Any opinions on the SCIV/SCII fly blanks? Specifically the 5,6, and 8 weights.

Thanks
Lane

The SCIV is a lot of blank for the money, and St. Croix's service is second to none. It's also nice to buy a product made in America. The SCIV is not too far removed from the SCV, which is a fine blank indeed. You can get a good look at how well a St. Croix 8 weight compares to Sage, Loomis, T&T etc by going to:

www.yellowstoneangler.com/FlyRodComparison8weightrods

Phil, you are talking about the US made SCIV Legend Ultra blanks, which sadly St Croix no longer offers as blanks. They've replaced them with a blend of SCIV-SCII material rolled in Mexico which is what Lane is asking about if I read his post correctly.


Lane, from what I have discovered, the 5wt SCIV-SCII blank is a pretty fast taper............... they are nice looking and feeling sticks for the price.

Thanks for the clarification Marc. I looked at one at Mudhole a early this summer. They are very pretty blanks indeed. Look to be very well made.

Lane

Thanks for the update, Marc, but it makes me sad. I have watched in amazement as U.S. manufacturers have taken (previously) labor intensive products offshore to reduce the labor component in their standard cost - after modern production methods made huge reductions in labor costs. Go figure.

Marc Locke Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Phil, you are talking about the US made SCIV
> Legend Ultra blanks, which sadly St Croix no
> longer offers as blanks. They've replaced them
> with a blend of SCIV-SCII material rolled in
> Mexico which is what Lane is asking about if I
> read his post correctly.



ALL St Croix custom rod blanks are made in the USA ... Park Falls, WI to be exact. St Croix does have an ownership interest in a production plant in Fresnillo, Mexico ... but they do NOT roll blanks for our use. It is 100% safe to purchase St Croix blanks and know that they are most definitely an American product.

Jim, I would love to have that in writing from the guys at St Croix, because last time I talked to them they told me the SCIV-SCII blend fly blanks (Imperial) were rolled in their Mexico facility. I would rather buy those than something from China, but still I prefer to build on US made blanks.

If they are really rolled in Park Falls, they should make that public knowledge because the sales would increase.

The SCII/SCIV blanks are quite fast in action, but not particularly fast in speed (response/recovery). The lower modulus material in the tip area results in a blank that does not damp exceptionally fast. Still, they seem to be very high quality blanks that are already gaining a solid following.

.............

I made a 6wt for a guy a few months ago and he loves it. I test cast it with a few different lines and really lked the feel of it. It is a very "forgiving" blank to cast and for the money a pretty good deal. If it is 100% US made it is an even better deal but that seems to be some muddy water..... If I had to buy it again I would.

The St. Croix Imperial blanks are made in Park Falls Wisconsin and at this time we have no plans to produce the resale blanks for builders in Mexico. In fact, all of our resale blanks are built in Park Falls and we have had not talks about moving the production. Glad to hear the positive comments on the performance of these blanks........we put a lot of hard work into them.

Jason Brunner
Director of Engineering
St. Croix Rods

Thanks for putting that clarification out there Jason, that makes them even better value. The 3 and 4wt blanks are really popular out here in the west for normal trout fishing. Now if you would just put out some 9'6" 3-4-5 wt SCV blanks we'd be in heaven.

Based solely on the description, I built the 9' 5wt without ever casting the factory version. I finished it just before a two week trip to Montana this past summer and really got to put it to the test. The rod is fast but not stiff by any measure you can feel the rod loading even with a short amount of line out. The softer tip on this rod makes it a great dry fly rod but handles double nymph rigs and buggers as well. It loads very well in close and I didn't have any trouble casting out to the occasional 60'...which is about my max.

If you like fast rods but like to be able to feel it load...then I don't think you'll be disappointed with this blank.

Rich, that is a very good point. These rods are designed to fish.......some are designed to cast loads of line in parking lots. We desired a faster rod that still felt line loading with short distances of line in the air. I'm glad you picked up on that and thanks for pointing that out.

Jason