AndZ

I hope they aren't

It's just that the rod casts 4.5 oz. the same distance really well but with 2 oz. more it feels like it struggles. I will record some casts next weekend hopefully. I am aware that setting the hook on long distance casts is a no go. By casting that bait 30 to 40 meters will allow me to do 2 things: - cover more water more quickly - if I can comfortably cast to that distance, then it means that the rod handles shorter casts to actual fishing distance of 20 to 25 meters even better, with less effort from me. Reel's a Daiwa Lexa 300HL, brand new. I keeee Magforce brake from 4 to as low as 3 without any backlash. There are some videos with guys casting the 250 farther and with more ease. Maybe I'm biased but those casts seem to go a long way. The rods don't seem to bend that much.

That's a different blank - from NFC Japan. Mine is 1/2 - 8 oz., line 20 - 40 lbs., Mag-Medium power, Mod-Fast action. I wouldn't have bought it but I got assured that the blank would throw a 6.5 oz lure without breaking a sweat. That made me get into it. Otherwise I would've got a Phenix from the start. Thanks for the recommendation, I was looking at the Black Diamond PSW-809XHJ-B for the Deps 250 but I'll check that blank, too. I did some casting on land yesterday with lead weights - casting with 6.2 oz. was relatively ok, I was reaching 25 to 30 meters, but the casting weight didn't seem to travel with great speed through the air. When I raised the total weight to 6.9 oz., the tip of the rod flexed quite a bit more and the rod kind of felt "too loaded". The casts were notably slower in speed and the maximum distance was around 25 meters. With 4.65 oz. the distance was around 35 meters and the speed of the weights thru the air a little higher. Saturday I went fishing and cast only Deps 250 for some time... I could fish it OK with cast around 25 meters. But I still want to build another more powerful rod for the 250.

Talked with fishing buddies and this weekend, if I have the time, will test the rod on the ground, with lead weights ranging from 4 to 8 and even 11 oz. Maybe we'll record the casting session to see how the rod performs, how it loads and such... On the grass it's always better to fine tune a casting technique... I used to do fly casting for distance with high performance rods in the past. Will post later our conclusions.

Action's a Mod-Fast, tip is not that fast... I keep seeing you guys launching the Deps 250 the proverbial mile on youtube videos... I want to be able to do that, too. I need to cover lots of water if I am to catch some fish on big baits so medium to long casts are a must. I don't get it why the manufacturers don't list the sweet spot of the rods/blanks... and while in the carbon space age we're still working with guesstimates... and I am still not sure what is the power of the blank that I paid more than a complete factory or a full custom rod's price for. However, I will still take my time this weekend and the next ones to get the heck out of that rod. See if I manage to cast it the next mile, break it to pieces and so on.

I know, I'm in the wrong country and it's got no bass... yet

No problem, thank you all for the thoughts. I'll just have to find another more powerful blank for the next build.

I think I know what you're saying. I wanted a blank that would allow me to cast a specific lure the farthest with the smallest amount of force from me - minimum input. It's about stored vs. released energy. It's not that the rod I have doesn't cast it. It does, but in my opinion, it doesn't do it with efficiency. That's why I can't get the distance... I wanted a rod built specifically for one lure, Deps 250, and that's exactly what I think I didn't get. I know there are some very good custom rod builders in here that know their job better than most, especially in the swimbait game... but I chose to go by myself, mostly because it's a long way from the U.S. to Europe and I had some U.S. custom rods smashed and crushed at both ends by DHL in the past. I got the NFC blank from France and the shipping alone to my country was 80 euro, which equals around 91 dollars. Like you said, now I know that the rod builder's knowledge is priceless to help the clients get exactly what they want. Right now I'm investigating some Phenix sw blanks in the 8' to see what would be better for the Deps 250 - to cast the lure with just the flex of the tip, not with half the rod bending and sweating like a bag of bones. The other blank will be for heavier lures in the 10 to 12 oz. range. The 2 blanks I inquired with Phenix about are Black Diamond PSW-809XHJ-B 8' 25-60 1 Fast 0.823 20.9 8.0 3.2 7.10 201 $159 Black Diamond Hybrid PHD-809XH-B 8' 30-80 1 Fast 0.693 17.6 9.0 3.6 7.51 213 $189

