Best Rod for Swords

[wahooman]

Who makes the best rod for swords? What components on the rods are required? I am fishing with 50w Tiagras presently and want some new sticks for Christmas. I will be fishing stand-up with a harness, not out of the rod holder. Besides swords I plan to use them to troll for wahoo, marlin and tuna. Also, best place to buy.

[islandshark633]

go to a custom rod builder and talk it over, I dont know if it would be practical to buy one from me here but there are custom builders in S. Fla. Just because its custom does not mean its more expensive and there is NO production off the rack rod as good as a rod built exactly how you want it.

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Xtream rods in lantana. Have a couple rods that they built for me. They fit perfect, which is a big deal when your going to war stand up style. One size doesn't fit all.

[islandshark633]

if you want my input you are tying to do too much with one rod, swords and tunas go down and wahoo and marlin (mostly) stay on the surface. Building a short, bent butt stand-up tuna stick for swords and tunas will not perform well with a hard fighting surface fish like marlin where a longer, 'slower', straight butt rod would do better.

Here's a suggested parts list for the sword/tuna rod for 50W reel-

Aftco UB2 short bent uni-butt
Calstar E-Glass rod blank 6544XH-B 50-100# Ex-Fast Tip
Aftco Big Foot Wind On guides and # 14 Roller Tip

make sure the guides are at least double wrapped, this is where a custom rod is king, you can ask the builder for this and if you buy off the rack you have no clue and it highly unlikely the guides are double wrapped. You can also choose the color scheme. Hope this helps.