bent butts on game rods

[woolly_bugger]

thinking of building a24kg stroker.looking at using a bent detatchable butt. Have not built one before .any advice greatly welcomed.

Bearclaw,sorry I haven't been in touch .been off the air for a while.

[stuart]

I would like to know what size blue fin your chasing? What size boat your going to be fishing from size and beam. This may sound stupid asking these questions but trust me, I have built game rods for a living for more than 15 years. I have also fished this style for many many years as well. The disadvantage of bent butts is 1/ they don't sit well in rod holders, you will need to put a pin or a gimble lifter in your rod holder to bring the depth up to around 200mm. The lenght of the rod itself is also critical, to long and you will counter act the leverage benefits of the bent butt. Most people normally just take a rod blank and glue the gimble fitting straight on then add the fore grip and guides. That usually brings the total lenght up to around 6ft long, you need to look at a built lenght of 5'4" over all. It would also be handy to know what make of blank your using. The boat size can work against you in a big way. I have fished bent butts out of small trailer boats and I can assure you its nothing but a head ache in big seas. The bigger and beam-er the boat the more stable you will be to fight your fish. At least with a UNI butt you have three choices when it comes to butts, you can have a straight long butt "UB2" short straight butt "UB2S" and a short bent butt "UB2SC". I wouldn't use any other butts other than AFTCO because they are spun not machined to shape which makes for a softer less durable butt. Hope this helps. If you need any guidance let me know.

Stu

[woolly_bugger]

Thanks Suart,That's the kind of info I was looking for.At present I'm considering a Calstar or G-USA blank but a mate has a couple of Pacific Comp 24's that I'm going to have a look at as well.
I'll be fishing from a six metre tinnie.The fin range from schoolies to fish around 50 kg.also last copuple of years we've had a good run of big fish down off Pedre Branca.(80/100 kg).so hoping to get a crack at one of them this year.
Am I correct in assuming that due to the low posn of gimbal with bent butts above knees,that maintaining a feet spread stance for balance in our usually rouigh conditions would be difficult.

[Stuart]

Stick with the Calstar mate you won’t regret it, best of a bad bunch so to speak. Fishing a bent butt 50 from a six meter tinnie can and has been done. Its no mean feet though, they tend to rock and roll in a bad way. Keeping your footing while attached to a bent butt and harness can be hard while getting thrown around the boat. While getting tossed about you have to try and keep your rhythm or technique going or the fish will win.

Stu

[woolly_bugger]

Yeah that's what I thought.That's the reason I was looking at the storabut system.Will be able to use the straight but and change to bent but when circumstances permit.In regard to rod length,Is it better to cut down a standard stroker blank or are there short blanks available for this kind of rod.Does cutting a standard blank (presumably from butt end) make much of a change to blank action?

[Stuart]

Cutting a blank from the butt will make it a slower action because you moved the length of the blank from the butt. Its nota big deal because you are adding it back on by using the Uni Butt system. You want a cut length of around 1200mm long "blank only" for the size of boat you will fish from. Keep your fore grip no longer than around 320mm long. Roller guides should be Aftco heavy duty in sizes 31 x 3, 41 x 1, 51 x 1 and a roller top to suite. Here is one of my 50lb stand up bent butt rods using a blank I designed under 13kg of drag.

Stu

[woolly_bugger]

Thanks Stu,makes life a whole lot easier than trying to learn by trial and error.Less expensive too!Will update when a decision is made on final choices.Again thanks for the advice,
Ian