Hey y'all, the bull redfish will be showing up in numbers on the Georgia coast soon, and I'm thinking about rods for them. I'll b e fishing from kayaks almost exclusively, Looking to pair them with a Curado 300e (artificials) and an Avet SX (live crab). The first rod I built was a 6'6" glass rod, but it was damaged in the move down here, along with its backup, an old 7' Ugly Stik. Since I'll be in a 16' kayak, I need a long enough rod to reach across the bow. I fish braid on both reels.

For what it's worth, there are also tarpon around this time of year, so it's possible I could get into those. Kayak rods can get banged up, so I'm not especially interested in fancy or pretty, just good solid workhorses. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Kevin, some of my clients are seriously into kayak fishing for bull reds in Mobile bay and for GT's and jack up to 35# in the near shore regions.

Their hands down favorite is the RFLE Seeker S glass 765's( call Lance at Swampland).
All but one prefers it to the Seeker RFLE 726 for the lighter tip allowing good casts with 1/4 oz artificials and soft enough not to rip out trebles on specs.

I use both but always grab the 765 first. Its 7 ft 6: i stretch them up to 8ft for personal use.

Its even good for live baiting with croakers or drop shotted clouser style flies for flounder.

Very tough blank.
I use the castaway 30 mm Microwaves on them for spinning setups: most of us on the Gulf prefer spinning.
I use TiCh #6 fly minima 4's as running guides, passes all knots commonly used except for wind ons and weighs nothing.
Use PG for wrap coating and build weighs little .

Looked at the specs. Dang. Butt of .900"? That's a big ol' heavy thing. I'm used to cork handles but thought I might try eva on these. That would probably help it not feel so massive.

Hi Kevin,

You may be able to get very good information from the Uyeda brothers in Hawaii. They are very avid kayak fishermen and I they previously held the kayak world record 194# blue marlin. The brothers are friendly and helpful people.

We did design outriggers (Lamiglas) for their kayak and they are quite pleased.

Here's a link to a video that highlights their achievements. Their email address is at the end of the video.

[www.youtube.com]

And a link to Aqua Hunters forum:
[forum.aquahunters.com]
This above site is all about kayak fishing.

Don Becker

Yes they are thick blanks.
Build out to about 1/2 of an ugly stick weight if you know what you are doing and very very tough.

Lou, i checked out a 15-40 lb BPS spinning rod i have, and it's about the same. So not really as bad as i thought.

They really build out that light? I don't know that i'd say i know what i was doing necessarily :), but if i came close to that, i'd be impressed with the rod and with myself. Thanks

The guy who fishes Cape Cod Bay from a kayak for 400+ pound bluefin tuna, what rod blanks does he use? You don't need the same model or weight blank, but I'll bet the maker of those blanks produces a rugged product and probably makes a blank suited for kayak fishing for 40 pound reds.

The guy who fishes Cape Cod Bay from a kayak for 400+ pound bluefin tuna, what rod blanks does he use? You don't need the same model or weight blank, but I'll bet the maker of those blanks produces a rugged product and probably makes a blank suited for kayak fishing for 40 pound reds.

The guy who fishes Cape Cod Bay from a kayak for 400+ pound bluefin tuna, what rod blanks does he use? You don't need the same model or weight blank, but I'll bet the maker of those blanks produces a rugged product and probably makes a blank suited for kayak fishing for 40 pound reds.

The guy who fishes Cape Cod Bay from a kayak for 400+ pound bluefin tuna, what rod blanks does he use? You don't need the same model or weight blank, but I'll bet the maker of those blanks produces a rugged product and probably makes a blank suited for kayak fishing for 40 pound reds.

The guy who fishes Cape Cod Bay from a kayak for 400+ pound bluefin tuna, what rod blanks does he use? You don't need the same model or weight blank, but I'll bet the maker of those blanks produces a rugged product and probably makes a blank suited for kayak fishing for 40 pound reds.

The guy who fishes Cape Cod Bay from a kayak for 400+ pound bluefin tuna, what rod blanks does he use? You don't need the same model or weight blank, but I'll bet the maker of those blanks produces a rugged product and probably makes a blank suited for kayak fishing for 40 pound reds.

The guy who fishes Cape Cod Bay from a kayak for 400+ pound bluefin tuna, what rod blanks does he use? You don't need the same model or weight blank, but I'll bet the maker of those blanks produces a rugged product and probably makes a blank suited for kayak fishing for 40 pound reds.

Sorry. My computer apparently has a gear-drive.