Hey guys, I'm building a new rod and am not too sure about it. It's an 11 ft gator blank 80-130 lb and slow medium action. I have a penn spinfisher v10500 that I was gonna put on there. The goal was to be able to cast super far. The one thing I'm worried about is that the rod is too thick and stiff. The tip top size is a 28 which is like 11.1 mm. That just seems big for a spinning reel.
Let me know what ya think
Unfortunately this blank will not work for your super far casting combo.
Surf casting rods are thinner towards the top and bend back while while casting, to "load up", acting like a spring to launch your bait.
You will not typically get this action from an 80 lb rod.
an 11ft rod rated over 80lbs is going to kick your ass... i still don't know why they use long rods with 60-130lb line... the physics involved just doesn't make sense from the anglers stand point, and your definitely not going to cast anything like that.
what lb line are you going to use? check out Batson rainshadow blanks if you want to cast big baits.
using a long rod with anything over 40lb line is over kill. applying 15lbs of drag on a 10ft lever is going to burn you out while that fish feels very little resistance. for heavier line use a 5.5ft to 7ft rod. if you need the line above the surf, make a long, 8ft rod holder out of pvc. use a step stool or bucket to reach it and put an eye bolt 3/4 the way up and anchore it with rope and a tent spike.
some good off the shelf surf rods for casting are the Ocean master 12ft versions, penn torque 12ft model, star rods stellar 12ft and the breakaway HDX.
So the blank arrived and the first person to reply was right. 80-130 was too much. The butt diameter was bigger then any cork or foam handle I coil find. I think I will end up just cutting it down and build it into like a 6 ft rod.
I ordered an 11'2 mhx blank from mudhole. It was rated for 20-40 lb line. I am putting a penn spinfisher v 10500 on it with 700 yards of 50lb braid.
Here's my new problem. I built the rod and put flex coat epoxy over the eyes and hook keeper as my last step(I've only built like 5 rods so far). Some of the eyes dried and hardened straight away but the hook keeper and a few eyes just got sticky and never dried. I figured I didn't mix the file coat enough. So I put a new layer on two days later and it helped a bit but the hook keeper isn't dry and two eyes are partially tacky. Should I take all the epoxy and thread off and redo it or just put a new layer of epoxy on it?
A properly mixed coat on top of a tacky coat should dry fine.