In the recent thread on "point blank rod sensitivity"
Heb posted this paradoxical question: "Is there any rod out there that is perfection in every aspect'

It got me to thinking about perfect blanks, or are there perfect blanks for specific applications. (no one blank suites all applications)
Over the years in some brand product lines, there seams to be that one magical blank model that stands out above others as being perfect for a particular application.

Unfortunately many of those blanks are gone,
Some because the businesses are gone.
Some because people did not realize the value of blanks (costs more then builders wanted to pay)
Some lost as newer materials replaced older ones, but never replaced that magical aspect.
Model demand was not high enough to justify continuing to produce the blank.
And at least one that never made it into production.

Asking for builders opinions (subjective of course) on what they consider that magical blank or blanks?
Below are few of mine.

Shikari SHX764 pitching/flipping blank.(perfect action, sensitive) Best I ever used, never been another like it regardless of claims. Almost cried the day I broke the last one.

Batson RX8+S822.5 Incredible drop shot blank, (light, perfectly balanced blank, crisp responsive action, can feel the slightest of taps from fish), doubles as a great Pop-R rod.

Batson RX8+C812 Sinko Special (all the above reasons and then some!) This blank is so perfect in that application, I have 4 hoarded away just in case I break one

Batson RX8 XP964 popping blank. (don't know what you are supposed to pop with it, but it is hands down the best square billed crank bait rod I ever used.)
Casting is effortless just a flick of the wrist, action is perfect and forgiving, believe it or not. Fished this rod heavily in tournaments for 3 years before ever losing a fish on it.
lost 2 the 4th year, has the highest hook up to land ratio of any rod I've ever used. This blank is as magical as it can get

CTS 6'10" shaky head blank. (Was a prototype blank Andy Dear sent me to evaluate for CTS. Is perfect for the application it was engineered it for.
But they choose another action instead. Their loss, still using the prototype. That baby has made me a lot of money!
Batson's Eternity ETES610MXFSS Shaky head blank is just as magical as the CTS prototype, is more sensitive, but has slightly different action

Point Blank P8801 MHF If you can handle an 8 ft blank for Carolina rigging. It is the perfect blank, (casts a mile, can literally dump the spool, and can feel every thing regardless of how deep I'"m fishing.
Can tell when bottom changes from sand to rock to grass sliding over a log or touching a stump and every thing that bites.) use braided main line and floro leader.



what's yours?

I think it would be interesting to see how the builders have built up these rods as well (whether or not they have shortened or lengthened the blank, component choices, handle length, etc) but if you want to keep it strictly about the blanks that's cool too.

I too rate the Eternity ETES610MXF as exceptional.
Ad a 3" or 4" soft bait Minnow to a 1/8oz to 3/16oz Jig head and you have a perfect bottom contact set up.

________________________________________
@+
Eric
[www.emfishing.fr]

For me, the St. Croix 7-0 mlf spinning blanks are just the perfect action for finesse fishing of any kind. Ned rigs, drop shot, etc. It does it all well. Probably not as soft of a tip as other dedicated drop shot blanks, but it still works well. It has handled almost all my finesse fishing duties for years.

Really light jig heads get the SCV 7-0 LF st. Croix. This is a a great blank that is still crisp. I have this one in a factory rod instead of one I built. I tried to find a more affordable light action rod for years before finally buying this one. I should have bought it right away. The only domestic light action rod I could find that was still crisp.

One thing I really like about building on the St. Croix blanks is that you can handle them at the store and have a better idea of what the blank will be like.

Hi - (disclosure I work at Mud Hole if that matters.).

This interesting question reminded me of a conversion I had with Bob (McKamey) at MH just yesterday. Growing up I was fortunate enough to have 4 types of rods, and I still swear if you have these 4 types of rods - you can catch just about anything (freshwater at least). I mention them below with the models I currently use - and have proved to work well for me. As mentioned, specific models change over the years - but the "type" of rod is what I think remains timeless.

5'6" UL Spinning - MHX S661
2-6 lb. | 1/32 - 3/16 oz. | Fast Action | Ultra Light Power | 1 Piece | 4.0 Tip | 0.28 Butt
[www.mudhole.com]
Build - CRB performance guides, small reel seat with just eva nubs, and fighting butt.

6'6" ML Spinning - MHX SJ782
6-12 lb. | 1/8 - 3/8 oz. | Fast Action | Medium-Light Power | 1 Piece | 5.0 Tip | 0.458 Butt
[www.mudhole.com]
Build - CRB Elite guides, full cork handle (just like the classic look of it)

7' MH Casting - MHX MB843
10-17 lb. | 1/4 - 3/4 oz. | Fast Action | Medium-Heavy Power | 1 Piece | 5.0 Tip | 0.59 Butt
[www.mudhole.com]
Build - CRB Elite guides, MHX winn split grip handle.

9' - 5 wt. Fly - MHX F905
5 wt. | Fast Action | 4 Piece | 3.5 Tip | 0.37 Butt
[www.mudhole.com]
Build - cork half wells with stripper and snake guides

I always recommend new fisherman (and new builders) start with these, and build out from there for specific applications. Having these 4 types of rods pretty much allows you to fish for anything in freshwater. Anyways, just thought I'd chime in with my opinion on this - interesting topic.....

Steve,
Popping rod:

[allaboutfishings.blogspot.com]

I use rods of this type a lot for both casting lures,, as well as fishing with live bait. The softer tip of this style rods, make the rods particularly effective in these applications.

Well I have got to agree with Steve on a number of his choices.

SHX764. The best ever created (often imitated never duplicated) for flip n pitch

Honestly I really liked almost the entire Shikari line up.

