Anyone with experience with T-Russell and Seed GT blanks?

[Andrew Colefax]

I'm looking to build a few GT rods and wondering if anyone has any experience with the above mentioned brands of blanks.

I can source T-Russell Grit Tale GT blanks through my japanese rod building supplier but have never heard of them. On paper they seem the goods (eg the GT-K 7.7XH kevlar reinforced PE8 250gr cast weight mod-fast action 210gr blank weight)

i've been told that the Seed blanks are too fast in action and consequently place undue strain on the angler. I am 196cm (6'5") around a 100kg so would like to think i can exert my fair of leverage when needed!

Realistically I am looking at putting together 3 rods to start with (PE5, PE8 and PE10+) for use mainly on the reefs off Cairns. if anyone has knowledge of the above ranges of blanks recommendations would be greatly appreciated alternatively i can post the specs of the various blanks here for further comment
cheers
Andrew

[67er]

A mate of mine built 7.7 T russell Kevlar before. Accordingly, you need the heaviest of poppers to load the blank. He complained that this was too stiff for his 6 feet and 108kg body and sold it away. Apparently this was the second blank he got, the first blank broke while he tried to locate the spine. All this happened many years ago and things might have changed since. Just thought you will find this info helpful. Let us know whatever you got.

Personally I like 7 1/2 feet too.

[Brandon Khoo]

Andrew, I have some familiarity wth SEED but I've only ever heard of the T Russells - never seen one. Can I say that a PE8 rod that can cast 250g sounds a bit odd to me though. A rod that can cast 250g would more likely be a PE10 rod.

The reality is that the top blanks are incredibly hard to come by unless you are very well connected. Honestly, I don't rate SEED highly and I certainly do not regard them among the premium producers. Their popping rods are heavy for what they are and appear a little stone age in comparison to a Carpenter. If any of you own a SEED, my apologies but it is my honest opinion.

I do not find the SEED rods particularly fast in action and certainly they would not be as fast as some of the rods in the Carpenter SP range. GT fishing places undue strain on the angler any way you look at it! I think the heaviest SEED blank is only good for up to PE8 and about 10-12kgs of drag.

If you're prepared to go with a one piece blank, some of the Calstars appear to be suitable. I can't give you much of an opinion on these as I don't use them myself but a number of our members here do.

Personally, popping rods are the one rod where you won't go wrong buying off the rack.

[Andrew Colefax]

Hi Brandon,
thanks for the response. As a custom rod builder (mainly lighter rods like barra and bass stuff) I would like to roll up a few popping sticks and depending on the outcome may look to integrate it with my upcoming business venture. I can source all the high end components through my japanese supplier and have confidence in my workmanship to produce a good end product.

I asked about Seed as the blanks are easy to obtain here thanks to a local distributor (who also happens to be the Hastings and Calstar distributor as well) I exclusively use Hastings blanks for my rods and visited the distributor a few weeks ago, they are working on a range of Hastings offset 2-piece popping blanks I saw a few samples they are looking good. I feel the technology, materials and design philosophy used in Hastings blanks make them ideally suited to popping blanks, so long as they do their research

I asked about T-Russell as I cannot read my japanese catalogue from my supplier but the specs are printed in english...i may bite the bullet and get a few in to see what they are about
cheers
Andrew

[Brandon Khoo]

Hastings don't have a spinning blank (as far as I am aware) that is even close to the rating of heavy GT rod.

I do understand the desire to build your own rods but you will to balance this off against the blanks you have access to. The top Japanese companies simply do not make their super premium blanks available.

[Andrew Colefax]

Hi Brandon,
that is correct, currently Hastings do not offer a GT blank. they do offer a range of jigging blanks. But they are currently in the development stage of a range of GT popping blanks. The sample blank i saw, an offset 2pc, was a PE6-8 i believe and looked good. one innovative (and cheaper to manufacture) idea incorporated into the design was the butt section was reverse tapered, ie it got thinner towards the butt. This makes it much easier from a rod builders point of view to build up the butt section.

I don't know the technology in terms of materials that the top end japanese GT blank manufacturers use, but in terms of laying up a blank it is the same basic process for all blank manufacturers. it is the materials used, the patterns of the flags and how they are placed on the mandrel, and the mandrel design that are the variables, and obviously the japanese are at the forefront of this style of blank due to their experience and R&D...I see no reason why a blank manufacturer such as Hastings can't produce a product equally as good if they follow the correct R&D procedures

I will most likely end up being involved in the development of these Hastings blanks once i have relocated and the boat arrives, and would also invite experienced anglers such as yourself to give one a try if you like...regardless i'm sure i'll end up getting an assortment of japanese rods

thanks for your insights
Andrew

[67er]

Personally, popping rods are the one rod where you won't go wrong buying off the rack.

I only started popping about a decade ago and with my limited knowledge I have to agree to this point as far as casting is concerned, but NOT too sure about fighting GT with long handle. For decades big game stand up rods have short handles for obvious reasons. If one can have best of both worlds (cast reasonably well with not too long a handle), why not? But if anyone is going to build to the specs like those off the rack ones, then I say forget it, pick one from the rack then. Having said that, not all blanks can be built with short handles. Certainly not those stiff/fast action ones. 

