Just to let anyone who cares know i fished the rainshadow live bait rod RX6 GRAPHITE AND E GLASS BLEND and loved it!! I have built two of them for customers and loved the feel of them. Now i decided to build one for myself and man is that rod cool. It's a live bait rod and the first 8 inchs or so is glass and just about like boron. You can bend it like crazy and it sends every little twitch of the live bait to the butt. I used it off shore on the wrcks here in the everglades for giant Grouper and there notorious for soft bites. Once you feel them biting you need a killer hook set and fast lift as they want to head right back to the hole with there new meal. This is where the shadow LB is in its prime. It is just as stout as any rod you could use after that 8 inch bend is up. Add to that its low weight and resonable cost and you have a winner. It really looks weird but will be your favorite rod for live bait bar none.

I'll tell you what, the RCLB's have been the hottest thing in the shop since we got them a couple of weeks ago. They were going faster than I thought they would, then a local that came in to bend some blanks picked up an 80L & some ALPS guides. He posted about both on a couple local boards. It's been off the hook ever since. I know it's gonna break Bill & Karry's hearts, but they're going to have to cut loose with another load of RCLB's next week.

Waddaya mean looks weird!? lol Looks just like some in the racks that cost 2-3X more!

Mark Griffin
[]
C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

LOL just so big at the butt and so small at the tip not what i expected. What do you use for a guide set on say the 70 xl mark or what are others using? also mark send me a price quote on these blanks i think i have to stock up on a dozen or so to have in the shop i predict they will be a hot seller around here there perfect for this type of fishing

"for giant Grouper and there notorious for soft bites"

no doubt they are great blanks but what kind of grouper are you catching with a "soft" bite?????

LOL True that Scott , gag and black etc. some times a small bite sometimes tip the boat bite always fun though. Where you from Scott?

I haven't got to build myself one yet! We've had about six XL's leave with ALPS guides (they're much lighter than they look), and another handful leave with Alconites. I'll probably try both. I like BLAG's out on the tips of my light rods, but the #8 ALPS are probably only about the same weight as a BMNAG.

I thought you were talking about the Graphite/Glass transition looking "weird". Even the butt/tip ratio doesn't strike us odd here locally. We're used to it with the Graphiters which are some of the most popular blanks in the area.



Mark Griffin
[]
C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

Thank you for the great report on our RCLB's ( Rainshadow Composite Live Bait ) Blanks. They match up well with our current line of ALPS XN guides And our new SS316 ( X series) guides. This series is seeing action all over the world for many different applications, we have been very pleased with the series.
I personally have fished every one of them and caught fish on them all, they performed flawlessly...We get reports daily of fishing adventures that folks have been on and have used the Batson Blanks and Batson Components and say they will never use another product. This is why we do what we do> we are blessed to be able to be in the GREAT industry. Keep the Stories Coming>> As we will be around for Generations to come..
If you ever have any questions in regards to any of our product lines please feel free to contact us. Thank you for all of your support..

Bill Batson
CEO
Batson Enterprises
Rainshadow/Forecast/ALPS product lines
www.batsonenterprises.com
batson@batsonenterprises.com
877-875-2381

Bill,

Another RCLB 7' "set" just walked out the door and the Fella would have liked a 70H & 70XH as well. Any plans for these in the future?

Mark Griffin
[]
C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

Mark,
We are going to expand this series as we go, I need a wish list from you on the models you would like to see. Everythings possible......
Bill Batson
CEO
Batson Enterprises.....

Bill,

I am part way through building a set of the RCLBs, including a 80XL, 80L, 80M, and 70M, and have been very impressed with the blanks.

If you are looking for suggestions on where to expand the line, here is what I personally would like to see, in order of preference.

1. a H series in 7' and 8' lengths - these should be true 50# blanks (I consider the M series to be a 30-40 blank)
2. a series in between the XL and L series in 7' and 8' lengths
3. an 80ML
4. a 90M and 90H. I don't know how many they actually sell, but the super seeker Ulua in the 10' length gets talked about a lot amongst southern california jig fisherman and has established that a graphite butt, glass tip composite jigstick can work very well. However, 10' is a whole lotta rod, too much for some, and if there were analagous 9' alternatives around I think they might sell.
5. Maybe a 6.5' series. I am not sure if this is even necessary. The 70M I have is pretty fast, so if I wanted a 6.5' length rod it would probably work well cut down 6" from the butt or 5" from the butt and 1" from the tip.

Mike Sertic

Building a RCLB70L as a spinner for my son as we speak. Really good-feeling blank, anxious to try it. I'm matching it with the Batson VD TiCh guides (gold rings). As soon as that one's done I'm building another spinner on a SW967 8' blank. I'd heard so many good comments about the Batson blanks thought I'd give it a go. Randy.

St. Pete

Randy,
I think you'll really like the SW967, I also have two of the SW967Fs that spent the winter in Baja, the couple use them to bring along on their ATVs as they cruise the beach looking for fish to cast to in the surf.

Spencer,
OK cool. I'll be using it as a live bait spinner throwing anchovies and sardines. I think it will make a great addition as a Yellowtail rod on my new boat. Randy.

Bill,

Since I am one of the “locals” pushing Mark at C&M for a full line of RCLB’s, I thought I would come straight to you instead of going through the middle man. I would be able to build and sell a dozen 700 XH’s if they were available right now from Batson. Since they are not, I have to recommend the GF700XH at almost 2X the price.

If you made the 700 H and 700 HX, folks would snap them up so fast your head would spin. These would be a nice compliment to the RCLB’s you already have out there.

Once these 2 models are on the market, the next area to target would be the 8 foot series up to 50 LB.

Just my two cents, since you asked.