Spin Stick Blank

[Horse]

After a fairly exhaustive search I have come to the conclusion that my perfect medium spin stick does not exist :( . Everything I have seen is too short, has a foregrip that my 11 yo daughter cant get her hand on or are too exy :'( . I am after a Maccy/Tuna rod capable of throwing 20gm into next week :o . It will be matched with a 5000 or 4000 size reel. I am looking at 7'6'' to 8' to give a few extra meters in cast. I would prefer something that does not just fold the tip away and leave a long leaver that fights against me in longer fights against LT's etc :P

Can anyone come up with any suitable blanks?

Cheers

Neil

[wheezer]

Hastings GUSA SW70LM or SW70M or United URS70LM or URS70M....4-6kg and 6-8kg 7 footers with mod-fast action which seems to be what you are after...you could extend at the butt if you need to

GUSA blanks will be a bit lighter and more responsive, United blanks will be more durable, hope that helps

[Stuart]

I realy don’t understand when a guy asks for a blank recommendation and that he is on a tight budget every one suggests Hastings/GUSA. There are so many other blanks on the market here in Australia it’s not funny. Pacific Composite has a bundle to choose from, Snyder as well. You could even ring Gary Howard to look at his imported range from Shikari, CTS, Lamiglass, and Calstar and so on. All of these blanks are less than half the price of GUSA. I’m not saying these Hastings/GUSA blanks aren’t any good, indeed they are very nice but over priced for what they are.

Stu

[DR]

where abouts in Brisbane are you Horse?? may have something that will suit, good price too..
cheers

[Noelm]

funny how if you are after something very specific, it does not seem to exist! I have been through the very same thing, I had a Shamino Beastmaster rod, that was stolen, I tried to get another, but they where discontinued years ago, so I set out to find something similar, what I wanted was a rod with a very fast taper with a nice whippy tip so it could cast with a threadline reel, BUT I also wanted it to be strong enough in the butt to be able to fish with a TLD25 overhead with about 15KG line, and it needed to be no more than 2 metres long, now why would I want such a rod you ask?? well I used to take it with me when I went on Holidays to Caloundra, it needed to be the length for air travel, and when built as a threadline, but on the overhead backbone, I could take the two reels, and have two outfits with only one rod, of course it was a compromise for both reels but it worked a treat, but do you think I can find a suitable blank, no way! I even lurk around Cash Converters and places in case I spy one of the Beastmasters that was stolen! so I can see your frustration when you want something so personal!

[finga]

I had a gander at the Snyder Glas Flame wrap blanks and they look impressive.
Have a look here (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../snyder/flame.shtml) for the specs.
Also the other Snyders are here. (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../snyder/blanks.shtml)
Dr's are nice rods though :)
I'm building up an original Ugly stick with similar specs. 8' 8.5 kg with some castability about it for myself.
I got it as a whole rod at the boaties market
Hopefully it'll be used for similar reasons ;D


Hey Noelm .....I just happen to have a beastymaster. A BL-88U ...6' - 8kg in the rack

[wheezer]

Sorry Stuart but i don't see where you are coming from? one person...me...has responded to Neil's request with some potential offerings from Hastings...to me that does not qualify as 'everybody' I was simply responding to his question.

[Noelm]

finga, can you describe the rod you have?? like does it have a really light tip, but strong as hell in the butt, has a flatened forgrip, and the first guides are large, as in built for a threadline, I cannot remember the numbers of mine now, but I would kill to get one again, and it was fitted with a plastic gymbal fitting from new!

[finga]

finga, can you describe the rod you have?? like does it have a really light tip, but strong as hell in the butt, has a flatened forgrip, and the first guides are large, as in built for a threadline, I cannot remember the numbers of mine now, but I would kill to get one again.
Built like a light game rod with gimble and roller tip etc etc. Long foregrip but not flat.
Lightish tip IMO and strong as hell in the butt as you mention.
First guide is about 20 double footed heavy duty boat guide...they're all Fugi.
I'd only use this sucker with an overhead. I got it with a TLD 10

[Stuart]

Wheezer

Not so much in this thread but when ever a blank is needed most every one jumps on the GUSA /Hastings band wagon. Not having a go at you mate. ::)

Stu

[Horse]

I thought that the type of rod I am looking for would not be unique but for some reason the ready rolled stuff just does not seem to exist in the format I am looking for. Probably the closest to what I want is a cheapy in the new 4-8kg 7'6" Dropshot but the ergonomics let it down

Back in the old days you could walk into a good tackle store and play with a few blanks. Sadly these days are gone and I get a bit nervous trying to buy one without seeing it and kicking the tyres so to speak.

This is a rod that will get about 1/2 dozen outings each year so I want the finished product to be inside $200.00.

DR
I live at Mansfield but work on the Northside. Interested in what you have.