Swimjig, sort of stumbled on this one by accident but the Eternity2 Etec76mh is the best I’ve tried for that bait. Plenty of power wonderful tip and have yet to dump a fish on it in over 3 seasons ( was responsible for sending me to semi nationals for TBF.)

Hula grub XMG50 LMB843.(really like for skipping small finesse jigs too)

RX8+ 822.5 for drop shot( really liked Shikari Pp7000) too

Bait casting Shakey Head Eternity 2 ETEC72MSS and the ETEC76M-SS

Nothing perfect for topwater stuff yet

I’d have to agree with Dean in this one. The St. Croix SC5 MLF are incredibly sensitive and lightweight with plenty of backbone for my application. By far the best blank for jigging/rigging walleye I’ve built on. The Rainshadow Eternity 2 6’8”M is a close second in my opinion

Steve, has does the newer IMMP76MH-TC compare to the XP964? I understand they are different lengths, etc. Just want to know if I should look for the older blanks or not.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Original Batson RX8+S822.5 As noted above, Picked-up 3 when they closed them out on sale. The Eternity version is good! But it's Just not the same!! One was built for my buddie, And I still have one unbuilt, Just in case.

I love this thread. It gives me ideas about which blanks I may want to build on in the future. I don't really know how much I can contribute to this thread though. I haven't been building long, and I only build for myself, so I don't have a lot to fall back on as far as comparing one blank, to another.

With that said, other than my first two builds, I've tried to build on some of the higher end blanks. I built my jerkbait rod on a standard MHX SJ783, and my squarebill rod on a Rainshadow RX7 CB66MH. They're my most custom rods from the standpoint that I purposefully chose longer blanks than I needed, and trimmed length off the butt to alter the characteristics of the blank. I was looking to build a rod with characteristics I couldn't find in a factory rod. They turned out to be just what I was looking for. Especially the squarebill rod.

Anyhow, as far a blank that I think is magical, it would have to be the Rainshadow Immortal IMMC72MH. It is a phenomenal blank. It has outstanding sensitivity. I mean crazy good. It is a stout blank with gobs of power, and it will flat out move a fish on the hook set. And while I had the first rod I built on the blank break (an unfortunate boat side incident with a 40"+ musky) it is a very durable blank. It's not a blank that I've ever felt I needed to baby. While I primarily use it for pitching and flipping to shallow heavy cover, it is also an awesome Carolina rig rod, as well as a great rod for dragging heavier football jigs in deep water. The only rod I've built that I can compare the Immortal blank to, is a rod I built on an NFC MB709 from the IM series. The NFC MB709 IM is a great blank, but it doesn't have the "it" factor that the IMMC72MH does. At least not in my opinion.

The highest performing rods I've ever fished or held in my hands are two rods that I only recently finished building. Both of them were built on NFC HM Xray MB736 blanks. I've already shared how insanely sensitive these two rods are. Fishing under some very tough conditions I was able to feel things that I wouldn't have felt with a lesser blank. They cast extremely well, and pitch as well as they cast. As far as power and the feeling of the blank goes, they have good power but I wouldn't be trying to horse a fish out of heavier cover with them. I haven't used them long enough to call them magical, but I find it extremely hard to put them down.

Russel
The IMMP76MH-TC is an excellent blank and I highly recommend it, but it does not have that magical factor that the XP964 has.

If you can still find the XP964 I would go that route, if not, you can't go wrong with the IMMP76MH-TC
The XP is another blank that I hoarded a couple extra away, just in case.

Thanks Steve. I have the 8 foot 4 power and the 7 and a half foot 3 power in that series. Very impressed with both. Just can’t decide which one to build as casting or spinning. Also what to recommend to others moving forward.

I have been out of the loop for a few reasons. Are you still using size 2 and similar guide sizes? Man I miss Bill Stevens and the M&M stuff. Takes awhile to decide who you want to listen to but you and Bill have always been at the top of the list.

Love you bro and stuff that has happened to me makes one realize you might not have time to say such things latter. I hope to be able to fish again as well as finish the blanks I have on hand. It is killing me to see the RX8/RX7 stuff on sale and not being able to pull the trigger.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Thanks Russel
Love you too, Understand exactly what you're saying, besides Bill, lost my tournament partner of 30 years last may, there a lot of things I wish could say to him now.
I really miss Bill also, we spent hours and hours on the phone and emailing

Yes still building some stuff with the 2-mm guides and looking at doing one shortly with some 1-mm guides.
Not sure I'm going to like them because they don't have inserts, but they where a gift so I am going to try them.

Many of the guys on the site now have no clue about the M&M stuff, there was a lot of good info shared back then

Have only built the 8 ft as a bait caster
Originally built it for deep diving crank baits, but it has never seen one. Put big a square bill on it to fish shallow rip-rap in a tournament and was so blown away by its performance for that technique,
Its had a square bill on ever since
Had a 40-45 lbs cat fish grab the square bill on it couple weeks ago fishing a bluff wall, did not realize just how much power that rod till then.

I truly hope you get to fishing again! life's it too not to do the things you love

Thanks to this thread I just pulled the trigger on an Eternity ETES610MXF, and the components to build it, from Get Bit.

I've been wanting to build on this blank ever since I started building rods. The thing that was stopping me then was the blue color it used to be. When they went to the natural graphite finish, it was just a matter of time. I'm building it with Fuji T2 guides, using the KR concept. Forecast skeleton reel seat with woven grapite insert and split rear grip. Grips are going to be either EVA or carbon fiber. Haven't decided yet. Looking to build a sweet drop shot/ shaky head rod.

Can't wait ....... I hope everything is in stock.