Have been studying the Common Cents Info. Can sort of understand it so took my favourite rod out to the back yard with some lead sinkers to see if table C from the CCS would work. After converting grains, ounces and grams then back again it came close. I would like to build another rod out of the same blank that I currently use for trout. This is a 7 foot 2 peice 1.2mm tip with a 11.5mm butt which I use 3lb line on with lures approx 4.5 gram. Running guides are Fuji T-LSG 4.5. I thought if I purchased another blank of the same model but 1 piece and then used Fuji Torzite 3mm running guides with a Torzite reduction train that I may improve the action of this rod as the guide train would be lighter again. I now think my train of thought is completely wrong and instead of gaining a couple of extra yards the new rod may cast a couple of yards shorter. The weight of the guides on my present rod is allowing the rod to load fully with the lure weights I am using but if I lighten that guide train a little then the rod will not fully load. I don't want to increase the lure weights, they are Rapala CD 5 mostly, as they have already been modified to suit the current rod and they make a big enough splash when hitting the water as it is. I have made a bass rod up using Fuji Torzites and can see the reasoning behind their development and I do think they are worth the money. Many of the blanks released by the blank manufactures are the same dimensions today as they were say 30 years ago. For example a St Croix 7 foot UL casting range between 1/32 to 1/8 oz. would have probably have been built using stainless steel/oxide guides which are much heavier by comparison with guides available today. These guides would have helped load the rod would they not and indeed a finished rod may have been able to cast a light lure a long way. If the same 7 foot St Croix UL was made up using the lightest guide train possible then would not this finished rod now be closer to being a L 1/16 to 1/4 rod???? If the upper and lower recommended lure weights can be altered for a particular blank simply by changing the guides that you place on your rods how do we now interpret the recommended lure weights as given by the manufactures. I only make rods for myself and family so if I get it wrong does not matter much. What does a professional rod builder do then if a customer asks for a particular blank made up as they had broken a rod of the same blank which they had had for years. Customers asks " for those new Light micro guides" and then brings the rod back to the builder to state that new rod is not as good as the old one! Could this be happening now.? Is this similar to fly rods and the line weights that goes with those rods. Are they not be rated on 30 feet of fly line but with advances in technology fly casters now can cast at least twice that far. As I do not have a chance to feel a blank before I buy it then how do I now purchase a rod blank other than reading recommendations from rod builders that have already made one up on websites such as rodbuilding.org. I am sure the CCS will provide more information in future as more people provide input to it. I have made up an Orvis full flex 2wt blank as a spinning rod with Minima guides which I throw small bladed lures to rainbow trout. It's a great rod but more to good luck than good management. I shall put off buying another blank for the moment until I am confident I can buy a blank which I can build into a rod I and happy with. Thanks Peter

Manufacturers rate rod blanks as they are, not for what they suspect they'll be when guides are added. I've spoken with several and this is how they do it, surprising as that may seem as the guides certainly do add weight that the blank then has to carry. Most feel that done within reason, it's not enough to bother with. Take that for what it's worth.

The chart you're talking about is something I cooked up and was not part of the original CCS system. It was A stopgap sort of thing until Dr. Hanneman worked closer to tip power ratings.

The CCS does not dictate what line you must use on a fly rod. If you use ERN = ELN as a point to start, that's fine, but remember the line weight changes as you move more or less of it past the tip. This is why a powerful, say, "6-weight" rod may possess an ERN of over 7 or even 8. It's expected that the rod will be holding a lot more than 30 feet of line in the air.

Rod blank data is never obsolete. A 7-feet long rod will always be 7-feet long, just as an ERN 8 rod will always have that amount of power. What changes is how the rod builder applies the information based on his or her experience with various types of fishing. If you want to perfectly match rod blanks you must match as much of the data as you can - weight, length, ERN, AA and certainly the CCF (you can do this with guides taped on if you want to perfectly match an existing rod with guides).

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