Living in Sydney, Australia meant I have to spend fishing saltwater at least couple of times a year. So I needed an all-rounder tool that could get the job done. I know, that universal tool never exist but like you have a 5wt 9feet rods for freshwater, I think 8 weight 9feet rod sits in that happy medium for salt that could be used in multiple situations. Again I chose CTS blank for this build as I had only but good experience with rods built on these blanks. I chose a cobalt color, quite a trendy color at the time of building this rod. Companies like Sage and TFO were releasing salt water rods in similar colors so I decided to dodge a bullet and get one like this and see if I like it. The end result looks pretty neat and so far I’m pretty happy with choice of blank, color and components.
Component list
Blank: CTS Affinity X #8 9’0″ Cobalt
Handle: Struble Full Wells grip with fighting butt
Reel seat and insert: Struble U-7 Saltwater reel seat in Pewter color
Stripping guide: Fuji Concept SiC Titanium
Snake guides: Hopkins and Holloway snake guide set
Thread: Gudebrod Cobalt Blue with color preserver and Metallic Silver trims