2 rod boat

Hello all
Been missing in action for a long time but feels good to be back into fishing and 360 with some fresh thoughts on our favourite occupation and the tools we use

I find myself surrounded by a 100 km wide bay with an extensive back estuary system with a large river with countless creeks and channels, inshore and offshore reefs. Mostly fishing for the table for species such as tropical groupers and emperors (snappers) or trevallys, mackerels and schools of our Longtail or northern bluefin tuna on the surface

I have a 3.5 m Smartwave 3500 boat that I am very pleased with and makes for an awesome platform for exploring and fishing all the areas mentioned above. My wife and daughter are keen on catching and eating these and that makes for a maximum 2 rods per person as 6 rods already are difficult to manage on such a small craft

One rod is for throwing soft plastics around the mangroves or surface longtail tuna. A metre long fish from either environment would be considered trophy

The other rod is for heavier presentations with metal jigs or bait fishing

I am focusing on the second rod for now. The rod that can be used for spinning and jigging as well as bait fishing in all the above environment. From fish like 200g whiting to 20 kg longtail. From catching live baits on bait jigs to throwing hard body lures barramundi

Many many years ago when I used to be a commercial rod developer and ran my own brand, I developed something using a light jig blank. This allowed presentations to all the above and I called it for a rod that can be used to chase all the species that we normally use 3 to 15 kg line class scenes. This got laughed to death on forums. Back then I also developed a guide train that was also highly controversial and caused wars on forums. This used three reversed LC or MN guides at the stripper end. Now I see these being adopted on branded tackle in my local tackle shops with a well-earned smirk on my face. I wonder if anyone remembers all the fun we had with spirited discussions

Anyway, the rod that I developed originally back in 2006 in a 6'2" spin format with a longish handle based on a customised blank which is no longer available. This was trailed for a couple of years going through a number of iterations at which point I adapted it at the request of a kayak club rep to the lower seated use. This got reviewed

It also dead ended soon after when I withdrew from the fishing industry. Fast ward to 2023. I am no longer commercially involved with fishing tackle. Over the last few years I have been making inroads into the pro music industry with my bass guitars and amps as well as STEM kits for schools

Seeing that we are in 2023, I want rods to be slimmer and lighter with matching reels, and they are in the tackle shops. What is missing is all the fun we had here on 360 back in the days developing better performing and looking DIY rods. Over the past few years, I have been using bought rods from economy like Penn to premium like Magic Eye and other Blackholes as I no longer have the same access to blank ranges. After messing with, using and trailing many, I have selected the Abu Veritas 4 621J as a rod based on a blank that can comfortably and solidly tick all the boxes. The build leaves a lot to be desired though

Even though the rod has been excellent at getting distance with metal spoons and such, it's not built for that but as a jigger. All the problems usually associated with casting heavy GT lures on popping rods become apparent in this case too. Don't get me wrong, the guide train visibly appears just like the generic 'K' frames layout slapped on most factory spinning rods meant for casting. The issue is in the casting weights and the resulting line speeds. When the K series were first introduced, I was one of the first international rod developers to test, review and publish findings. I declared them as inferior to the LC at coil shedding and overshoot and now can state that they are even worse after years of using them. Not just that but there are other inherent problems. They are damn huge and stick out even more than MNs. In my lil boat it looks like carrying shafts loaded with basketball hoops. It's 2023, do we still need basketball hoops on our rods?

The guides on the 621J are not as massive as not other brands but still really? Something this slim that can balance well with a 4000 SW style Daiwa or 3500 Penn slammer and bully fish using the heavier side of PE3. She deserves a redesign and rebuild

Touching back on what I just mentioned, how many of you are enjoying the massive diameter K guides common on rods these days? I would rather give such big hoops a miss. The vids and pics that I posted back in the days on this site show short rods with LC guides casting past 80 m. They are so easy to pack and carry whether just around the boat or on international flights

My pet ambition now is to develop a highly refined design for my boat and the DIY community for the person that likes to pack light and fish for the table. The 621J will be the inspiration and as we use ours more, I will redevelop that and then try to locate some likely blanks that can exceed the performance with even slimmer profile

In the grand tradition of over the top names from yesteryear and paying homage to clean, healthy and nutritious meals for the family table, let's name the concept. I vote Creelmaster, throw in your suggestions!

Looking forward to all discussions on the 2 rod, small boat concept

I will also be soon starting a boat fit out thread under boat building category for my Smartwave. This will feature the custom FRP console that I designed for the Smartwave as well as custom printed PE parts for fit out. The 4.3 m skiff that I logged the full build is back in Fiji and being used for commercial hand line fishing by a relative. The 26' cat for GT fishing that I was designing has also changed along the way with the change of location. The design is now at 20' and I got the PE hulls ready just before the pandemic struck. Since then, it has been a parked project which will be restarted after the Smartwave is ready. Instead of building a charter boat for popping, the focus of the new design is to open up the northern tip of Fraser Island to my family

Feels good to be back into fishing and talking fishing
Thanks and regards
Randy Bassinga (Saqa or Rohit a lifetime ago)