Hi,

I am looking for a blank for dropshoting for walleyes. Here in Europe these guys get a little bigger than the american walleye. Witch blank should I use when I expect fishes (zander) between 3 and 6 Kg? The water I will fish is around 3 to 7 meters deep, no big drift, more stillwater. I want to fish lures like worms in 5 to 7 inch on 10 to 21 gram drop shot weights ... The blank should be something between 6' and 7'6'' long. A little softer in the tip and enough spine to get the bigger one save ... Can someone help me to decide? And sorry for my bad english ... School ia a long time ago *ggg*

Best regards from Berlin,


Jan Kleinau

Ask Putter, he has a couple beauties here. I think they are LSJ78 2s , I know they would make excellent drop shots for bass. Putter might have better ideas, I know he loves walleye fishing.

I'd look at the St Croix 6'9" medium light extra fast or the St. Croix 6'8" medium extra fast. The extra fast action will give you a lot of back bone for the hook set but has a soft tip to feel the light bites. They come in the Avid, Elite and Legend Elites so you have several price ranges to chose from. The other you may want to look at is the Batson ISP822.5 it's a Medium power with an extra fast tip, it feels about the same as the St. Croix's, but I prefer the later. The Zander will run a little heavier than the Walleye and in a little deeper water so I would probably go with the 3C68MXF from St. Croix if it was mine, but you may have a different way of fishing than I. I like to dead stick and jig for walleye and fish a lot of rivers that are not very deep. I use a 3C69MLXF and love the action and feel for walleye fishing, St. Croix recomends it for Drop Shots, I'm also building a rod on the 3C68MXF right now so I will try to keep you posted on which works better. Which ever you chose you won't go wrong.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2007 08:42PM by mark blabaum.

Hallo Jan
Gib ein paar mehr angaben wie und wo du fischen wirst ich kann Dir dann ein Paar Blanks empfehlen. Ich verwende Harrison blanks oder Batson fuer Zander in der BRD oder Walleye in der USA, vom Boot nehme ich Ruten in der laenge 210 cm - 240 cm, und vom Ufer 300 cm. Du kannst auch den Friedel in Marsberg ansprechen, er ist auch ein Guide fuer Zander, mit riesigen Erfolgen, seine E-mail :[email protected]
Beste Gruesse Mark Crouse - The Munich Rod man
www.munichrodmansrodshop.com oder links unter den Sponsoren "The Rod Shop"
Gruesse die alte Heimat von mir!!!!!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2007 08:44PM by mark crouse.

Might have been nice to say it in english tooo Marc. In case some one else would like to know what your recommendations were. I know I would have especially since I dont get to fish walleye much anymore.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/2007 09:00PM by James(Doc) Labanowski.

I think that the LSJ783 would likely be an excellent choice for what you're looking for. Lamiglas dropped the 782's from their line-up and those that Doc has of mine are some of the last ones that I have.

The LSJ's are Lamiglas XMG fast action spin and jig blanks. Great for live bait, jigging and rigging. I think they are the most sensitive rod blank that Todd Vivian designs (he could correct me if I'm wrong) and I know that many local walleye anglers swear by them.

The LSJ783 is a 6' 6" long, 3 power blank and would work well with the weight that you mention and the size of the fish that you're targeting, too.

Putter
Williston, ND

Ok
This is for every one who does not speak or can read German.
The Zander might look like a walleye, but he is way bigger, the Zander Hunter from Germany was 2 years ago with me in Charlotte and had some Picture from Zanders with him, they weighed between 23 and 28 metric pound, the Record while I lived there was over 35 pound.
The Zander is a very shy fish and loves to hunt at night, most fishermen will use very light tackle ( thin line ) so they dont spook the fish when he picks the bait up. A big part of the fishing will happen from the bank, since the regulations for boat are very strict in Germany. What I told Jan was, that I used, over there in Germany, from the boat a 7-8 ft. Rod and from the bank minimum 10 ft. rod, some times even 10 ft. from the boat with hugde Sassy shad ( 8-10 inch)
and preference on blanks are Harrison and Batson, and if he would let me know where he is fishing I could help him in selecting a blank.
I also told him to great the old country from me

Jan,

Please take Mark adivise,because know better how is the Zander fishing in Germany and Europe.Mark was one of the best fishermen in Germany before came to U.S.A.!!!

I am from Europe to , i fish on the bank for a white bass,red fish ,speckled trou,flounder etc. around Houston(sorry no walley in Texas) and i am very happy because i take Mark advise and buy from him one HARRISON INTERCEPTOR 11' (3,35m.) blank.The rod what i build on this blank is very sensitive ,you can cast easy over 1oz..(28,3g.),powerful and light(the rod weight 4.8oz.=135g.).

Is right what Mark tell you about fishing on the bank,you need longer rod over 10'(3 m.).I fish 99% on jig and i can say i catch o lot of speckled trout ,many 4lb.-6lb.in fast water(strong tide) using this rod.
Anytime i take Mark advise if i want to buy another blank.

Viele Gruesse,

Jean Scurtu

Hi!

