Just curious if anyone has any info or experience with the rainshadow blanks. I am doing my first build in a month or so and decided after many months searching to use the Rainshadow F1166/7-4 spey blank for my centerpin steelhead rod. My problem is I want an 11'6" rod in the line class of 6 or 8 lb to 15-17 lb. Med Fast to Fast action. And I cannot find a blank to match my criteria and this blank seems to be the closest match. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

A line of 15-17 is sort of heavy for a centerpin rod is it not? I am not sure of your application or area but we normaly run 4-8lb (maybe 10lb for salmon) tippit with 10-12lbs running line around the great lakes. (A 6/7 spey is about a 8/9 in single hand standards) Look at the IST 1384F it is a 11'6" 4-10lbs with a fast action as well. Good luck in your search.

I am from Lower Mainland B.C. Fraser country Home of BIG fish. I am well aware of your methods around the great lakes but over here we fish heavier. I am not sure about landing 15 -20 lb steelhead in fast current with such a light rod. I have experimented kinda with east coast style. I have a 2-10 lb 10'6" rod with a 4 inch rapidex and used that for coho this year but anytime I hooked a fish that exceeded 15 lbs it was too much work without overplaying the fish. Does a longer rod at that rating handle big fish easier? I just don't think I could spend the money building an eastern noodle to find out it is not what I want. Thanks for the input though.

Yes, a longer rod will handle the fish easier and also protect your lighter tippit. I am just finishing up a 15' Raven blank rated for up to 10lbs line that is commonly used on the Niagra and for king salmon in other parts of the regin. A longer rod will allow you to 'steer' the fish and keep them off balance, the lighter tip will protect the tippit while having a backbone will let you put some wood to the fish if needed. There are a lot of choices for what you are looking for just want to make sure that you make the right choice. Batson makes some nice centerpin blanks (XST1562F) so do CTS, St Croix (new avid series) Raven as well as Lamiglass.

Centerpin fishing is up and coming in many parts of the PNW and great lakes and it can be a little hard to find some blanks but if you look you will find the one for you. Call some of the shops to the left and they will be able to help you.

Again I have not fished your home waters but I would think a longer rod rated in the 10lb range would be well suited and serve you well.

Good luck

Thanks for all the great info. I will look into your suggestions. I surely want to choose the right blank.

If it were me I would be checking out the blanks Sage has(as far as I know they are still available in BC in the 2pc form through local tackle shops) as they are by far the most popular high end models for 10ft and up centerpin and drift rods in BC.Lamiglas is also popular and I know a few guys who have had good success with blanks made by Talon(not sure what they offer now though).I would imagine that Batson/Rainshadow and St Croix both have a model or two that would work very well for you as well.

Personally I wouldn't go any lighter than 12-15lbs test for the waters you plan on fishing.Guys around here have been fishing centerpins in BC for a very long time.It's anything but new here and I'm sure it's the same situation just south of us.Ask around the local shops and ask other anglers on the waters what they are fishing and while you will see a variety of lengths being used I'm pretty sure you will get the same line weight recommendations.

You would be hard pressed to find anyone fishing ultra light noodle rods for salmon(pinks would be fine I'm sure) and steelhead in BC.All the local centerpin and drift rods are considerably heavier line weights(usually rated for anywhere from 12-20lbs line or so for steelhead and most salmon with 15lbs main line probably being the most common choice,and heavier for bar rods or for targeting big springs) than what they fish back east and you are dealing with strong,aggressive fresh from the ocean fish,often in faster flowing rivers.

An average all around spey rod for BC waters would probably be around a 13ft 8wt(guys go much heavier for springs of course) but that little Forecast spey model gets quite good reviews from guys fishing smaller waters for smaller salmon and steelhead.It certainly isn't the kind of rod you want to fish most of the Skeena system with(there are exceptions of course),but it will work fine on most lower mainland and island flows.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2010 04:05AM by Tony Dowson.

Thanks for the info Tony but I have been fishing salmon and steelhead in this province for 10+ yr now and know what I want. I currently fish a 10'6" Fenwick 2-10 lb centerpin for coho ,pinks and dollies etc And I fish a 10'6 Loomis 6-12 lb centerpin for steelhead. For the springers I like my 11' Fenwick 12-25 lb .with my baitcaster. My loomis has handled a 17 lb steel very nicely. So I figure a foot longer will do 20+. Sure you may consider the rainshadow a small spey rod but the butt size is .535 and the tip size is a 5.
If I were to by a sage but refuse to because they are overpriced I would use the 3106LB which is a 8-17 lb line rating at 10'6" and has a butt diameter of .540 and tip size being a 6. This Rainshadow blank was a suggestion from a local custom rod builder who has built a few of these blanks into centerpin and they are nice sticks. I am one of many centerpinners out there that are fishing in between westcoast and eastcoast and want a true medium rod instead of the norm. I agree that eastcoast style has no place on our rivers and vice versa but a medium rod enhances the fight but can still handle bigger than norm fish. And that is exactly what I am looking for in a rod.