After Christmas I'll likely be building a new senko rod. I mostly use the 5 or 6in size senkos (or stik-o).

 

What have you guys built and used for senkos? What is your favorite? 

Casting or spinning, I'm open to either. 

I always used a St Croix 5C68MXF for my weightless sticks.

Have not built a senko rod for myself. Yet. The production rod I almost always pick up for senko fishing is the LTB 7’ M-F, the one they called the Sniper. This rod is with me on all bass fishing outings.

 

Probably why I have not built a senko specific rod. Huh!

I hate to add my .2 cents and not directly answer your question, however I've been throwing my weightless 5" senkos on a MF Daiwa aird x casting outfit. Ive enjoyed the power and action suit a stick bait well. Rod blanks aren't something that I'm very educated in! Good luck.

I built a rod on the All Star Titanium Tops and Tails blank many years ago, very similar to the St. Croix MXF in power and action.

2 hours ago, spoonplugger1 said:

I built a rod on the All Star Titanium Tops and Tails blank many years ago, very similar to the St. Croix MXF in power and action.

I have an All Star Ti blank I picked up at the ICRBE many years ago out of Andy Dear's trash can sale.  Don't remember the model, it's tucked away in my private stash along with a prototype CTS drop-shot blank 

I built a rainshadow immortal 6’8” medium which I thought would be a Jerkbait rod but haven’t really liked it for that. But I found that it tosses and fishes a 5” senko very well. That blank has more of a mh action vs medium. My other choice would be the nfc X-ray mb736. But I find I skip better with the 6’8” though. 

Thanks for the ideas guys. A St Croix blank has been on my "must try" list for a while now so ill definitely look into that. I throw neds on a Immortal ML and its absolutely great, a M was what I had in mind before I decided to make this post.

 

Any of you have experience with both the Immortal and St Croix in a M power? What do they do differently from one another? 

 

As far as the X-ray goes, wouldn't the mb736 be a little too heavy for weightless? I like the X-ray blanks for $75 (I have 1 now), but I'm not crazy about them at full price. 

27 minutes ago, Lead Head said:

As far as the X-ray goes, wouldn't the mb736 be a little too heavy for weightless? I like the X-ray blanks for $75 (I have 1 now), but I'm not crazy about them at full price. 

 

The MB-736 is rated 1/4-3/4 oz., and a weightless 5" Senko is pushing 1/2 oz., so it just depends if you like the length and action on it. I'm building one right now and I will throw a 5" Senko with a light Nail Weight on it, but I don't expect it to be the perfect Senko rod. I'm also building the X-Ray MB-733 rated up to 3/8 oz. as a Spinning Rod, but I'm thinking it may be strong enough to throw a 5" Senko and if so I think I will like it better for that technique.

 

The best Senko rod that I have now for a Senko is a Dobyns Xtasy 723c, which is rated as a MH, but more like a Medium Finesse Casting Rod. The action reminds me a lot of the X-Ray MB-733, but I haven't fished it yet so I can't say for sure. I believe the Xtasy is made from a Toray 1100G blank, not sure if you could buy one or not.

I don't hold much to lure ratings, they can get a bit carried away sometimes, line ratings are closer I think. The All Star blank I mentioned, I believe it was listed as the BAST 813 in the All Star catalog, was rated 1/8 - 1 oz., I didn't believe it and it's not even close to that rating, just like the St. Croix blank. One thing I will say about this style blank, if you can't put it in the hands of a complete novice and have them pretty comfortable with a casting setup fairly quickly, that person never will get it.

Take a look at the Point Blank 6'9"s.

Ahh.. I'm glad you mentioned these. I typically disregard high end blanks, but have reached a point where any rods I build will be upgrades. Since I have started building my own rods, I absolutely can't stop myself from having "my next rod build" planned out. Since I'm upgrading, more expensive blanks are now going to be part of the process. I'm just going to be building fewer rods because of budget. 

 

In the past, I haven't looked at Point Blank, Phoenix, or St Croix SC5 much because I was after "bang for your buck" builds. You just reminded me I need to start researching a few brands I have previously disregarded.