Samurai blanks?

[Owen]

Happy new year all!

My new years resolution is to stop letting things get in the way of the new rod combo I promised myself I was going to build

Every time I am ready I seem to get another batch of rego, insurance, broken gearbox, blah blah blah


I'm looking to do a heavy duty baitcaster unit for impoundment barra (Awoonga) and the odd bit of reef work.

I'm leaning towards a samurai NV-7 blank and was wondering if anyone had had much to do withh them for this kind of work?

Also be keen to hear recomendations for tip/guide sizes as I plan to run 40lb finns and probably 80lb leaders, so I don't want the knots flogging the crap out of the tip and guides.

I'm looking at saddling it with a calcutta CTE300 or maybe CTE400 (have to feel them both as I'm a bit worried about weight with the 400).

Has anyone tried using a spiral guide setup?
Theoretically it should work well I suppose, but I don't know if I'm game to try it

cheers,
Owen

[roz]

Hi Owen,

I have the exact same blank you are considering.

I caught my first barra on it from Awoonga, the taper is right for me & it goes with my ABU baitcaster, I cast barra sized lures with that combo and feel I've made the perfect choice.

The blank is very light and sensitive, don't forget!! you can't knock them around.

I really think Samurai should put me on their pay roll, I've raved on about their product often enough.

The rod has also been used to drag up good fish off the bottom when fishing salt water.

I use 13kg braid, although it's best with 8kg (I think)...don't pin me down to that.

As for guides, I usually don't fork out a lot of money on those things, prefer to spend up on the blank and maybe get something better later on. I seriously don't think they contribute a lot to casting distance and sensitivity, but that's just my opinion. Just get the size that will take your knots and the stripper guide to suit your reel. I also prefer cork grips.

They are also glassy smooth, which I find good for binding.

Lastly, they are reasonably priced for what you are getting IMO

I built my last one for well under $150 & I now have 3.

Hope that helps you Owen.

r.

p.s I've never even seen or used a spiral guide set up, so can't comment there, wouldn't mind having a try though.

[Owen]

Thanks Roz,
I've never actually seen one of the blanks as nobody here seems to stock any rod building stuff
I'm just going by the specs and a bit of guess work

When you say you can't knock them around, have you had some problems?
I have to admit I'm a bit harder on gear than some

The only pricing I have is from the MO tackle catalogue (which doesn't seem that cheap, but it has everything in it).

My company has a branch in Coffs as well, so I can get the manager there to chase things up for me


I've just about got all the bits I need to make a rod lathe.
I've stripped the drive motor and control circuit board out of an old MIG welder wire feeder so I can have fully adjustable rotation speed.

When I get all the bits I'll do a bit of a thread on it for those that are interested.

cheers,
Owen

[Tony_l]

Hi Owen,

I have built two samurai's an NV7 that I used for Barra and King Salmon. It was matched with an abu 6500C4 and 50lb bionic braid. I followed the recommended recipe for the blank but used sic guides.

The blank will pull the door off a safe.

I have caught very large fish on the rod and am amazed at the taper. I have cast lures down to rmg 90's into the wind with no trouble.

I went fishing with a mate and he was so impressed with the rod that he wanted to buy it. I didn't have the time to build another so he now has it and is very happy. He has caught some nice Barra 120+ with any drama.

In addition I made up an S005 in a spiral wrap for my son am I'm impressed with this blank as well.

He has caught plenty of Barra on it with no trouble.


Cheers

Tony_l

[roz]

there isn't any problems with the samurai rods, they have an extremely good tensile strength (if that's the correct term), but they are not as shock proof as some of our old fibre glass rods, you can't have everything I suppose.

I'll go into fishing tackle australia next week and check out their shop price for the samurai, I don't know what they charge in their mail order section. I do think they give me a good deal as I'm one of their best customers.

Will PM you with some info.

r.

[Owen]

Thanks team
Sounds like I'm on the right track at least.

cheers,
Owen

[wheezer]

can't go too far wrong with the NV-7 for the price. If you are looking at something a little better in weight/performance check out blanks from the Hastings range. In United series they do some practically bombproof blanks developed for oz impoundment fishing. Or Graphite USA for ultimate in lightweight and response. I have built up and used NV-7's and Hastings blanks and although the Samurai is a very good performer the G-USA blanks are much better...I guess its whatever fits in the budget

[stevos]

So what price did you end up building the NV7 up for owen?

Its my pick at the moment I think - just need to find a good price if anyone can help?

[Hornet1]

Around $100......thats what I paid up here in NQ.

[roz]

Yep,

That is close to what I paid, give or take.

BTW Hornet1, how long ago was that?

[Hornet1]

G'day Roz,
That was about 6 months ago.....that was off a mate who owns a tackle store in Townsville, but I think they were that price off other retailers at the time I was chasing one as well.
Still haven't got around to building it yet....amazing how many mates have surfaced since I made it known about the rod lathe!!!
Oh well.....all good fun I guess!!
Did you cut your blanks down or leave them at 6ft?

Regards
Clay

[Owen]

I paid about $120 for the blank from The Rod Works
I might have been able to get one a fraction cheaper if I hunted around, but being able to get the blank and advice at the one place was worth a bit extra.
The service was excellent and if I figured the fuel it would have cost me to find everything I needed in CQ I probably really saved $30-40 buying by mail order.

[Out-Station]

Owen,

Samurai is the go, but I agree you can bust-em doin stuff that fish don't do with-em. I have learnt the hard way, busted an Sam RBC008 pulling line from the reel back down the blank under to much drag.

Try the link below for blanks

Cheer's, Scott

www.therodworks.com.au

[fish_on]

just saw your post then owen. ive built myself one for impoundment fishing and its one of the nicest rods ive got. very light but very ballsy ive caught barra over a metre on it and it still had lots to go.you wont be dissapointed at all