My 2 cents 

[Jon Li]

Is this T Russel Grit Tale blank comes from MATAGI rod builder catalog ? If so then be advised that there were a couple of breakages happened in 2006 when YFT fishing , the broken blanks were replaced FOC but not the custom work , this happened to the guy whom I sent my rods for repair . I can't imagine if such rod cant handle YFT , what wud be the outcomes when used for GT fishing .

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

Yu Hock, I have to admit that I am getting a fair bit of amusement from your continual focus on a shorter butt section! Do you by any chance have really short arms? If so, come out fishing with me and I will bring out a WV83XH for you to use! 

Personally, popping rods are the one rod where you won't go wrong buying off the rack.

I only started popping about a decade ago and with my limited knowledge I have to agree to this point as far as casting is concerned, but NOT too sure about fighting GT with long handle. For decades big game stand up rods have short handles for obvious reasons. If one can have best of both worlds (cast reasonably well with not too long a handle), why not? But if anyone is going to build to the specs like those off the rack ones, then I say forget it, pick one from the rack then. Having said that, not all blanks can be built with short handles. Certainly not those stiff/fast action ones. 

My 2 cents 

[Jon Li]

Brandon ,

What is your opinion on the length of the offset handle of Caranx Kaibutsu ? It's even longer than the LDC handle of WV83XH , SP710H SHP n LR89DC .

Yu Hock ,

I suggest you lower the position of your gimbal belt to be comfortable with longer handle of popping rods and adjust it higher for trolling rods .

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

Jon, I really don't understand what Shimano thought they were doing with the Caranx. The rod is intended as a SE Asian model but the butt on it is intended for a basketball player! Unless they intended the rod to be used with a gimbal that was hanging around the knees of your average SE Asian male, I really have no idea who the rod was aimed at.

For the WV83, I tend to hang the gimbal belt a couple of inches lower and its fine.

Brandon ,

What is your opinion on the length of the offset handle of Caranx Kaibutsu ? It's even longer than the LDC handle of WV83XH , SP710H SHP n LR89DC .

Yu Hock ,

I suggest you lower the position of your gimbal belt to be comfortable with longer handle of popping rods and adjust it higher for trolling rods .

Jon .

[67er]

Yes Jon, been doing that to counter the problem. Thanks for your constructive suggestion it is just that I wasn't used to it and the thought of short handle that I borrowed from the Stand-up big game rod came to mine. Prior to the Japanese long popping rods we were using 7 footer rod with short handles. 

Oh yes lord Brandon, I am of great honour to be able to amuse you Come to think of it, there might be hundreds and thousands of short arms like myself out there considering the sale of short handle Standup tackle during the heydays. Maybe there is a large enough market for it

[Jon Li]

Jon, I really don't understand what Shimano thought they were doing with the Caranx. The rod is intended as a SE Asian model but the butt on it is intended for a basketball player! Unless they intended the rod to be used with a gimbal that was hanging around the knees of your average SE Asian male, I really have no idea who the rod was aimed at.

Hi Brandon ,

I had a discussion the Shimano guy in Singapore on Caranx Kaibutsu , of course I told him that I am affiliated with another brand first before started the " discussion " , the long handle is supposedly for " new style " of popping rod , according to him but prior to that , while in Bali with Chris Harrison we check the rod in Shimano showroom there , even for Chris who is over 6' tall the handle is a bit too long for comfortable fighting stance so I really am not sure what was the intention for that longer handle .

In Indonesia , Caranx Kaibutsu has a new nickname : " Kalang Kabut " rod which mean Totally Out of Control rod due to it's too long a handle and too skinny EVA foregrip making it hard to grasp when fighting a strong fish . A few who have bought Caranx Kaibutsu rods have cut the butt between 5~6 cm to make it more comfortable to fight the fish .

Jon .

[Brandon Khoo]

Jon, to me, the regional guys who made the decision to go with the specs of the rod simply got it wrong. As you know, Chris is a big man with long arms and if he found its length to be outside his comfort level, I'm just not sure what they were doing considering the market the rod was developed for. I don't have any doubt that the rod, with its long butt section would cast beautifully but it would be a handful to fight a fish with. The blank is a very capable blank but to me at least, the specs just were not ideal for the market the rod was sold into.

I have heard the statement "new style of popping rod" associated with the Caranx before but I am not sure what it means.

It's a relatively easy task to get the rod shortened and any decent rod craftsman can do this in short time. Even with the skinny EVA foregrip, this can be built up easily. The thing is you shouldn't have to do this

[Hon-Su Chin]

I think the idea is to have more leverage for casting, especially in the LP, PI and LC. Also it allows you to use medium to heavy standup gimbal setups with the rods, like you said, fishing with a lower gimbal setup. This way you're not using you back so much. Bend you knees to lift the rod.