Many thanks for all the good posts from you !!! I will try to discribe my fishing a little more precise:

When I normaly jig with softplastics I use a 8' Sportex Kev Blank with 30gr. (so stiff and fast, works like a 50-60gr. rod ...) castweight. I can easily use jighead from 7 to 18gr. with 4-6 inch salt shakers ore fin-s fish from lunkercity (for example). No problem for bigger Zander like my best last year with 87cm and around 7,8Kg (released like all my zander). Works good from the boat and from the bank. When it gets cold I use more bigger shads and weights (up to 9 inch and 24gr jigs.), then I use a Harrison VHF 30-75gr.. I don't know if you know these blanks in the USA. I wrote this, so you can see, what I normaly use for zander-jigging.

When I want to drop shot for zander, I think I will use this technic the most time from the boat or on "bank-near" deeper water at structures like sheet pile walls. So the rod needs not to be very long.
These rods you are recommending me: are they powerfull enough for the fish I expect? When a big thunder bites he has a very hard mouth, I have to get sure to set the hook hard and sure. drilling in the endphase is also "nice" because the zander often makes a very hart head-shaking, dangerous for losing the fish when I can't hold the presure up (with good working reelbrakes). Are they powerfull enough for the fishes I expect?

Best regards and many thanks,

Jan Kleinau



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2007 07:00PM by Jan Kleinau.

Hi Jan
Contact Christian Weckesser from CMW Angeln, he has the blanks from Batson, and Harrison, I would use the Harrison VHF 10'6 casting weight : 90 gramm. I got this blank or others on Sale but the shipping from here will kill you, I just send blanks in that length to Switzerland and the freight charge was 380 Dollars, so it is only a good deal if you order 10 -20 blanks, I dont know where you live in Germany, but I would recomend to take a trip to Wuerzburg and check out the blanks from Batson, and christian will sure help you to find the right blank.
Viele Gruesse Mark

Hi again!

I am fishing in the near of Berlin and in the city. Most time I am on a boat in lakes with deeps up to 12m. in the city normaly in 2-4m deep flowing waters ...

I called with christian many times, but he does not realy know the technic (drop-shotting) and can offer me only the blanks he has in his catalog ... He is very helpfull with a big savvy in the most questions I have in rodbuilding and blanks, but drop-shotting (especial for zander) is in Germany a technic not very well known so far/ nobody tried it serious until yet ...

A friend of mine is a semiprofessional rodbuilder from germany. He often make orders in the USA, so it would be not a big problem for me to get a blank to Germany, when the blank is available at the stores from mudhole or merricktackle ...

The LSJ783 and the 3C69MLXF/ 3C68MXF sounds first of all very good for me, but aren't these blank more for bassfishing than heavy walleye (zanderfishing)? Maybe there are blanks with the same action (faaaaast, soft tipsection, great back bone) and attributes, with a little bit bigger "castweight" like the 3/8-3/4 oz.? Maybe with 5/8-1oz. or 3/4-1 1/4 or 3/4-1 1/2? .... Would be very nice if someone knows such blank ...

Regards, Jan

I use a St. Croix Avid that might fit the bill, it's a 3C70MHXF. It will fit the bill for the zander, the spec's listed in the St. Croix Catalog are as follows "3C70MHXF Bass/Pike/Saltwater - 7'length - 10-17lb. line - 1/4-3/4oz. - 1 piece - MH X-FAST - butt diam 0.535 - MSRP $95.00" I have one of these I built as a bait caster and it makes a great worm rod and it should work for the drop shot rod that your looking for. For bass and walleye - dropshot and deadsticking I prefer the Med Lt and Med with the extra fast action but your probably right that you will need a little more back bone with the deeper water. I have used a walleye - zander rod that I bought through Cabelas and that was 9' with a fairly slow action which is not idea for a dropshot rig. I fish for walleyes and bass on wing dams which would be close to your "sheet pile walls" a lot of rock and harsh bottom to fish around, I like the extra fast action for this type of fishing as you can feel the structure and differentiate between bottom and a bite. The extra fast action seems to have a little more give in the tip section and the back bone comes in after the first 16" or so. The Ideal blank for this is no longer made, I have a couple of the old SHX Shikari PP703.5 that I won't part with as they are discontinued and I can't get them any more. The Shikari is a 7' rod that has an extra fast action with a med to med heavy (3) power, it's very light weight and strong like bull. The rod will handle up to one ounce lures and fits all the criteria that you are asking for. It's a shame that it's discontinued as I haven't seen much else that meet the needs you have. I hope this helps. Mark Blabaum - P.S. I'm a poor German - Norwegian cross so you may want to take the info with a grain of salt as the Norwegian gets the best of me from time to time.

Hi,

not really simple to choose "the right one" ... I think the The LSJ783, 3C68MXF and the 3C70MHXF will come in the nearer range. Is there maybe a comparable blank from Pacific Pay? because I can get the blanks from PacBay in Germany, so I do not have to order oversea ... Maybe I can also order blanks from Batson and Tusk here ... Are there also comparable blanks in their productline?

Thanks alot for your assistance!


Jan

Jan,
The Pac Bay Rainforest SJ783 blank will be similar in action to the LSJ783, but there is quiet a difference in the weights of the blanks, the Lamiglas being considerably lighter. The St Croix blanks are harder to find copies of, the Batson Rainshadow SB822.5 is close to the 3C68MXF. Rogue makes a higher powered dropshot blank than most, the DS704. Don't know about the availability of these blanks in Germany.
Almost forgot, Pac Bay distributes Rogue blanks overseas the last I heard.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2007 07:29PM by Spencer Phipps.