In line with the "nothing succeeds like excess" philosophy I'm considering making up a hot shot blank, maybe a Rainshadow HS1021, as a fly rod and mating it with somewhere between a #9 and #11 shooting head for inshore saltwater fishing. I have visions of awesome distance casts and backbone enough to easily whip huge trophies.

Does anybody out there have any direct experience with such a scheme, or could you make an educated guess about how such a rod would behave? I probably need to be talked out of this - but I could always cut off the fly guides and make a spin rod of it.

I've done it and always liked the results. But you will have to be careful to match the proper line with the blank you have in mind. Hotshot blanks are an odd bird - they have somewhat limber tips mated to very powerful mid and butt sections. If you can get the right line mated to it, you'll like it very much.

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If I remember right my Loomis HS 9000 7 1/2 ft, 6-12 lb blanks didn't start working real well till I had an 7or 8 wt line on them. Maybe it will give you a reference to work from. Have a HS 1021 Rainshadow at the house I believe if you need that blank CCd.