Hi All,

Here is my ? Rich Forhan made this comment about flip blanks... The original was a saltwater blank - S-glass, stiff tip, flexible mid-section. Graphite copies have mostly fallen short for effective Flippin'/Pitchin' . My question, has anyone tried a RodGeeks S-Glass model # SG79HM for flipping? Thanks!

Chuck Gray

I still have one of the Fenwick original flippin' sticks, but they were E glass, I'd say it was a moderate action blank. Lamiglas made some dandy flipping stick blanks on Rich's design and the Shikari FS764 flipping blank was in the same ballpark, neither was appreciated so much till you couldn't get the anymore, especially the Shikari blank.

Hi Chuck,

I have built on the RODgeeks SG79HM. These rods are being used around NY in the ocean and Long Island Sound. So far they have caught fluke, porgys and black sea bass in shallow and deep depths. I use mine on party boats.

On one I left the tip alone and trimmed the butt for 6'8" length. This rod easily under hand flips out 2-4 oz sinkers.

The other I trimmed the tip for working 6-8 oz sinkers. Even used it in a strong tide with a 10 oz sinker for pig porgys. The tip I trimmed approximately 2 1/2" and then the butt to give me 6'8" total length.

The design of the blank at 7'9" with a moderate action tip allows us plenty of tip length to play with.

I hope this helps.

Capt Neil Faulkner

Thanks for the responses! Capt Neil, do you believe this rod would make a good flipping rod for freshwater bass along the lines of Mr. Forhan's statement? Thanks for your help!

Chuck

Hi Chuck,

I am sorry to say that I have no fresh water fishing experience. The owner of RODgeeks is a fresh water angler. I would call RODgeeks and ask him. He may have other choices for you. Call Bob at 1-844-763-4335. Ask for him, tell him what you need and if he is not in he will get back to you. You can let him know we emailed.

Capt Neil Faulkner

man I miss those Shikari's!!!! I still have one that Rich built and cherish it dearly... don't use it much as I don't want to risk an accident. I will say that some of the St. Croix MHM blanks (not the crankbait models) that they have are a nice replacement. You might also check with Karen at Bingham, if I recall she had some made from the original Shikari mandrel, but don't quote me on that.


Tom

Chuck, forgot to mention that Steve Gardner was a super fan of the Shikari's as well. Give him a shout as he is more current with latest offerings and I am sure he can put you one something that you would love.

Tom

thx guys, appreciate the feed back!

Best Regards,

Chuck Gray

Chuck,

Check with Lance at Swampland. If anyone knows how to best replicate Rich's builds, it would be him. Bill Stevens told me once about shipping out some of the T1 A-rig blanks as flipping sticks. I never heard any more about it, but if you are looking for a powerful glass rod, this may be a good option.

Joe

Chuck
The Shikari FSP764 was in my opinion the finest Flippin'/Pitchin' blank ever designed! a little more fragile then the FS764. But worth the increase in sensitivity I almost cried the day my last one broke.
St. Crox's- 5C76MHMF-B blank works well except for really thick grass situations where a heavier blank is needed and is one blank I use a lot.

Here are my opinion:
The only company making pitching /Flipping blanks close to a design that will perform what is needed at the moment is- North Fork composites. They seem to have a better grasp on the blank characteristics required for this type fishing .

What most companies miss the boat on when it comes to flipping designs, is not in hooking the fish, but what is required in that blank to land what is hooked or almost hooked as is the case in much flipping and most lost fish.

I spent a good amount of time with Bill Batson at the rod show demonstrating and disusing what it takes for a blank to be a good Flipping/Pitching blank and He said that they would work on designing one to fill that need. Their Blanks are Great for fishing worms and other baits (especially the new ETERNITY series,) but too fast to be good flipping blanks

Also been evaluating an 8 ft. Point Blank- Prototype blank designed for this purpose, and it is an outstanding blank. But is too fast to be a good flipping blank

When the flipping technique was first developed there was no graphite blank designed to handle the rigors of such short lined hard hitting hook sets with out snapping. So salt water fiberglass blanks were the best choice.
Now days graphite blanks are much stronger and resistant to that problem and can be designed with the appropriate actions

Today's fiberglass or a composite of the two, would be the absolute last thing I would choose!

Unless you are an astute line watcher? With fiberglass or composite you will miss a great deal of light bites from bigger fish that you just wont feel, or the first thing you feel is them spitting out your bait. Cant even begin to tell you how many bites I've gotten as I was looking for the next spot to flip to instead of looking at my line

But the biggest draw back is the weight of those materials. The fatigue of making a thousand flips/pitches a day is greatly compounded by the heavier materials.
It gets to the point that you start missing your targets from tired forearms, and loosing focus because the only thing you can think about is the pain between your shoulders or your sore wrist.
That may not make much difference if you are just fishing for fun (you can always go do something else), but when competing or fishing for money one missed fish because of those distractions can make a big difference between first and last place, or a good pay check verses no pay check.

I may be doing a seminar on Rod Characteristics Specific to bass fishing at ICRBE next year. Which will support builders in better understanding the needs of their clients even when their clients may not understand them.







.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the response! Yes, I've been reading about flip blanks here and am looking for the correct blank for this application. I'm very new to rod building and wanting to learn as much as I can about the correct blanks to use etc. Thanks again for the detailed response.

Chuck