I've looked at few manufacturer's blanks and have noticed they offer both spinning and casting versions in their same line. For example, Phenix, Rainshadow, MBX, etc., offer both versions, usually in the bass fishing line-up. So what is the difference, if any in these blanks? Is it the rating?

In my experience manufacturers that have designated spinning and casting versions with the the same specifications, the casting version is always more powerful. Another reason I wish more manufacturers would use CCS data for describing their blanks.
However, you can build a spinning or casting rod on any blank you wish.
Norm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2020 10:31AM by Norman Miller.

The rod does not care what kind of reel is on it, only how much weight it is casting.

No, there is no difference. The blank has no way of knowing whether you have a spinning or a casting reel on it.

Having said that, sometimes manufacturers will design blanks for technique specific applications, where perhaps the intended use of the blank is one where a casting (or spinning) reel is most often used. However, this does not mean you can't use it any way you want, casting or spinning.

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The Point I was trying making is that a blank from a given manufacturer designated as a medium casting blank is different from a designated medium spinning blank. For example, the Rainshadow REVC68M (designated casting) is a different blank from the REVS68M (designated spinning). The casting rod is more powerful. This was also true for the older St Croix V blanks, as well as for other manufacturers that have or had designated spinning and casting blanks. However, you can build a either a spinning or casting rod on both blank types.
Norm

Norman: How did you determine how "powerful" a rod is? Feelings or deflection?

Phil,
How do you determine how “powerful “ a rod is? Is it the soulful, smooth bend you see ?

Typically a blank designated as a spinning blank when bent at an extreme angle will flex more near the butt end of the same models. You may want that characteristic in a blank for a casting reel. This is not always the case though. In reality the soul of the spinning blank wants to one day, grow up to be a casting blank and be fished somewhere in a Texas bay. This is where I step in.

Over the years, I have found the same thing that Norman related.

i.e. From many manufacturers, a rod blank that has the same length, the same speed, and the same marked power - i.e. L, ML, M, MH, H - have typically been one or two notches higher in power for the casting rig compared the same marked spinning blank.

In the upper midwest, we often use long and fairly soft blanks for using a technique called lindy rigging.

With the spinning rods of the era, the rods worked very well for this technique.

Then, if I were to use the same length blank and power - except in a casting version the blank was much too stiff to use this technique.

But, it was simple to take the blank marked as a spinning blank but wrap and build the rod as a casting rod, casting grip, reel seat and guides.

In more recent years, it seems that there is a smaller difference between the spinning blanks and casting blanks of equal markings.

Take care

Phil I did CCS analyses, the spinning versions always had a lower IP than the casting version. You should know by now that I do CCS analyses on many of the blanks I use, not all of them but a fair number. I know that for some of the 7’ St Croix V blanks I have used in the past, a medium power casting rod had a higher IP than a medium powered spinning blank, same thing for the Rainshadow Eternities and Rainshadow Revelations. Objective Data speaks for itself.
Norm

Tom: I am a firm believer in quantifiable measurements rather than feelings to communicate about objective reality. Romantics and advertising agents go with feelings. I would say the tip of a rod deflected eight inches from the horizontal when a four-ounce weight is suspended from its tip-top. A romantic or an advertiser might say the rod had a smooth but powerful medium action. Buyers are free to base their decisions on whatever they wish, even "I like the blue one!"