Planner Rod Build

[2kidsfishing]

Nice looking bent butt rod there!!

Awaiting bent TIP pics

[Animal 1]

Hey Ponce,if you don't mind,could you give us a rundown of the blank,and components?And why you used what you did?Thanks.

[Ponce]

Hey Ponce,if you don't mind,could you give us a rundown of the blank,and components?And why you used what you did?Thanks.

I will have to defer to Kevin (FLATLINER) on this one. Normaly I put together what components I want and bounce it of Kevin then get them from him. On this one my wife got with him and got all the parts for the planner rod he builds.

[tankerfly]

Sweet! Looks like a beautiful, functional, fish killing machine!

[FLATLINER]

Animal 1,
The recipe for this rod has been modified over the last year. When I was building these rods before, I was using an 80 class blank with a UB2 Butt.

After consulting with the guys that use the rods for hoos, I made some modifications which included consulting with blank manufacturers and now I an happy to say that I have blanks custom made for me to do the job. These blanks are beefy, yet will flex and give some action and visual feedback while working. With the original planer rod, the rod would not flex. With these blanks, the rod will have a slight bend to it when the planer is set and when it trips, the tip will "POP" back to straight from the loaded position and give the angler some visual feedback to inform that the planer has tripped. The backbone on these blanks is up a little higher and in the blanks that they make for me, is increased because we are cutting so much off the tip to fit in the swivel top.
On a trip this past summer, I sat and sat and sat (for 3 hours) staring at the rod and studying the performance, to make sure that the rod was performing properly. What I took away from that experience was that this rod is put under tremendous pressure. If its not built correctly, or if an insufficient blank is used, someone could be seriously injured. And I mean that. The pressure that the planer puts on that rod is HUGE and frankly, a lot more than I originally thought.

With Ponce's rod, and all planer rods, we use a UB4 bent butt and turbo boat guides, coupled with a swivel top.

Kevin

[SportFishStaff]

Sweet Work Ponce That is a beautiful set up.
Also Great job in helping him out Kevin. That's what it is all about.

[Animal 1]

Thanks Kevin.Reason I asked,is I'm considering building a planer rod,but up here,they're not real common.in fact,the only time I've seen them in use,was 3 years ago,when I was lucky enough to fish with Marty,and Mako Wish Mike.
If you DID have to go with a commercially available blank,which one would you use?Thanks,Bobby.