Stuart
I like some of the lighter Pac Comp blanks I have seen. I will try to get in contact with GH and see if he can help out

[tunaticer]

Check out the Sabre series of Grafast blanks, a wide selection in varying lengths. I have built several on these blanks and I have had excellent results from them all.

Sabre used to be a top line brand about a dozen years ago and the likes of GLoomis and the rest took over the top name and sabre never recovered. I pay around the 80-120 dollars for really excellent blanks.

Jack.

[Longshot]

finga, can you describe the rod you have?? like does it have a really light tip, but strong as hell in the butt, has a flatened forgrip, and the first guides are large, as in built for a threadline, I cannot remember the numbers of mine now, but I would kill to get one again, and it was fitted with a plastic gymbal fitting from new!


Sounds like the Shimano Triton Beastmaster BW2703 composite graphite 7ft 10-25lb. Nice rod got one sitting in the racks.

[Horse]

Jack
I have an older Sabre. Brutally fast taper where the tip folds away but I am left with a long lever to fight against me. It also casts like a dog. It was an E Glass model I extended.

DR
I will be in touch

Can anyone give me some feedback on the Samurai S008 or NV 8. From what I recall from a few years back the S008 was very light and the NV8 was a brute of a stick
Same for the Pac comp Powergraph 3 or 4

Cheers

Neil

[Noelm]

The beastmaster I had did not have a roller tip, and the grip was definately flat on one side (the top) the taper was so fast that the tip was almost a Whiting rod, with that it enabled me to cast lures a mile, but it was just so strong in the butt, I have now resorted to a more convential spinning rod and have an 750 spinfisher with two spools, so I still kind of have two outfits with one rod, OH by the way, sorry to hijack your post, but I was just sympathising with you when I know how frustated you get looking for that special "something"

[wheezer]

had no experience with the S008, but have built/used both the NV8 and RBC008. NV8 will be too heavy for what you are after i think, more like an 8-10kg stick. RBC008 will be good though maybe a little fast in action for what you want, light in weight with a decent amount of grunt for their rating. economically priced although have seen a few break up in the tip area but that could be user error

i know some people may think the Hastings stuff is expensive but i'm happy to pay a little extra as i've been extremely happy with not only every one i've built, but also the advice and service from the distributor. and i easily noticed the increased performance between my Hastings and my Samurai stuff which i have since pensioned off....

[Matt_Campbell]

Horse
I just bought myself a Gary Howard rod built on a Composite Developments Graphcast 3 blank. I built quite alot of rods on these when I was making rods for a living. There are three blanks - the Graphcast 1 for 4-6kg, Graphcast 2 for 6-8kg and the Graphcast 3 for 8-10kg. The Graphcast 1 is 8'6" while the other two are 9'. They are the best rods for spinning for tuna available. You might still get one from Gary if you're lucky (there were only 2 of the Graphcast 3's left). Do yourself a favour and at least have a look at one of these rods. I got mine for $250 but they're becoming as rare as hens teeth.
Matt C

[BenatCoffs]

I would prefer something that does not just fold the tip away and leave a long leaver that fights against me in longer fights against LT's etc :P


So you want a slow - moderate taper blank?

A fast blank where the tip folds over only gives the most leverage advantage to the fish. eg a fast 8' blank that the top 2' folds over gives 6' of leverage advantage to the fish a moderate 8' blank that the top 4' folds over gives 4' of leverage advantage to the fish, a slow 8' blank that the top 6' folds over gives 2' of leverage advantage to the fish. The faster blank will tire you out faster than a slow or moderate one (all else being equal)

Wanting to fish for macks n tuna I guess you'd be wanting to fish 15-20lb line?

Wanting to cast 20gm metals into next week doesn't translate kindly back to slow-moderate rods (please someone correct me on this cos I'd love one). Blank builders have this covered with the Hot Shot blanks, but they are ultra extremely fast. With even 20lb rated rods having a tip around 2mm they can fire lightweights a looooong way. Look at the HS9001 (8-20lb 7'6" 7-21g) or HS932 (12-20lb 7'9" 14-70g). The US manufacturers have these, look in the 'Salmon/Steelhead" catalogues. But like I said at the start, they are faaast

In moderate blanks I would look at a 'Crankbait' CB76M (8-14lb 7'6" 7-18g) or a'Popping' (Popping not Popper - it's a US livebaiting style) P904 (8-17lb 7'6" 7-21g).

I have nothing to offer for a true slow taper though! If you could find a 7'6" version of a Butterworth Super Barra (the 8kg) one then that would be pretty much spot on too (I have a 7' one and with a ABU5600 it fires a 20g metal 40-60 metres and has a really sweet action.

My thoughts anyway FWIW. All the quoted specs above are Batson Rainshadows, but any US blank builder has variants on the them usually similar in specs.

The Hastings blanks listed above are all $200+ blank only from Rod Works (site sponsor)

[Horse]

Thanks Mate

I'm still looking at both blanks and finished rods. The closest have been the 7'6"Loomis and the Nitro Max Cast.