Rod advice needed

[seastorm]

I took my 7 year old son fishing offshore on the weekend for the first time, we only went to the 24's off the Goldcoast and he loved every minute. The only problem we had was the rod and reel setup, I found that the offshore rod I had was to long in the butt for him so I had him use a inshore rod 4-6kg cheap rod and it did not last. So I'm looking to get a custom rod built all I know is it will have to have a short butt with a gimble end, this should stop the rod from twisting on him as he dosn't have the upper body strength yet. Can anyone suggest what else I might need. The other problem I can see is that the side of the boat comes up to his chest.

[Owen]

If the little tacker is struggling for height, a gimbal may not help as he's likely to hold the butt under his arm.
I'd go for a short rod to reduce the leverage the fish has on him and have the grips and seat positioned to suit his size.
If you're going for an overhead reel, consider a spiral wrapped rod for stability.
You could also consider what the yanks term a "rail rod".
These usually have a cork or cord grip and are designed so that the fisherman uses the boats rail for leverage.
I'd probably steer clear of fast action graphite blanks because he may not be able to stop a fish going under the boat and "high sticking" the blank.
i.e. Bending it more than 90 degrees. We can lean over the side in these circumstances, but he'll be buggered.

Bear in mind he'll grow six inches every year, so you might be building a few rods :)

[sid_fishes]

if you are having a custom rod made then the 1st thing is find someone you have faith in
as a custom he should take notice of the young bloke, his stance , his grip distance ,
and what hes capable of hanging on to
so how tall is the young one? what do you plan on fishing for ? what reel does he want/ you want ie overhead /spin
these are questions you need to ask and answer when you chat to your builder..
if you dont have 1 pm me and i,ll give you some names and numbers
and good onya for taking the young bloke out,its the great start to a great journey
cheers

ian