I think I mentioned a while back that designing new rods is one of the big buzzes in what I do for a living. The two piece swimbait rod came out of something I'd wanted for a while. A baitcaster that would handle my most used lures and be kept in the back of the car.Another rod I've been thinking about for quite some time is a twelve foot bait rod to fill the gap between the P-1 and the Baitblaster. The P-1 is perfect for most livebaiting purposes and close range deadbaiting. The BB350 is brilliant for blasting deadbaits out.
When fishing four rods life was simple. Two P-1s and two BB350s had me covered from under the rod tip to as far as I could cast. These days I usually use three rods for bank fishing, so I have to decide which rods to double up on. A rod in between the two would mean I could have three different rods with the middle one being able to fish a livey close in or a heavier deadbait than a P-1 would like to chuck.
It's taken a bit of messing around, but I think I now have a blank that's going to do the job. The first working prototype fell into my eager mitts this afternoon. It didn't take me long to tape some rings on and give it a bend! Don't be put off by the handle in the photo. That's just what I threw on to start with.
Tomorrow I'll redo the handle and fix things more securely. Then it'll be time for the fun to begin and take it to look for some pike!
