I am a steelheader, over the years I have been moving more and more towards pulling plugs. In head to head testing a moderate action rod beat out the moderate fast action rods every time. The absolute best of this type of rod is a moderate action fiberglass rod. Well once I finally came to this conclusion via hard field testing I was ready to build up some rods. Now lamiglass has discontinued the Certified Pro FIberglass Salmon and Steelhead blanks!

I just cannot find any of thier lighter power blanks anywhere.

I looked at other brands (Seeker) and the prices are right on the blanks but the butt diameters are just so crazy, I need a reasonable sized reel seat and the smaller diameter lami's were better in this regaurd.

I am not sure what to do...I know the perfect blank I need but its just not around anymore!

Lamiglass what were you thinking?

If they've discontinued them, then most likely they were thinking that the sales volume of those blanks wasn't enough to justify keeping them in their line any longer.

I don't know how many of these you build in a year's time and if it's not very many then what I'm about to suggest isn't going to do you any good, however, Lamiglas will always have the mandrels and patterns so assuming you could order enough of a given model at one time, they might be happy to build some on a special order basis.

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

There are a couple in close out of the following:
BMB 96 5M
BXCF 108 2H
BSH 126 5F

If one of these fit your needs, you may be able to buy one through your Lamiglas dealer. Or, you may be able to buy directly from Lamiglas.

Otherwise, the minimum special order is 10 or 12.

Don Becker

The Salmon/steelhead composite rods/blanks are so popular that the fiberglass models weren't selling as well as before. The glass 801 blank was very specific I thought, great as a plug rod, but in my opinion a poor casting blank that wasn't good for much else. The 803 (MB 96 1E), the 806 (MB 96 3M) and others that were kept are now the Classic Glass USA rods/blanks now I believe, and still listed as before in the fiberglass boat and livebait area of the catalog.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2012 04:32PM by Spencer Phipps.

Thanks for the replies.

I might order a seeker blank and see for myself if it would work for me, its really hard to tell on paper. Perhaps that might put my fears of reel seat problems to rest. If I order a shorter blank the butt size wont be as big a deal as the 10' I was looking at. (I like longer rods).

You might try the Batson IST1024F. This is an RX7 8'6". I built one last winter and just got off a week on the North Santiam and Deschutes. It really does a good job with plugs, tadpollys and miniwarts. I built it as a spinning rod. It impressed my brother-in-law so much that I am building two this winter. One for him and one for me as casting rods this winter.

Seeker has what we call a small butt Ulua that's 10', if that will help you.

And the new S glass/graphite super seeker 9 ft salmon blank that's a dandy. Forgot to mention the Seeker Bee Ess 756 should be a decent plug rod. Anglers Workshop has used Seeker glass blanks for salmon/steelhead rods and used to list different models of them in their catalog as such.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2012 04:41PM by Spencer Phipps.

Jason,
not to worry......... We have been testing new MHX S-Glass designs for the past year and have 5 new Spinning/Crankbait models coming soon. They have Freshwater Fly models in the works and will also do some Steelhead models.

Regards,
Todd Vivian
Mud Hole Custom Tackle

todd@mudhole.com

Thanks for all the replies.

I ordered a 9' seeker blank in 8-20lb test flavor, I will try that one out and see how I like it.

S glass blanks do sound sweet thought, just make sure you make a few that are medium power. Not all fisherman fish BC for 30lb steelhead!

Hi Todd
Did I read right ?
We might except to see MHX Glass Fly Blank soon ?
Can't sait if it's the case.

Eric,
We are in the process of designing and testing them now. Primarily shorter -6' - 8' lighter powers 3-5 wt.

Tight Lines,
MHX Rod Blanks
Web: [www.fishmhx.com]
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When you get around to the steelhead blanks, a 10', 6-15lb, 1/4 to 5/8 oz would be perfect!