Greetings,

Well, it's been a while since I did any rod-building, but the time has come once again. I'm looking for a 9' 6-7 wt. 4-piece blank that I can pick up for $75-100.This will be used primarily for smallmouth, but also occasionally for throwing large streamers on a sink-tip from a boat.
I haven't been in the market for a blank in a while - the last one I built on was a Pacific Bay Quickline series 9' 8 wt., and I have been very impressed with that. Back in the day I would have gone right for the good old Tiger's Eye, but they seem to have disappeared. If any of you have recently run across a blank in my price range that has really impressed you, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks -
Bryon

If the Quickline action is good for you, way not stay with Quickline blank ?

The MHX Fly F906-4-MHX IS very good too [www.emfishing.fr]

Well, I hate to be a spoil sport here, but I'm a huge fan of the Sage VXP. I sell a lot of rods built on that blank. I've fished it a lot and love it. At the top of my list is the Sage ONE. If you are looking for distance and accuracy, this is the rod. Yes, it is not cheap, but in my book those two rods are two of the best out there.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I have a fly rod which I built on a four piece 6wt. MHX blank and I'm happy with it. It casts a 7wt. Cortland 444 12' sink tip 80' without any fuss and the blank is in your price range.

I'd go back to the Quickline if you were happy with it. I too, built an 8wt for a friend and got to fish it on our trip to Alaska last year. If feels like and casts like a much more expensive rod. Nice gloss black finish too.

MHx is also good choice.

I never did like the Tiger Eyes. They were cheap, but heavy and slow. Just not my cup of tea.

Drew

Bryon,
You might look at the Cabela's PT+ rod blanks.
Very smooth casting, US made and on clearance in the bargain basement.
Very attractive price for an excellent blank.

One of my favorites is the saltwater 6 from St. Croix, 5FS906.4. One of the best rods I have thrown for 200-250grain sink tip lines. I use it for shad in the James river, specks, reds, schoolie stripers etc... here in the lower Chesapeake. Higher price point but I'd put it right up there with some of the others. Another line of blanks you don't hear much about are the Beaulah blanks. The Platinum series are phenomenal, as are the Bluewater and Guide series. The Guide Series comes in closer to your price point I think right around $145.00. Angler's Workshop has them. Never heard a bad thing said about the Quickline from PacBay but have not built or thrown one yet.

Any fly rod blank listing for less than $200? $300? was probably made in Asia, where the exact same blank may be sold to any number of brand-name retail importers. No insult to Asian manufacturers, who currently produce the finest smart phones, computers, and T.V. sets in the world; products which are far more complex and technologically difficult to produce than rod blanks. The provenance of many rod blanks is carefully disguised.
It's just that promoting price and brand to sustain the fly fishing industry relies upon a sinking ship, inhabited by a fickle and decreasing number of plush converts. How long before an intergalactic record holder post 900 lb. marlin caught on 3X tippit -with the assistance of six flying gaffs?

Phil, what is your point?

Phil:

Anglers should exercise more judgment and practical common sense and less ego and elitism because the public image of sport fishing will determine the future of sport fishing. Those who claim to "catch" sport fish weighing hundreds of pounds on four-pound-test line promote the image of sport fishermen as insincere braggarts. Anglers whose priority is continually purchasing and displaying the newest and most expensive gear reenforce the image of sport fishermen as spendthrift twits.

eg: "Bone-jarring hook sets [on #4 line]"; running a $30,000 boat with a 250 h.p motor at 70 m.p.h. to catch a 4 lb. bass - and glorifying the act ; "The strongest 10 pound test line in history"; "the rod which re-defines sensitivity and accuracy [and price]"; fishing uniforms apparently modeled after NASCAR uniforms [?!] - and on and on. Observant sport fishermen can surely provide scores of further examples of patent foolishness promoted by and about sport fishing and fishermen. My point is that unless this silly nonsense is called out occasionally it will continue to proliferate, while the reputation and future of sport fishermen will continue to decline. Excuse my rant, but I fear the day when serious anglers will deny their involvement in sport fishing for fear of embarrassment.

