cast them?
Tucker |
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Posts: 908
Location: South-Central PA | In my experience, you won't notice 2" off the tip of that blank- as far as affecting action. What it will noticeably do is give the rod much more power. IMO, it is borderline for pounders in stock form. It will handle them, but not as well as with 2" off the tip. Do that, and it's a beast.
jeremy |
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Posts: 2687
Location: Hayward, WI | Thanks Jeremy. I like the sounds of what you describe. May look into that.
James, do you have any more info you can release about your new rods? Are you changing the actions or powers at all, or just improving the materials? They are pretty nice, light, etc. now so I'm impressed you're making changes. If it's too early to disclose anything I understand.
The last few years I have almost exclusively been using TI rods and have been a fan of them. |
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