Graphite USA

[cdj711]

hello.

we have here in germany some dealers selling a spinning rod of this company. for a price i do not believe.
in the states this is a company rather small, but it seems a lot of pros are using such rods.
my question now:
is anybody here on this board who has some connection to this company or can get blanks from this company?
I am looking for this special blank produced for the GERMAN market.
it is a rod about 9 feet long, two piece, casting weight is from 5 to 100 grams, which is about 1/6 oz to 3 oz.

thanks,
wolfgang

[nollie747]

shop.mudhole.com/Shop-Our-Catalog/Graphite-USA

chech this one out , they sell good blanks and a lot of other stuff

nollie

[bacon]

also try janns netcraft, i think its jannsnetcraft.com but im not sure, also i know cabelas has a tackle craft catalog and you get get blanks from them.

ok, so long as someone else ask first, i have to know

does anyone else here wrap there own rods, i dont, but i have my brother do it, but he kinda gave it up now so ive been thinking about buying a wrapper and doing some myself. my brother just hand spun his blanks, and i just cant keep mind on it long enough to wrap one eyelet a night, i want it now.

either way, im not sure about graphite usa, never heard of them, i sometimes get st croix rod blanks from the factory when i get up north. there factory 2nd blanks i have gotten for about $30, usually the only probelm with them is a scratch, one i bought had a scratch that the handle covered up, cant even tell now, great rod. and it was an elite blank, cost me about $50 for the materials and it would have cost me $300 to buy one built by them. i got everything there out of the discount bin, eyelets, thread, cork, and the blank, just had to use my glue and time(my brothers really) only better deal there was i got the last 2 green elite rods on the shelf after they changed to the brown blanks, marked down from over $300 to $100, just cause they had changed to another color blank for the new years rods.

for my money, st croix makes one of the finest rods you can buy, i think they are better then loomis for the same price. but im a big one for local products, and i go past the factory in park falls wi on my way to northern wi and MN, well its kinda on the way, so i just tell myself that its faster to take the state hwy then the interstate.

if anyone else used st croix, let me know, nest time i get up there i will take note of any specials they have and give ya a call if you want.

jeff

[nollie747]

well, i made my own rods, lots of family and friends fish with them, but over here in the Netherlands all the stuff you need for to wrap a rod is very very expensive. so the last few years everything came from the states with high shipping costs and if i bought a blank customs would add some more....bugger...
it is true , it takes a lot of time to create something nice, i use to make butt wraps , some like em (like myself) and i have some friends who hate em, they like their rods booooring, black with a silver band and thats all, .... ;D....sorry andre.... ....
i bought my last rod complete in a rod builders shop, no factory sticks in my boat.......
if i can find em I'll add some pics later,
later

Nollie

[cdj711]

Hi guys.

well, thanks.

I have been to mudhole homepage, some time ago even ordered some stuff. they list all the Graphite USA blanks, but what they do not have listed is this special blank I am looking for.
the dealers here want to have for the rod between 750 to 1000 euro. the blank is 400 to 450 euro.
considering a blank from this company runs not much more than 100 bucks "over there" this is what i call making money. the distributors/dealers win at least 300% on this blank.
so thats why i was wondering if any of you had some connection to this company and maybe could get one or two of these blanks for me. the shipping and even customs should not be that much of a problem if we start with 100$ value for the blank.
and yes Jeff i have built some rods myself and it takes time and i usually do it during the winter.
(no ice fishing allowed here on most of the lakes. not night fishing either, and no boat too)

wolfgang

[Jason]

Hey Wolfgang .
I think the problem you are going to run into is the shipping . They no longer have ground/surface mail . And there is restrictions on the length . Just like that Fly rod you bought .

[cdj711]

Hi Jason.

there should be some way to have it shipped, since the dealers get it here somehow. and i had from cabelas long time ago a 9 ft fly rod blank shipped by air mail. as i said the shipping cost may not be the problem.
the problem is first of all to locate the blank i am looking for.
it seems it is specially produced for the german market since in the catalog of Graphite USA they do not list any rod above 8.6 in length, except the fly rods.
I have heard that some people built spinning rods from fly rod blanks.
could it be this blank i am after is a fly rod blank?

the guy who put his name on the rod has caught catfish up to 90 kilo with it. so it seems it is a very strong rod. and yet people say you can use it for bass with 1/6 oz lures. so if it is a fly rod blank it would have to be a 12 weight.

wolfgang

[karpfenkommissar]

Hi Wolfgang,

I`m afraid you would not find this blank anymore because Graphite USA does not exist anymore. The blank you are looking for is the "replica" of the legendary "Blechpeitsche" wich was sold in germany.
I`ve got a fried who built rods for me. He has a fried who gets nearly the same blanks from asia. He has got 3 different blanks (90 gr./150gr./200gr.) in 9 ft. Looking like the catapult blanks from graphite USA. Friends of us fished the 90 gr. blank in 9 ft. and caught catfish in the river Rhein up to 1,90 m without any problems.
These blanks are a little bit faster than the blanks from graphite.
The cost are about 100,-€.
If you are interested it, just send me e-mail or call me. Its easer talk in german language for me.

best regards
Carsten