I have a 6 wt. 9 ft. MHX and a 7 wt. 9 ft. Quickline. I like them both and they seem similar in that they are light weight, fast without being too fast and feel light in the tip. Good all around performers.
And they're nice quality blanks that are straight with good ferrule fit. Also have a Dan Craft FT 6 wt. 9 footer that is super fast and stiff, maybe too much of a good thing. But right now I'm using it at Pyramid lake in Nevada to launch big flies with sinking shooting heads or long leader indi rigs, where it's windy & cold and big mean Cutthroat swim around. This is where the FT is superb, a total banzai casting machine.
Lots of good choices but the MHX and Quickline (throw in Rainshadow RX7/8) are readily available from reputable companies and give you about the best performance per dollar that's available.
.

Thank you gentlemen for your replies and suggestions, they are much appreciated.

Jerry - I agree with you that the Sage VXP or ONE blanks would probably suit my purpose nicely, but as they both are unfortunately at least double or triple my working blank budget, they are not really options for me at this point.

Phil Ewanicki - I read your replies several times each; I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the future of sportfishing, but I'm not sure what they had to do with my question, sorry.

After reading all the suggestions, I think I will most likely go with another Pac Bay Quickline, as I already have one of those and know that I like it. However, I will comparison-shop with the other suggested blanks as well.

Thanks again to all who replied!

Byron:

Sorry to be so obtuse. I appreciate and respect the fact that you will stick to a budget for your tackle in the face of all the pressure to spend three or five or seven times as much for a blank which "feels" better but in all probability shows no significant difference in objective test measurements. I fear fly fishing is becoming increasingly a sport of "champions," "record holders," and Minnie-Pearl -type conspicuous consumers. I hope not. I hope instead there are more folks like you who enjoy rod building and fly fishing: relaxing, thoughtful, and reasoned activities - not a frantic pursuit of profit, fame, and status.

Phil,

Thanks for your reply and for clarifying your point. I really have no choice but to stick to my budget for rod building, and for all my other fishing gear as well. I'm fortunate enough to have a modest amount to spend on such luxuries after the house, car, kids' needs and all the rest is paid for, and I'm grateful for that. Even if I had the money, I could never see myself dropping the better part of a grand on a fly rod when I know I can build one for around $100-200 that will do everything I need it to do and be a pleasure to use, especially when I believe that the bulk of the difference in price between my rods and the high-dollar sticks would mostly be paying for unconditional guarantees, full-page color ads in fly fishing magazines, sales reps' commissions and name-dropping power. I feel very, very lucky to have been forced to learn to fly fish and build rods on a shoestring budget, because it taught me that this sport can be thoroughly enjoyed and done well on a working class income. If I hadn't been looking to save money, I would probably have never discovered the joys of tying flies, building rods, furling leaders and all the rest of it.
I have a friend who is a rep for one of the big name fly rod companies -- one of the biggest in fact. He spends thousands of dollars on gear every year and fishes all over the country. We don't fish together than often, and whenever we do get together he always seems stunned to learn that I'm still fishing the same 7 or 8 rods I've had since we met over 10 years ago. He aquires more rods, reels and specialty fly lines in a single year than I will in the next decade. He believes that this makes him a "serious" fly fisherman, but he knows little or nothing about the natural world in which he does all this "serious" fishing -- he couldn't care less about insects, birds, trees, flowers, etc. I once pointed out a Blue Heron to him and his only comment was, "I don't like those birds. They eat my fish." I once tried to describe for him a fly pattern I was working on, using well-known patterns as references, and he stopped me, saying that all he knew about flies was that "the fish bite on the pointy end." I'm not saying there's anything "wrong" with his approach to the sport, but if I had to choose, I would much rather be on a budget but feel as intimately connected to the natural world as I do when I step into a river over being well-heeled and oblivious to anything but "the bottom line" (how many fish caught, rods owned, etc).
I think there are a lot of people who fish for the same reasons I do, and that have been led to things like rod-builidng because of those reasons. They just aren't as visible/audible as the big-money, big-name, big-ego types. That's why I love forums like this one -- you find a lot of those folks in places like this. :)