Hi folks,
I would like to hear some opinions on what type/size rod you
think is best for striper fishing in the canal.

89sporty

How will you be fishing the ditch?

I will go to the RR bridge and drop a chunk o mack right behind the piling with a 3oz weight on a fishfinder. If that dosn't produce after an hour of so I will move around and maybe come back later. I had good luck there and it seems like any time/tide plus it's convenient. Ya don't got to lug your stuff down them steps or walk a mile without a camel.

For chunking, it's hard to beat the standard Canal 9' chunking rod. It's usually made by taking a 10' Lamiglas E-glass SB 121 3M blank and taking a foot off the butt. You need something with that kind of guts to try to turn a nice fish especially if you're gonna be fishing around the bridge abutments.

You can make a lighter stick by taking whatever length you want from the butt of a SB 136 2F. I have a 9-1/2' spinning rod that started it's life as an 11'4" 2F blank. Still has plenty of backbone but a somewhat lighter tip section than a shortened 121 3M.

Between the possibility of contact with the rocks, and the strain that trying to horse a nice fish away from those barnacle encusted abutments will put on a rod, I'd stay away from most graphite blanks for that job.

Heres a link to an artical about building your own canal
rod.
http://www.striped-bass.com/Articles/ninechunk1.shtml

It is based on the Blank that Mike P mentioned. The Blanks are not available in e-glass, just regular fiberglass.

CMS in New Bedford makes some awesome canal rods.