spoonplugger1

My favorite drop shot blank still is the US built Rainshadow RX8+S822.5 which is no longer available, get with Batson to find out what is it's replacement. I use micro-guides. Hope the pics got to you.

Bassout, There was a time when some made their dropshot rods for exactly your purpose with the long foregrip and short rear grip, made for a very balanced light in the hand setup. Rogue Rods was the only production factory rods that I remember. Might have a graphite tube gripped version still around if you would like a pic. Some took a short cigar grip used on the lighter powered fly rods and used that as their foregrip.

There is a weight reduction, but the original prime mover was that no matter what rod, or grip length, it only took 10 premium cork rings to get the job done. A standard 9 inch grip takes 18 rings, a 14 inch grip 28. If you liked the older Castaway rods with the long exposed bottom on the reelseat, CUI still makes it last I needed some, Bingham Ent. is where I bought them, Karen will have everything you need for your build.

I've used and built a few, they are larger diameter blanks by today's standards and they have no taper to speak of in the area where you put your grips and reelseat. Being made with a larger diameter blank they get a stiffer rod out of the same amount of graphite and therefore the same amount of weight and I find them to be a bit better balanced and livelier in the hand when built with the same components as other blanks, I think this has to do with the blank diameter also, all the components in the grip are naturally lighter. Since power and line/lure weight have no accepted standard I don't know how to comment on that, other than to say, I've had no problem with them and they are excellent casting blanks in accuracy, and distance, especially distance.

When you don't use color preserver on the thread it becomes opaque, easier to see through to the guide foot, as you can see in your photos you can see the unpacked and unburnished thread wraps also.

Cork grips come with different diameter holes in them from the suppliers, or you can bore them pretty easily to a size that slips over the blank's butt. Turn down the eva grip to the butt diameter, or to the cork grips ID and slip on the cork grip, Add, or replace the butt cap and your done. Same can be done with graphite sleeve grip material, but it's even easier, with less work.

Paul, Your blanks sound like a small redesign of a G Loomis blank that was around for 30 years or so. The rod the SJR700, same action, power, and lure discription as your blank. It was 70 inches, 5 ft. 10 in. long in the old design and I have one in the old IM6 graphite, circa late 70's if I remember right. It was a favorite of the Hall of Fame angler, trick caster, newspaper writer and author, Stan Fagerstrom. Myself and others have found it makes a fantastic light line smallmouth, and deep water crappie rod, use it to fish for larger trout also, even caught a steelhead on it. We use it as is, and it's pretty popular to extend it to around 6 1/2 ft. You could have done much worse, it's one of my keepers I'll never go without.

Andy, It's not as easy as that to answer, the finer and more specialized you go, the more little details make a difference. Some have had good results with braid and even mono with guides down to a 10, but those rods are specifically designed for a certain reel, etc. You are locked in with little room for deviation to change things later. I don't have a problem building rods for specifc applications, other want a more relaxed setup, you know what you want, we'll help either way as much as we can. Guide height is more important then guide ring size. For many bass presentations any rod on the rack will out cast your ability to fish effectively, so casting performance isn't, under many circumstances, my first priority.

A custom built rod on a Point Blank blank makes a more than decent, light, and nicely balanced rod.

Well, I guess after all these years of building custom rods, especially performance rods, my customers want things their way, not mine. They want nothing put on the rod that isn't absolutely needed. A bare, minimalist rod. Under that criteria, what is there really to look at? They care how it works, more than how it looks. All rods are built by hand, so custom has to be more than that. There have been many builds I walked away from, my name is on that rod for good, or bad. I bet other have done the same.

I've got some old graphite rods that may have held up to be driven over by your truck, they survived an old school Ford Bronco in the day with some component damage and scratches, but the blanks were fine. The company is still in business and makes some fantastic light and ultra-durable graphite saltwater rods of all types.

I'd go with the St. Croix rods for many reasons, most important the rear grip on the Shimano is to long, vertical work it would be ok, as a casting tool, anything you have in front of your hand as far as length goes is an advantage. The industry keeps going longer to get a better casting and hook setting tool, than they get tip heavy, so they go with a longer rear grip which negates everything they tried to do in the first place. Because of the way spinning rods are held, a 10 inch spinning rear grip is about the same length against your arm as a 12 inch casting grip when your palming the reel, do you use a 12 inch grip on your 6 1/2 ft. casting rods? Secondly, the St. Croix rods are real power rods like your used to, anyone can call their rods any thing they want, there are no standards to go by, but St. Croix has been here a long time and have a history of what a Med Hvy spinning rod should feel like, and the power you'd expect to see. They also do a very good job of ensuring the power stays very similar throughout their line, they keep things as similar as it can be though they are using different materials.

