need a light weight 7'6" spinning rod blank Med power with plenty of backbone and fast action.
Was looking at a CTS EBT17646. Can't find a weight spec on it. A rx7 HS932 would be the ticket, but it needs to be as light as possible. (guy has bad wrists). so i would like to keep the blank under 2oz.
this is for smallie fishing in the detroit river... which means 4-6lb smallies in up to 25 FOW in stout current at times... dragging tubes.

Regards,
-Justin

Check out the St. Croix 5S76MF-G. It's 1.8 ozs and has the characteristics you're looking for.

Justin -- Robert beat me to it, as that was exactly what I was going to mention. These new SC 5 blanks are awesome!! 1.8 ounces for a 7 ft. - 6 in. medium action. For a high performance, lightweight, high modulus blank, they are also very durable.

Bob McKamey -- Custom Tackle Supply

Justin , I have a SC rod 7 foot that i use for large & small mouth fishing and just awsome .

Thanks Guys -
Judging by the tip/butt dimensions on the croix blank - it might be a little too light action. He basically has a kistler he76mhs that came with a broken tip. They sent him a new one but he still has the broken blank. Wants me to strip the hardware and build as close to the same rod on a new blank. Free set of sic guides for him basically.

The kistler site lists the specs as
# Power: Medium-Heavy
# Action: Fast
# Lure Wt: 1/4 - 3/4 oz
# Line Wt: 12 - 20 lb

So probably more like a xx903 of some fashion.

Regards,
-Justin

Maybe like a CTS EST17646?

Regards,
-Justin

Rainshadow® Salmon/Steelhead Hotshot Rod Blanks Featuring RX7 Graphite
(Power Available: L = Light, ML = Medium Light, M = Medium, MH = Medium Heavy, H = Heavy) (Color Key: M = Matte Clear)
Model Color Length Sections Line Wt. Lure Wt. Butt Tip Action Power Blank Wt.

HS9001 M 7’6” 1 8-20 lb. 1/4-3/4 oz. 0.490 5.0 X-Fast ML 1.98 oz.

HS932 M 7’9” 1 12-20 lb. 1/2-2 1/2 oz. 0.560 5.0 X-Fast M 3.00 oz.
HS962 M 8’0” 1 12-20 lb. 3/4-3 oz. 0.580 5.5 X-Fast M 3.28 oz.

The tip on the HS9001 is just about as fast as it gets and would be a great choice in my opinion.

Karry Batson
Batson Enterprises Inc.
Ph: (877) 875-2381
Fax: (360) 683-3579
karry@batsonenterprises.com
www.batsonenterprises.com

Check out the XP3 904 Castaway blank from Swampland. They list it as a moderate action, but it measures closer to fast than moderate for me. At 2.4 ozs, it's a little heavier than what you asked for, but it's as light as or lighter than the other similar powered rods I have built on.

I'm with Karry, the 9001 would be more than enough blank for smallies.

I like the 9001 but it won't be close to the Kistler he's asked him to match. The Kistler is a fairly traditional medium heavy bass rod, almost a soft flipping stick. I've got the 7' version in the LTA series and it's more backbone than the 9001. It also has a beefier tip.

If you don't like the Castaway XP3 904, you can try Rainshadow IFS904 (3.29 ozs), Lamiglass MB90 1F (4 ozs) or the Phenix UMBX-707H-B (2.4 ozs). I've not built on the Phenix, but the others are nice.

These aren't your run of the mill smallies - but mainly the river conditions dictate the beefy rod. There is a lot of current there and the big smallies use it. Like fighting a steelhead in a river, only you set hook into him when he's 20 feet down and the current is just as strong down there.

Anyway - i have hs932 i'm building on and its probably a good fit... but its too heavy (ozs) compared to the kistler blank. if there was an rx8+ version that would probably be the ticket.
UMBX-707H-B looks close.

Regards,
-Justin

I agree. Karry needs to bring us a 7'6" MH RX8. It would be a great rod and I could probably sell 10 of them just by making calls to customers that already have an RX8. I have yet to sell an RX8 that the buyer wasn't very happy with. They are very light with a fast crisp action.