Jerry,
I also only do fly rods. The RX 7 is one of my best sellers. I've only done a few RX8 and they are still a great blank but my customers seem to prefer the RX7. the 8' and 8.5' in 4 and 5 wts are the best sellers esp in 4 pc. the 2 pc 8.5' 6wt was a great seller about 2 years ago when I sold about 6-8 in a month but now I think everyone around here has one.

I also only build fly rods and the Batson RX7 & RX8 are my go to blanks unless the customer specs something else. Have never had a complaint on either blank.

Fly rod advertisements spend much of their time and ad space touting their rods' "accuracy" and "sensitivity." It's refreshing not to see these terms popping up on this thread.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2012 11:58AM by Phil Ewanicki.

Batson's RX7 and RX8 fly blanks are great blanks and offer tremendous value. Some other blanks to consider would be the Quickline by PacBay, Beulah (particularly the platinum series), Sage, St. Croix, and even some of the MHX blanks. I am hoping to order some CTS blanks shortly to try out. It would be helpful to know what your client's casting ability is. If he is a bad caster, no rod will make him better-only practice can do that. If he is decent any of these will be just fine.

Jerry, I can only speak of the RX7 fly blanks and I have built on a bunch of them. Great blank for the $. Most are a moderate fast blank that many enjoy casting. Great company to deal with if needed and the blanks seem consistent from one model to the next, no surprises such as," I really liked the 5 wt but the 6 wt of the same series was a different rod entirely" type of thing.

The IF1008 blank is extremely popular for steelhead in the Pac.NW.

Go to Mudhole and check out PacBay fly guides The wire guides have the measurments

[www.mudhole.com]

Bill - willierods.com