Hello, I was about to put an order in for a 2 piece fly blank for a buddy of mine, but was also thinking of getting another for myself to use as a steelhead float drifting rod, would a 6 wt be close to an ml/ m action spinning blank, or should I use something else, also is there a huge difference in having a 2 piece and a 3 pc as far as feel?,. The blank in question is an RX-7. Thanks for any suggestions.

I just built a spey to float conversion for west coast steelhead using a Batson RX6 11'6" 4pc blank (ERN:10.2).
I would characterize it comparable to a soft tip, medium action rod.
Mine is in casting configuration- I would say it is too soft in the tip
for a spinning rod.

Not sure of whether 6 weight is right, but I expect it would be fine. I don't think the number of pieces compromises the actions these days. I think for the type of spinning you are doing the slower action of fly rods will not be a problem. As long as you understand the characteristics of the rod blank and the typ e of fishing you want to do , your choice should be good. I'm just finishing a 6 weight 8 1/2 foot fly blank into a spinning rod and in test casting it appeared to handle lures up to and beyond 1/4 oz quite well, feeling like it was loading properly. It appeared for my Stradic 4000 reel that the higher guides (for the three transition guides) worked better than lower guides. I have used a 3 wt fly built into an ultra light spin rod for years, and it is one of my favorites. I think that the paradigms of what is a spin action and what is a fly action are well worth breaking in many cases.

6 weight is fine for 1/4oz. I am tossing over 1oz with a 10wt equivalent.
I agree that modern 3 or 4 piece rods won't affect performance. They will be slightly heavier but it's in the noise once you add a spinning reel.

is this a FAST ACTION fly blank

Bill - willierods.com

Jeremy,
A 6 weight fly blank is between an ultra light and a light.
An 8 weight could be considered a light blank.
A 10 weight would be a med light.

If you wish to use a fly blank it should probably be 10 weight or greater compared to your original request.

Eugene Moore

Thanks for the input gentlemen, keep it coming. Starting to sound like I'm gonna have to choose a heavier class blank now though, I was thinking 7 or 8 tops, but 10 plus, wow. I don't know much about fly blanks, I don't fly fish, but I have heard they make decent steelhead rods, and the blank I found was way cheaper than any steelhead blank I've found so I thought it might be worth a try.
Bill, I know the blank is advertised 43 milion modulus, I would imagine its fairly fast for a fly blank, but like I said I really don't have any fly expierience so I don't know how stiff they get, unfortunately I can't get my hands on blanks I want to consider until it has already been paid for and mailed to my door, I can always just hassle the dealer til they give me the info I need.

Jeremy, I've been using 6 and 7 wt rods in spin and fly config for steelhead these past 30+ years and it works fine for me. My buddy likes 5 and 6 wt. I would give it a try if I were you. Generally the stiffer rods do not transmit that subtle take of steelhead which is so important to sense while drifting yarn, spawn and nymphs. Just try to build it light as possible from the tip on down. I like medium-fast action 7 wt all around and medium action 6 wt in low water light line conditions. Good luck.

Best Regards,

Craig

An easy way to try this out is to take a fly rod, tape three spinning guides to it (better if multi piece as you can rotate the current guides out of the way, but you can still do it pretty well with a two piece), tape a spinning reel to the fly grip, and have at it. If you happen to have fly rods in the weight classes you are considering you will very soon sort it out. If you don't have the right rods, borrow them from buddies?

Jeremy,
Why just not use a float blank? For floating you want a rod much longer to keep the line off the water and a somewhat lighter tip to protect light tippet or leader. If you go too heavy you will not get that. There are some truly awesome float and centerpin blanks beeing made now I am not sure you have to build on something other than that like in years past. Batson makes some really nice ones I have built many and happy with all.

Just my .02

Eric

Thanks for the input, I think im gonna give the 6 wt a try,. The main reason I was gonna try it is I found some great deals on fly blanks, but would have more use for a steelhead spinning rod than a fly rod and had heard many stories of fly blanks making excellent spinning rods. I guess the only way to find out is to get the blank and if I don't like it for steelheading, just make a fly rod out of it. Thanks again everyone, this has been informative. I love the wide range of suggestions I get on here.