Hello all, I just purchased a blank from ebay that says it is a blank as stated in the title. Apparently it is slow action. I am interested in having this thing built but really have no idea where to begin. I would mainly be using it from the beach AND piers. That is where i run into the problem as these 2 conditions change how its built. Is there a good "middle-ground"? I have a 14/0 that i want to use with it. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I'm in the same boat, looking for a compromise between a beach and bridge rod. I imagine an 8' rod would be a perfect compromise between both, and I'm sure you could trim a 10' blank down 2 feet. Looking forward to hearing some of the other members responses.
Cutting down a 10ft unlimited will be awfully stout and may feel wrong if cut from the butt incorrectly, you can handle just about any rod from a beach, the importance isn't the length of the rod as much as the length of the butt, if you like being harnessed up then you wouldn't want a butt over 24 inches. The best compromise to have enough rod butt to fight from a pier and beach would probably be around 20 inches.
Here's a 12-13ft lamiglas with a butt around 3ft. bowed up on a big hammer
same rod, on a tiger
These are in the 20 inch range. with some giant nurses
big hammer
lemon
jewfish
24inch on a bridge lemon
24-28inch lemon
Just an average fisherman.
On a 10 foot blank and 20 to 24 inch butt is perfect. I have heard of some guys who have a 24 cutting them down to like 20 or so, but it's really whatever you're comfortable with. I think mine is 22.5
Thanks guys for the informative replies. I think i do want to have the butt to be short like was mentioned. Now on to the next thing...I have been reading a lot on here about roller vs regular guides. I think i want a roller stripper and tip-top. I have heard mentioned about a "bigfoot" tip. Do they make a bigfoot stripper too? Also what size guides would you guys suggest for this rod?
PS: That last picture looks awesome! I want mine to resemble that one when im done with it!