That's the one... On the European dealer's page where I ordered it they also gave their own assessment. Here are the specs from that page: "Power casting (manufacturer data): 1/2-8 oz Power casting (our opinion): 50-330 grs Weight: 4.12 oz / 118 grs The blank for 3D truit, was field-tested up to 350 grams" So, I contacted the manufacturer with a couple of e-mails but I got no reply from them. The NFC dealer from Europe (actually it's a rod building shop in France) was very helpful and replied to all my questions. He also assured me the blank would be able to cast the Deps 250 like a breeze. According to their measurements and tests, the blank was capable of casting up to 12 oz... see the above quote. I also talked to someone from Phenix abour their Classic swimbait blanks, they replied and told me the data from their website were incorrect... and they gave me a different weight for the blank I was inquiring about... something like 185 grams. Between those 2, I chose the lighter and the most expensive one from NFC. I will take my time to cast the rod again with different weights... the heaviest I've got being the Deps 250 and the Megabass Mag Draft 10" and will see.

Any thought is welcome I also asked myself about that... it was like I was trying to sling it but the rod wouldn't help me much. I'm not afraid of losing some big baits, not afraid of breaking that rod if I have to... next weekend I'll try and put even more oomph into it. It's hard to explain... I was kind of expecting the rod to help me really sling that 250 out there... and it just didn't happen. I think I averaged 20 yards casts with a few better ones of about 25... whereas I could cast twice the distance with my other rods, on chatterbaits, lipless cranks etc. Every time I took the rod back, on the side of the boat, I could feel the 250 pulling on my rod and the rod felt kind of flimsy. Every time I tried to throw the bait, I felt like the rod was dragging behind. It's hard to explain...

Thank you for the thoughts, I will take more time to fine tune the big baits casting. I've seen some footage from S.U. members on YouTube who were absolutely blasting the Slide Swimmer 250 a long, long way... one of the movie is called something like "Long lining the Slide Swimmer 250", on Lake Austin. I couldn't get the 250 into overhead cast, I kind of side cast it each time. On some casts I could squeeze a bit more distance when I felt the rod slinging the bait a little more, but nowhere near the distance achieved with the 2 oz. lures - I both side and overhead cast them with ease. If that's anything I don't like that's paying big money for a product that doesn't deliver... such an underpowered rod blank. I don't want to jump to conclusion but I think that's the logic cause - an underpowered rod will bend deeper and will launch a lure at a much slower speed than a rod with enough reserve power. I feel like the mid section of the blank kinda isn't up to the task. At 6.7 oz. for a 250 I'd say the maker missed the mark by over 1 oz.

Well, I picked up the rod last Friday and yesterday I went fishing. The rod came out very nice from my local rod builder, actually better than I expected. I'll post some pictures tonight when I get home from work. Sunday I also took the rod and a bunch of baits ranging from 2 to 6.7 oz in weight - Nekosogi drt, Klash & Tiny Klash, Megabass Mag Draft in 8 and 10 inches, DEPS Slideswimmer 175 & 250, Savage Gear Line Through Trout in 8 and 10 inches and so on... Reel is a Lexa 300HL in 6.3:1 with some .43 mm/30 lbs, nylon line from Sunline. Magforce setting down to 3 and no backlashes whatsoever. Long story short: I could bomb cast the lighter lures (2 oz.) at least twice the distance I barely got with the Slideswimmer 250. The SWB 808-1 IM blank from North Fork Composites is rated up to 8 oz. When casting the 250, I felt and saw the rod bending all the upper half, much deeper than with a Nekosogi swimbait that's 2 oz. What could be the problem? The NFC blank is underpowered or my casting technique is not up to par for heavy baits? That is one expensive blank that costs just as a well made rod, factory or custom. If that would be the case, I will have to look elsewhere for a more powerful blank, in the Phenix saltwater lineup. I think I found 2 blanks in the 8' range but I need more info about them...

