Sandbar1 Posted May 4, 2020 Report Share Posted May 4, 2020 On 5/2/2020 at 4:20 PM, ksong said: I fished drum with an angler in Texas this morning who just bought 9'6" Black Hole Striper 2 oz - 6 oz rod. He said he loves the rod, but the butt section is too long. East surf anglers think the butt section is short. Here is short foregrip of Black Hole Striped Bass Special rods. The length of the grip is 5 inches. We could change grips if majority anglers want. Meanwhile, I recommend to buy blanks and build rods whatever you want. Got to agree with fishtheeast, the market in the NE seems to be geared towards longer, lower profile forgrips. Those stubby thicker grips make me think of a cheap rod, even if the blank is in fact very nice and high end. lureman 1 Chasing false echoes Send lawyers, guns, and money - Zevon When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro - Thompson DITCH TROLL 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksong Posted May 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2020 I believe it is a habit to prefer thin foregrip or no fore grip rather than it is better. They used to it on Northeast surf fishing and guys who start to learn surf fishing use the thin or no foregrip first. On the West Coast, they use heavy and long rods for tuna and yellowtail on long range boat. They are adamant to use one-piece heavy rods to cast irons. They will never change it. We might develop grips exclusively for Northeast surf anglers. lureman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
connman Posted May 4, 2020 Report Share Posted May 4, 2020 Kil , another vote for simple low profile grip . I have also moved over the Fuji NRS style reel seats too on many rods to give a smoother transition from reel seat to fore grip. Finished Cape Cod below and test grips on East Coast and Striper Special . What with some free time they will be getting wrapped soon . I’ll often fish a rod for a season or two with just taped on guides. lureman and Sandbar1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandbar1 Posted May 4, 2020 Report Share Posted May 4, 2020 12 mins ago, connman said: Kil , another vote for simple low profile grip . I have also moved over the Fuji NRS style reel seats too on many rods to give a smoother transition from reel seat to fore grip. Finished Cape Cod below and test grips on East Coast and Striper Special . What with some free time they will be getting wrapped soon . I’ll often fish a rod for a season or two with just taped on guides. Those look great. Nice low profile builds. lureman 1 Chasing false echoes Send lawyers, guns, and money - Zevon When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro - Thompson DITCH TROLL 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIC34 Posted May 5, 2020 Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 Is there anything USA about the Black Hole USA, or is it just the distributor? Are any parts or assembly done here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandbar1 Posted May 5, 2020 Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 (edited) 10 mins ago, SIC34 said: Is there anything USA about the Black Hole USA, or is it just the distributor? Are any parts or assembly done here? Negative. Korea as far as I'm aware. A quick search will give you the names of some good made in America rod companies. Edited May 5, 2020 by Sandbar1 Chasing false echoes Send lawyers, guns, and money - Zevon When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro - Thompson DITCH TROLL 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksong Posted May 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 10 mins ago, SIC34 said: Is there anything USA about the Black Hole USA, or is it just the distributor? Are any parts or assembly done here? from Korea. Black Hole is major brand name of NS Black Hole in Korea. We use Black Hole USA as exclusive distributor in the US. You can see Black Hole Australia or Black Hole Russia, ect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lureman Posted May 5, 2020 Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 (edited) 12 hours ago, Sandbar1 said: Negative. Korea as far as I'm aware. A quick search will give you the names of some good made in America rod companies. there are not to many, USA , MADE IN USA, rods, or rod companies any more, FSC, closed their door., Lami, St. Croix, United Composites,;; make blanks only, they are not so much , a Surf Rod company...maybe, a couple more.....maybe Edited May 5, 2020 by lureman A beach is a place where a man can feel, he's the only soul in the world thats real ; A jetty is a place where a man feels, he must have a bucket full of eels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksong Posted May 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 I had a nice 40 lb drum on a spoon using 12' Black Hole Striped Bass Special 2 oz - 8 oz rod in Texas this morning. The fish looks small on the picture, but I barely hold it. I observed most anglers use relatively light 9' rod for drum. They catch some and lose some. As drum rarely go into structures and they can land them using light drag. But I prefer longer, stiffer and strong rods for big drum. RonG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGreen Posted May 5, 2020 Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 Kil, how are you fishing that spoon? Simple cast and steady retrieve, or jigging it along the bottom, canal style, as I seem to recall you stating before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksong Posted May 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 19 mins ago, RedGreen said: Kil, how are you fishing that spoon? Simple cast and steady retrieve, or jigging it along the bottom, canal style, as I seem to recall you stating before. Jigging along the bottom like jigging in the Canal. I saw other angler make steady retrieve. But I think jigging along the bottom is more effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGreen Posted May 5, 2020 Report Share Posted May 5, 2020 (edited) 9 mins ago, ksong said: Jigging along the bottom like jigging in the Canal. I saw other angler make steady retrieve. But I think jigging along the bottom is more effective. Thanks Kil, much appreciated. Looking forward to using my striped bass special 1-6 oz rod to target some of these reds. To contribute to the thread, love both my black hole surf rods I've built. I did choose to build them because I firstly don't like the way the handles are laid out on the factory rods. I built my blanks like other high end NE surf rod handles with shrink wrap and a long foregrip, with some cord underneath so it's not too too slim. I also wanted the best guide layout possible for purely braided line, so I built them both KR style, instead of NGC. NGC makes more sense for a factory rod since it's more versatile and less sensitive to the exact size and nature of the reel the rod is matched with than KR is. Haven't caught any fish on either yet but I anticipate very soon getting into good action with them. Edited May 5, 2020 by RedGreen Sandbar1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksong Posted May 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, RedGreen said: Thanks Kil, much appreciated. Looking forward to using my striped bass special 1-6 oz rod to target some of these reds. To contribute to the thread, love both my black hole surf rods I've built. I did choose to build them because I firstly don't like the way the handles are laid out on the factory rods. I built my blanks like other high end NE surf rod handles with shrink wrap and a long foregrip, with some cord underneath so it's not too too slim. I also wanted the best guide layout possible for purely braided line, so I built them both KR style, instead of NGC. NGC makes more sense for a factory rod since it's more versatile and less sensitive to the exact size and nature of the reel the rod is matched with than KR is. Haven't caught any fish on either yet but I anticipate very soon getting into good action with them. I prefer to sell blanks to complete rods as you can build rods whatever you like. When you catch big striper with the Black Hole surf rods, please post your honest opinion. I got a decent drum on a spoon on the afternoon trip today. Edited May 6, 2020 by ksong RonG, Sandbar1 and lureman 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levari Posted May 6, 2020 Report Share Posted May 6, 2020 (edited) 22 hours ago, lureman said: there are not to many, USA , MADE IN USA, rods, or rod companies any more, FSC, closed their door., Lami, St. Croix, United Composites,;; make blanks only, they are not so much , a Surf Rod company...maybe, a couple more.....maybe Edge? I see them advertising on Facebook at decent prices.. Edited May 6, 2020 by levari lureman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charles s Posted May 6, 2020 Report Share Posted May 6, 2020 Just as a footnote here, I had an issue with a black hole rod that I built. So I contacted Ksong, he got back to me about 20min later, and after a few messages back and forth discussing the issue he offered to send me a new blank. The blank arrived last-night packed with great care. Customer service rating 100% Stryper Snyper and lureman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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