I wanted to give a heads up for my friend Shane, Graywolf Rods, since he's added an onshore stock of Brightliver (Bright River) grips and components.  

I've been talking with him - he doesn't have time to offer finished rods, but he  offers this kit for a baitfinesse rod:  

https://www.graywolfrods.com/product-page/bright-liver-chucker-reel-seat-5ft-bfs-blank

 

 

I've been in the "Japan Underground" market for round reels for a few years, and his price is very good compared to buying from Japan.  

 

These are a great match  for round reels, since they place the spool in a comfortable thumb position.  

I like these a lot gonna look into that 🙂 

Any idea what the CCS numbers are for these, or other BFS blanks that work well?  TIA

I'm not sure I know how CCS numbers work.  

@MickD I have bass rod blades from 1-power to 5-power.  

Here's 1, 3, 5, that's a river kayak mix for me, covers 3" senko to swimbait.  

The 5-power Bright River Hogan blade is rated 1/2 to 3 oz, but typical of the Japanese, it will skip-cast 1/4 oz, and fish 3/8 oz all day.  One thing they did on the Hogan, the butt ferrule is machined titanium instead of aluminum.  

The length of these rods, 5'5", 5'3", 5'6" also work perfectly in my kayak niche, and  may not be as versatile for reservoir fishing.  

Regards

 

BTW, my heads-up apparently sold out Shane's stock.  

 

51 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

I'm not sure I know how CCS numbers work.  

CCS is a system to measure blanks and rods and yields objective power and action numbers.  If one likes a rod with certain numbers, and finds another with the same or similar numbers, they will essentially fish the same.  Power is expressed in the grams it takes to deflect the blank 1/3 of its length, (and converted to Effective Rod Number, (ERN) a number a lot like the line weight rating of fly rods)  and action is expressed in Action Angle, the angle the tip makes to horizontal when deflected.  It works for all rods.  It is the most accurate objective system that I know of.  The "ratings" of blanks by manufacturers is hardly meaningful.  I have Med Light power blanks that have measured from as low as 12 to as high as 20, Med's from 15 or less to 25.  AA's for "Fast action" from less than 75 to over 80.  There is a big difference between 75 and 80.   https://common-cents.info/#:~:text=The Common Cents System (CCS,in 2004 by RodMaker Magazine.

7 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

I'm not sure I know how CCS numbers work.  

@MickD I have bass rod blades from 1-power to 5-power.  

Here's 1, 3, 5, that's a river kayak mix for me, covers 3" senko to swimbait.  

The 5-power Bright River Hogan blade is rated 1/2 to 3 oz, but typical of the Japanese, it will skip-cast 1/4 oz, and fish 3/8 oz all day.  One thing they did on the Hogan, the butt ferrule is machined titanium instead of aluminum.  

The length of these rods, 5'5", 5'3", 5'6" also work perfectly in my kayak niche, and  may not be as versatile for reservoir fishing.  

Regards

 

BTW, my heads-up apparently sold out Shane's stock.  

 

That water in that picture brackish or pure salt? 

@F14A-B - neither, way up in the headwaters of the N. Llano - closest hamlet is Roosevelt, Texas.  

Crossing the Junction divide from home is as far as driving to the coast, though.  

 

 

5 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@F14A-B - neigher, way up in the headwaters of the N. Llano - closest hamlet is Roosevelt, Texas.  

Crossing the Junction divide from home is as far as driving to the coast, though.  

 

 

Must be a very productive place to drive huh?

@F14A-B

The entire watershed this side of that divide is depleted by population boom, which doubled groundwater use in 20 years.  Just for the last census, TX Hill Country had 15% of the population growth for entire US.  

  

4 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@F14A-B

The entire watershed this side of that divide is depleted by population boom, which doubled groundwater use in 20 years.  

  

Well that’s a shame. Respectable fish you got there. 

@F14A-B

Twenty years ago, could drive 8 miles and bust/wade for this

2005 was also the 1st year since 1955 drought of record that the Guadalupe stopped here - it stopped in 7 of the following 10 years.  

56 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@F14A-B

Twenty years ago, could drive 8 miles and bust/wade for this

2005 was also the 1st year since 1955 drought of record that the Guadalupe stopped here - it stopped in 7 of the following 10 years.  

That’s beautiful water for sure, love to wade fish, I use to wade fish the St. John’s river @ Dr’s Inlet.. amazing what you will see & more importantly, learn. Around here, I’ve got to wait about another month to wade fish, in fact we are suppose to receive 6-11” of rain over the next few days. When I had my big Skeeter I’d put in on rising lake water as often as I could.. fishing gets crazy on a rising lake. My son sold his Ranger last week. So I’m thinking I won’t make Kentucky lake or Cumberland lake for stripers this year. He’s about to buy a place so I understand it but man, that was my ride 😂🤣😂 I think I need a kayak now. 😆

You really gotta hand it to bulldog1935. BFS is niche enough , adding Ambassadeur reels to the mix is whole ‘ other level. 

@Delaware Valley Tackle - thanks, friend.  

Finishing a synchro reel on your bench and having it perform toe-to-toe with the best JDM package-BFS reel is kind of a feeling of power.  

 

Here's a different JDM offset-grip - also a different butt-ferrule design, Smith Super Strike SS66SPX.  (Smith ferrule is 12-mm and doesn't swap with Fuji 9-mm)

This one will fish your reservoir baitfinesse niche, and I like it best as a 2-hand shore caster.  

The offset grips place the CG low, so you don't feel torsion on your rod hand.  

Also most of the balance is in the grip, and the rod tip feels weightless.  

14 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@Delaware Valley Tackle - thanks, friend.  

Finishing a synchro reel on your bench and having it perform toe-to-toe to the best JDM package-BFS reel is kind of a feeling of power.  

 

Here's a different JDM offset-grip - also a different butt-ferrule design, Smith Super Strike SS66SPX.  

This one will fish your reservoir baitfinesse niche, and I like it best as a 2-hand shore caster.  

The offset grips place the CG low, so you don't feel torsion on your rod hand.  

Also most of the balance is in the grip, and the rod tip feels weightless.  

It looks as if that rod easily breaks down into 2 pieces at the grip. What length is it? 

6'6" OL with the 2-hand grip. A year ago from Arroyo dock, it was casting 3-g microjig to 150' for me.  Stunning performance compares with my 8' shore baitfinesse.  

The blade is an easy fit across car back seat.  

Both the blade and grip come in socks, you can lace both together, and it's well-protected in a Plano tube with 1-pc rods.  

 

8 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

6'6" OL with the 2-hand grip. A year ago from Arroyo dock, it was casting 3-g microjig to 150' for me.  Stunning performance compared to my 8' shore baitfinesse.  

The blade is an easy fit across car back seat.  

Both the blade and grip come in socks, you can lace both together, and it's well-protected in a Plano tube with 1-pc rods.  

Very nice. That’s quite an achievement to cast 3 g to 150’, nicely done.