I made two spinning rods. The blanks comes from Batson and are design with walleye fishing in mind. Now we don't have walleye here in scandinavia but a close relative, Zander or sometimes called pike-perch. Vertical fishing teqnices targeting Zander, perch, pike, char and so on have really boomed the last years here in the north and often calls for really fast actions rods and with a lot of backbone. At the same time there's a good thing if the blanks are made of high modulus carbon producing light and sensitive tools. These RX8 blanks from batson match all the specs you need to feel and hook fish in the vertical plane from the bottom all the way to the surface.
Blank: Rainshadow XSW62MX
Handle: Duplon and rubber cork
Reelseat: Fuji SK2
Guides: Fuji Alconite, KR concept
Thread: Gudebrod gold. Pac bay gunsmoke bling wraps.
Finish: Flexcoat lite
Rod Weight:67 g
In medium deep waters and a jig head weight of 10 g and 8 pound braided line this rod feels at home. At mear 70 g it feels like a feather in hand. Don't let the slender and light sensation fool you though, there's plenty grunt in the lower parts of this blank. Fishing for perch I had a big pike snapping my plastic and before the leader got trashed the XSW62MX fouhgt hard. With a protected leader I'm convinsed that this little rod would imitate Ali when conquered the mighty George Forman. Rod KO, Rumble in the jungle!
But genarally this blank works best for smaller species than pike. You can actually cast a lure with this rod aswell not only work baits up and down so to speak even if it feels kind of boring after awilhe. If your looking for a sensitive vertical fishing tool and hunting perch and mid sized zander, this is for you.
Blank: Rainshadow XSW68MX
Handle: Duplon and rubber cork
Reelseat: Fuji TVSTS
Guides: Fuji Alconite, KR concept
Thread: Gudebrod chestnut. Pac bay gunsmoke bling wraps.
Finish: Flexcoat lite
Rod Weight:110 g
The XSW62MX & XSW68MX have about the same specs when talking about casting weight, up to 5/8 OZ and line class 6-15 LB. In reality they are far apart. I have to admit that I never got the hang of the way the yankees rate their blanks. But I guess the fishing inviroment generally differ and the approach on the waters as well. If I would rate the XSW68MX blank I'll say the the casting or jig weight should be 1/4-1 1/4 OZ or 10-40 g. Anyway, if we let the numbers and letters on this blank a side, the XSW68MX blank have a blazing fast action with a backbone enough pulling pretty much anything swimming in our lakes out of the depths. As a spinning rod it works great for vertical techniques but let all the other things aside. I made a baitcasting rod of another MX68 blank and that made a more versital tool. Paired with a baitcaster you can somewhat cast a lure and track topwater baits. Alltough the action of this rod are to stiff and unforgiving to my liking. It works great for medium to heavy vertical fishing but that's about it.
Blank: Rainshadow XSW62MX
Handle: Duplon and rubber cork
Reelseat: Fuji SK2
Guides: Fuji Alconite, KR concept
Thread: Gudebrod gold. Pac bay gunsmoke bling wraps.
Finish: Flexcoat lite
Rod Weight:67 g
In medium deep waters and a jig head weight of 10 g and 8 pound braided line this rod feels at home. At mear 70 g it feels like a feather in hand. Don't let the slender and light sensation fool you though, there's plenty grunt in the lower parts of this blank. Fishing for perch I had a big pike snapping my plastic and before the leader got trashed the XSW62MX fouhgt hard. With a protected leader I'm convinsed that this little rod would imitate Ali when conquered the mighty George Forman. Rod KO, Rumble in the jungle!
But genarally this blank works best for smaller species than pike. You can actually cast a lure with this rod aswell not only work baits up and down so to speak even if it feels kind of boring after awilhe. If your looking for a sensitive vertical fishing tool and hunting perch and mid sized zander, this is for you.
Blank: Rainshadow XSW68MX
Handle: Duplon and rubber cork
Reelseat: Fuji TVSTS
Guides: Fuji Alconite, KR concept
Thread: Gudebrod chestnut. Pac bay gunsmoke bling wraps.
Finish: Flexcoat lite
Rod Weight:110 g
The XSW62MX & XSW68MX have about the same specs when talking about casting weight, up to 5/8 OZ and line class 6-15 LB. In reality they are far apart. I have to admit that I never got the hang of the way the yankees rate their blanks. But I guess the fishing inviroment generally differ and the approach on the waters as well. If I would rate the XSW68MX blank I'll say the the casting or jig weight should be 1/4-1 1/4 OZ or 10-40 g. Anyway, if we let the numbers and letters on this blank a side, the XSW68MX blank have a blazing fast action with a backbone enough pulling pretty much anything swimming in our lakes out of the depths. As a spinning rod it works great for vertical techniques but let all the other things aside. I made a baitcasting rod of another MX68 blank and that made a more versital tool. Paired with a baitcaster you can somewhat cast a lure and track topwater baits. Alltough the action of this rod are to stiff and unforgiving to my liking. It works great for medium to heavy vertical fishing but that's about it.