What good would a pic do? It's a fishing rod like many others.

The 873C CRR is the most versatile of the rods I've tried, the NRXs are also some of the worst finished rods I've ever used.

St Croix has made 7 1/2 ft. 2 piece rods that will throw 1/2 ounce and up stuff forever. Same with shorter stuff.

Smallie got it right, the PM76H looks too heavy powered maybe for your use, but it's designed to be a heavy crankbait rod which means it's great for all types of hooks. Another option is to just shorten the rear grip on the Dobson.

Chance Taker, If you want the full specs on the build I mentioned just add gmail.com to my handle. Specs include reel used, lines used, casting performance tests done with each line, guide spacing from the reel, etc. All in the words of the developer, not my own. I can also hook you up with the original posting with conversations by all if you want them. I've got DS rods built on the St. Croix mentioned, the old design Batsons in RX7 and RX8+, and my oldest ones are Shikari P and PP7000 blanks. Still have a few of the Batson and Shikaris around if I break one. I like them all, fave probably the RX8+ Batson. Bet the new Batsons haven't fallen to far from the tree on that particular blank design.

I wasn't to concerned with the small guides, the big guides can be reduced in size on a jig and drop shot rod saving a bunch of weight. I'm talking a 10 J frame, 8 V frame, a 6 ceramic fly and the rest 3s. Like I said the rod lost no casting perfomance with braid, or 8 lb. fluorocarbon blend. I build to the needs of the situation, not to some general formula. Not all rods need a 16, or 20 first guide.

If it's being used as a true dropshot rod you can go even smaller on the guides, cutting cost, weight, without losing any performance for anything you do with it that resembes a jigging action and casting distance. Been done by some for 8-10 years, first one I saw was by Hunter McKamey on a 6 ft. smallmouth rod when his papa still owned Custom Tackle. Rod was very light and cast beautifully, losing nothing to an identical build with standard guide setup. Test it yourself put a spinning reel on your lightest powered casting rod and test cast it, you'll be casting a worst case scenerio that will surprise you.

Remember the job doesn't stop with the rod, as mentioned before every component you put on the blank makes a difference, they become part of the whole. This goes for everything you do after you've built the rod, when you clamp a reel on it, it becomes part of the rod, just as integrated into your fishing tool as the rest of the components. Sensitivity and balance is affected as much by the reel as the rod, so buying a reel should happen with the rod it's going on. Fly anglers has known this for decades. I don't go to a sportsman's show without a pocket full of reels to sample rods and a few rods, if I' m looking for reels.

They just brought out a new series of rods, the deltas, and upgraded some of the fly blanks, as of a month ago everything was fine over there.

I got two of the IM blanks. They are very much like an upgraded IMX blank and just a touch lighter in weight. Some I looked at had the same exact tip and butt specs as the old reliable classic bass rods/blanks.

NFC blanks are now 60% off at Get Bit, great time to get a quality US made blank at a great price. The biggest thing with custom building is the stuff you see on a lot of rods were things developed and perfected by custom builders over a decade ago. The manufacturers are subscribers to all the custom rod building publications and when something starts being a success there, ie: winning tournaments and/or making money, they incorporate it into their rods, hype it up, do a half assed job in execution and the general public never knows the difference.

Get Bit has that blank and 150+ more styles for 60% off. If you like the G Loomis IMX rods, you'll get similar results with the NFC IM. G Loomis makes a dropshot with same length, same power. I haven't looked at all the NFC blanks to compare, but some of the more classic G Loomis IMX blanks have the same exact dimensions as the comparable NFC blanks.

If you're looking for a slip over butt cap, a 26 mm ID (1.02") X 1.25 inch OD is pretty easy to find the Batson Forecast version is a BC26B I believe. They look like the bottom of a crutch in a way, just a bit more rounded though on the butt. There may also be a 1.4 inch OD version, just can't remember.