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First time poster and new to rod building...so I have a LOT of questions!
Looking to build a nice set of six big cat rods for myself.
I do a lot of fishing for big blue cats in fast current (Mississippi and Missouri rivers). I fish with heavy braided line (80-100#), big weight (8-16oz), big bait (big chunks of shad or skipjack herring--the size of a mans hand or bigger) with circle hooks while anchored. The average big fish for me are 30-40 pounds but I have caught them as big as 65 and want to be ready for the new record (135#!!!) I sometimes find these fish in currents as heavy as 5kts.
To date I have only used off the rack rods for this task but I would like to build a custom but I need some advice to get started. To give you an idea as to the type of rod I currently use for this task I'll share a bit about the "off the rack" rod I currently use--the serge elite. It is a MH 7'10" CASTING rods rated 15-40 line weight and 3-10oz lure weight. They have an aluminum rod seat and a total handle length of 25".
Thanks in advance for the help.
I also do catfish, but till today, I average 3-4 lbs. each because I'm stuck on the bank most of the time.
I strongly prefer glass rods as it's common for the cats to travel in schools so you likely will/can
get one on your second pole while your fighting the first one...can you picture me(anyone) putting
their foot on a graphite rod to hold it still while you fought the first fish ?
Bought a small (6') Tri-flex to make a spinning rod from to try them out...haven't put it together though.
They seem like a good "transition" rod blank...sensative like a graphite, but a little thicker (not
in outside diameter) so as to remove some of my graphite phobia...
The CGBT 96 1H looks like it's close to what you have in size and you might want to look at them...