I hear my rod is ready, will be picking it up this Friday. One more pic... that was before the custom sticker to be applied on the split grip. I like a clean and minimalist approach.

Another pic.

The blank is a NFC SWB 808-1 IM, rated 1 - 8 oz. Because of it's highly extreme taper, it caused some execution issues... but we got past them. Rod is in the making as we speak. It's starting to happen, looking better than expected. The rod builder is more than OK, very precise, with great input on all the steps of the building process. Once the rod is ready I'll post some pics. The handle is my own design that the builder followed pretty close. Will also feature custom made stickers also designed by myself. All in due time. Just a sneak peek for now

I got that but I can't place another order before I get the other custom ready. First I need to fish it to see what other rod to add later.

First things first: I have to make my custom rod that I got the NFC blank for. It costed a lot of money and must see that it gets done exactly the way I want. Then I'll see for a second stick later this year, so there's still plenty of time. I'll check out the other options, too. Thanks for the suggestions. I really liked what I saw with LDC rods.

Actually, since I this will be just the first rod out of a long line of big bait series, in the future I think the only way will be going with knowledgeable builders found here, LDC to be more exactly. He knows exactly what and how to build, the client just comes up with what he wants the rod for, length, arms length etc. and the builder does the magic. I understand there is a long wait time for LDC rods and I can see why but best things come to those who wait. I had custom rods built in the U.S. in the past 20 years and I always happy with the outcome.

I know maybe in the future I'll order a custom LDC, no worries about the build or anything... it's just that the shipping for anything over 7' in length by UPS is an ar and a leg... but I think there might be some alternative solutions.

My bad, I mistook Fish Arrow for other manufacturer, FLT... I checked my tackle boxes last night So I never had a Fish Arrow big bait. As long as the price is decent, I am happy with a glide bait like that... even if the paint is not the toughest - which I noticed on some other JDM brands.

Saw it a little while ago on my facebook news feed, watched the video and I really liked how the bait swam. I think it’s called Glide Jack, from Fish Arrow Japan. I’ve seen and used other swimbaits made from them in the past but I wasn’t too impressed with their action. Now, with this new glide bait, it seems they nailed the glide action, looks effortless to me. I would estimate the size of that bait around 8’’ or 20 cm, but I’m not so sure. As far as shape is concerned, it looks similar to the Gan Craft J-Claw... Thing is, if I can find it this year, I’ll get one and post more info about it in here. First link is from their blog, second is with the lure in action. http://www.fisharrow.co.jp/official-blog/3640/

I only got 1 in my town. He will do as I say, no doubts about that. We don't have too many rod builders around here... just 2 that work good, one in a town 400 miles from here and another one in my city. We will do it together, with input from me. I don't want to look like a smarta&& or like I know everything about rod building, 'cause I don't, but in this case I'd really follow my guts.

Thanks, I agree with you. However, the rod builder says the acid wrap will put unnecessary stress on the rotating guides that make the transition from the top of the rod to the bottom. I know lots of custom swimbait rods or more expensive JDM big bait rods are built with spiral wraps... so if they build them like that, there must be some benefits to that method. I owned some spiral wrapped big bait rods, but they were factory made (by Evergreen International Japan) and never had any issues with line build, guide threads cracking or so... I might be off, but I am still insisting on the spiral setup. The rod builder will do as I say, eventually.

You got that right My rod builder came up with the idea of not going spiral. The guides are all double foot... and I'm wondering if the spiral guide won't have the advantage of using less guides and still not getting the line to touch the blank under load.

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I think it's a matter of personal preference, but in some cases, when you've got a blank that bends really deep, spiral wrap might be the only way of keeping the line out of the blank. I owned 3 big bait rods that were spiral wrapped and never had any issues with line build up or with the casting distance. Now I still have a bait finesse stick rated 1/16 - 1/4 oz. that benefits from the spiral. I usually take great care of my rods and reels all the time so the guides sticking out all around the blank shouldn't be too much of a problem (transportation can get awkward though). Still undecided... but simple seems better all of a sudden.