Trophy Walleye Build

I’m looking to build myself an ice rod(or two or three) designed specifically for using larger/heavier lures(1/2-3/4oz) with braid, fishing inside and targeting GIANT walleye on system near me.
So for the builders out there or guys who’ve had a custom built for a similar situation…what’s worked for you and what hasn’t, what have you liked and disliked from past or present builds(blank power and action, handle length and type, guides and guide sizes, etc)?

Sounds like a LW walleye rod, I’ve built a few for myself. Most important thing for me was starting with a moderate to moderate-fast action. That moderate action keeps them pinned while they’re head shaking at the bottom of the hole trying to get it started up. With all due respect to the walleye lovers on here, they’re wet rags – even big ones. You don’t need a heavy power rod for fighting the fish, but power is based on lure so for active jigging 1/2 oz-3/4 oz baits I’d be going with a medium heavy. I sanded down my own blanks so I can’t help you with commercial options available. I used 48″ carbon blanks from Sportsmen direct, cut a few inches off the tip and sanded it down to make the action more parabolic. That was a few years ago and ice blanks have blown up since then so I’m sure there’s good options now available that don’t need sanding.

If you’re fishing outside in very cold weather then recoils or wire fly guides size 4-6 for runners will make you happy. Handle doesn’t need to be long IMO (4″-6″ rear grip) and I’d put a reel seat on it. I love the Aero style reel seats for fishing with gloves on.

Hands down my favorite blanks to use for this application are the JT Black Reign blank, And the V line Walleye Wrecker. Im sure Bass Khang Has something in that realm as well. The JT build I did has to be my favorite so far.

42 inch medium. 13 fishing infrared is what has caught and pulled up my bigger walleyes. Mainly because the baits I was using were to heavy for my other walleye rods. But I agree with tws, the fight of the walleye isn’t much for most any rods. More building a rod for the lure

tswoboda wrote:

Sounds like a LW walleye rod, I’ve built a few for myself. Most important thing for me was starting with a moderate to moderate-fast action. That moderate action keeps them pinned while they’re head shaking at the bottom of the hole trying to get it started up. With all due respect to the walleye lovers on here, they’re wet rags – even big ones. You don’t need a heavy power rod for fighting the fish, but power is based on lure so for active jigging 1/2 oz-3/4 oz baits I’d be going with a medium heavy. I sanded down my own blanks so I can’t help you with commercial options available. I used 48″ carbon blanks from Sportsmen direct, cut a few inches off the tip and sanded it down to make the action more parabolic. That was a few years ago and ice blanks have blown up since then so I’m sure there’s good options now available that don’t need sanding.
If you’re fishing outside in very cold weather then recoils or wire fly guides size 4-6 for runners will make you happy. Handle doesn’t need to be long IMO (4″-6″ rear grip) and I’d put a reel seat on it. I love the Aero style reel seats for fishing with gloves on.

This is spot on and the same way I would do it. I might sand the action a little different. Something with a faster action tip that leads into a moderate-fast action backbone. Make sure you leave enough backbone to maximize the amount of drag you are going for. Shape the tip for the lure and backbone for the fish.

I just built on basskhang power walleye. 1.1 MM tip to 5 MM butt 36 in long carbon fiber. I think you would like it. Good blank for 9 bucks.

I have built several on the Basskhang Lake Trout Carbon blank. I use Fugi VSS reel seat less plastic for the cold with a split grip. For guides I use Seaguide OSG with stainless steel rings I started with a 16 and worked down to an 8. If you want a glue on tip top use the Seaguide Tip Top ST with stainless steel ring. Others have used the Pac Bay Minama SV guides

Vline ninja noodle is an awesome blank for big fish and big baits. It’s fiberglass could easily stiffen the tip by trimming a little off if you’d like. This is a very unique blank that has more flex due to it being glass that helps keep hooks pinned. Used them on multiple trips to Winnipeg with bigger heavier baits.

tswoboda wrote:

Sounds like a LW <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye rod, I’ve built a few for myself. Most important thing for me was starting with a moderate to moderate-fast action. That moderate action keeps them pinned while they’re head shaking at the bottom of the hole trying to get it started up. With all due respect to the <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleye lovers on here, they’re wet rags – even big ones. You don’t need a heavy power rod for fighting the fish, but power is based on lure so for active jigging 1/2 oz-3/4 oz baits I’d be going with a medium heavy. I sanded down my own blanks so I can’t help you with commercial options available. I used 48″ carbon blanks from Sportsmen direct, cut a few inches off the tip and sanded it down to make the action more parabolic. That was a few years ago and ice blanks have blown up since then so I’m sure there’s good options now available that don’t need sanding.

If you’re fishing outside in very cold weather then recoils or wire fly guides size 4-6 for runners will make you happy. Handle doesn’t need to be long IMO (4″-6″ rear grip) and I’d put a reel seat on it. I love the Aero style reel seats for fishing with gloves on.

X2 sound very similar to my Big Windy rods. That I probably have to many of. Big ones there are not really wet rags more like getting snagged on a big rock.

onepine wrote:

I have built several on the Basskhang lake trout Carbon blank. I use Fugi VSS reel seat less plastic for the cold with a split grip. For guides I use Seaguide OSG with stainless steel rings I started with a 16 and worked down to an 8. If you want a glue on tip top use the Seaguide Tip Top ST with stainless steel ring. Others have used the Pac Bay Minama SV guides

I love the Bass Khang Laker blank, I’ve built 4 of them, but I absolutely would NOT recommend their Laker blank for walleyes. There’s just not enough tip there for bite detection IMO.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Big ones there are not really wet rags more like getting snagged on a big rock.

Hookset, 27 headshakes at the bottom of ice, up the hole they come. Rinse and repeat.

X2 JT Black Reign

I’ve built my big walleye rods from basskang lake trout blank and the 48″ walleye blank trimmed down a bit from butt