Main things I look for when test casting a casting rod: 1: That the Static Deflection is correct and the line touches the blank as little as possible under load 2: That the line comes out of the reel’s line guide and shoots in a straight line to and through the first (stripper) guide Life hack: see end of video, or use a CRB Deflection Chart when you go back inside With these two things checked, as well as a far casting rod, you can be confident that your custom rod will perform extremely well a