I myself like the price, although I have yet to fish one but I am in the process of building a CB66M cranking and have purchased 3 SW967 for swimbaits, just don't know how many guides to go with and what sizes I need for the 967 if someone has built a swimbait rod on this blank could you give me some advise on how many and size. Thank you Steve

The prices are very nice, But they seem to have a Blank for ALL My fishing Needs. Built a 10 ft SU 1209 to match up with a New Penn 525 Mag, Had it out yesterday threw 6 OZ 115 Yds on the grass. Which is plenty for fishing around here. If you have a Problem or Question call them Bob Batson is Likely to answer the Phone and answer your Query! GREAT BLANKS AND PARTS

Price is not that much of a consideration for me.
Their RX-8+ blanks are awesome. Light, crisp, responsive, sensitive, and casting is effortless.

I build on many and various Rainshadow and Forecast blanks and have found them to be consistantly the best or nearly the best value blanks for most of my needs. Their service is among the best in the industry in my opinion.
There aremore very good manufactures and suppliers of blanks listed on this board too. But I count Rainshadow among the top few when togeather considering -service, quality and value for a blanks.


His Rod Shop
Joe Kassuba

They are light ,durable,sensitive, crisp, responsive and easy to fish with. The customer service from Batson is second to none. Also. You can't beat the price.

Mark Syck

SYCKO Custom Rods
There Are No Limits To The Imagination

I have built and fished several Rainshadow rods. I have several for fly fishing and have made a few spinning rod blanks. They are a great value (value =quality and price) and offer a selection of blanks to fit anyones needs. The stand behind their blanks and their customer service is excellent. I recommend Rainshadow blanks to anyone I build a rod for because I know they are a quality product that will stand up to tough fishing use. I have made rods for myself, family, friends and customers, and I have not had anyone who did not find them excellent rods.

What's NOT to like?
With Batson Rainshadow I can have my cake and eat it too!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

The amount of guides on the rod shouldn't change much from one designed use to another use unless you really changed the grip length/ reel type/size/width or something. I've made a few into spiral wrapped rods for swimbaits and standard bass low profile reels where I and the customers tuck the rear grip under the arm pit/upper arm and reel. If that's your technique I can get you close but each blank can be a little different and may need a slight tweek. The guide sizes are the same sizes used on my other bass rods. The blanks work well on the smaller to mid size swimbaits, I use a different blank for things over 8 inches or so depending on the bait.

I'm thinking of building a new 5wt flyrod too. I'm thinking the Rainshadow IM7 is the blank I'm wanting to build on because it's a little slower than the IM8 apparently and has a softer tip. Question I have is how does the Rainshadow/Forecast blanks stack up against say a Sage SP or a Winston for example. I attended a rod building workshop last year put on by Lamiglass and talked to a Forecast rep who was there and said that there are basically four or five blank manufacturers in the world that produce blanks for essentially all the suppliers in the suppliers list in the column on the left of this page. If that's the case what's the difference in whose blank you buy? Why buy a Sage or Winston blank when I can buy a Rainshadow blank for 2/3's the price of the higher end blank?
BjR

Brad - I'm wondering the same thing. Currently I'm building a couple Rainshadow fly rods - a RX7 7'9" 3wt (has a really nice crisp tip action - much more tip-action than I expected, which I like) and RX8 9' 9wt (this thing is gonna be cannon!). So far both blanks seem to be very nice - crisp and responsive (however it's hard to tell what it's ultimately like until you fish it...). Being new to rod building, I may be wrong, but I think Sage and Winston roll their own blanks, as do many other major companies, and some small ones, like Kerry Burkheimer. I question the validity of what the rep told you (but again my knowledge is limited at this point...). I've heard similar things too, but then I see promo stuff f/ the big guys and they roll their own (at least their high-end stuff). And I've heard St Croix makes blanks for a lot of other companies. (?) Rainshodow blanks range in price from $50 to $300 - the mor eexpensive blanks have higher tech materials and constructions, and are lighter and perform better. Same as any major co's blanks. I don't think you can compare a Batson RX6 to a Gatti FRHP. But, I would like to hear comparisons on, say, how an RX8+ compares to a Sage Z-Axis, Winston BIIx, or Loomis Max/High Line Speed-GLX. If the performance and quality are comparable, then the Batson has a significant savings... Also, how do Batson blanks compare to Dan Craft Five Rivers blanks (never really heard anything bad about either - all top notch comments). Cheers! mpp

I currently have a 5wt Sage SP in a five pc rod that I love the flex and power of. I also have a 5 pc Winston 2wt I built and love that one too. Both of these rods have a moderatly soft tip to absorb the shock of an agressive fish and miminize busting off a light tippet as quickly but yet I can hurl a honking big streamer equally well with both rods. So I'm wanting to build a 5wt 2pc for a trip I'm taking down the Deschutes this summer and want a mid flex rod similar to these two. Will the Rainshadow RX6 be comperable in flex and castability of these two high end rods I've got?
BjR