Is anyone making available a short (7'-6" to 8'-0") 8 wt., 3 or 4 pc. fly blank? I want to build one and can't find a supplier that makes them available. I know Reddington (Predator), Sage (Bass) and Ross (FlyStik) sell them, but am wondering if others do, or plan to. I wish Batson or St. Croix had them available. I've tossed around the idea of building one based on the multi-piece bass/spinning blanks, but I'd be taking a chance; buy it, CCS test it and hope to get lucky. Any suggestions?

Look at some of the salmon/steelhead blanks

I know sage makes one and I believe that the dorber group makes one.

Buy yourself a lighter popping blank and build your own ferrules. They work great and can be purchased very inexpensively ... something along the lines of a Rainshadow IP902 would be my choice.

i built one up with a Batsin IP840, 7' one peice. I agree the 902 might work out for you. The 840 turned out to work best for me with a six weight line although an eight worked. It is too short, it's wierd having a deer hair bass bug go flying past your ear while casting.

John,
My 8' 8 weight is actually a Cabela's Traditional II 8 foot 5 weight.
After buying and building the rod I found it to cast an 8 weight line much better than the 5 it was rated for. Easily throws 80+ feet of 8 weight line. Very moderately priced too. So good I purchased a spare blank.
Sorry it is a 2-piece though.

Eugene Moore



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2010 08:51PM by Eugene Moore.

Great suggestions, I'll follow up on these and see what I can do. I really wish St. Croix, Batson, or any blank builder would make these available. I think the shorter length in heavier line weights is just right for many situations.

Eugene,
Good point! Come to think of it, I've done CCS tests on a lot of short rods in the 5-6 wt. catagory that tested 7-8 wt. I'll bet I could hunt one of those down in a 3 or 4 pc.

John Gertz

John,
If you opt to use a spinning or casting rod a light power should carry an 8 weight line.
Med-light is approx a 10 weight and ultra-light is a 4 or 5 weight.

Eugene Moore

CTS - will build anything you wish.
ctsfishing.com
Herb

get a pad and start a list A spin or cast 3 - 4 piece that is for about 1/2-5/8 lire . Then see if you can get numbers CCS on them to be sure.

Bill - willierods.com

Dorber makes an 8', 3 piece 8wt blank. F968/3

[www.dorber.com]

I have an 8wt fly rod built on a St. Croix III spinning rod blank. It works OK, but is not ideal.

You could also get a 10'+, 8wt 4 piece blank and build on the top three sections. Batson makes a 10'8" switch rod blank that could work.
IF1088-4



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2010 09:10AM by Bob Riggins.

Has anyone built and used the 8', 3 piece 8wt Dorber fly rod mentioned above? I just emailed them for more info on the blank and hope to hear back soon, but I'm especially interested in hearing from someone that has built one, or any of their other fly blanks for that matter.

John Gertz

John,
I had CTS build me a one-off Affinity-MX 7'6" #6, 2pc. But it loads with a #8 better. I use it for small back-bay stripers on Cape Cod. Lots of guts. Have caught bass over 30" on it - no prob.
Herb