I am finally have time to make the sturgeon rod I have been thinking about for a while and now found out that the blank I wanted to use is no longer made. I have not been able to find anyone with a SWS597 blank still available. (RainShadow SWS597, 7’-10”, 5.5 tip, 0.875 butt, fast action, heavy power.) Was this blank replaced with a different model number?

I am looking for a similar blank (even a lighter tip would be fine, but I don’t want a heaver tip) that has a butt section similar or heaver, fast or x-fast action, and similar length. I fish from a boat on the St. Croix river in MN for sturgeon where the average fish is small to 60+”. There is a little current and I use ½ oz to 4 oz weights.

If someone knows of or has a SWS597 blank they would like to sell me that would be great.

I have 4 left I got from Andy Dear many years ago. They were some of the last US built blanks when All Star built some of the US built Batson and Pacific Bay blanks, technically they are not Batson products because they came out of the All Star plant when they closed up as far as I know. They do have factory tags on the butt though. 2 TB's and 2 M's. I also have some SWS540-M's also. They are originally Fisher patterns that were picked up by Batson and maybe others, they were popular patterns.

I fish in Northern California and love Sturgeon Fishing. I like to fish with 7 foot rods. Our keeper window is 40 to 60 inches. But we also catch oversized up to 7 feet.
I like fishing with lighter rods. The first sturgeon rod that I wrapped was a Super Seeker SS-CLB-704. It has a light tip and has some backbone. It's fun fighting a sturgeon on that rod. The other rods that I have wrapped are Cal Star GF700XL, BTG196-7, 196L-7B. We have caught many sturgeon on every one of them rods. My friend has a Seeker 270-7 and has caught many sturgeon. I like rods with lighter tips to show there soft bite. We have currant and usually use 6 to 8 ounces of weight. Any one of these rods would work for you or you could step up to the 8ft if you want. Some people like horsing in a sturgeon with broom sticks. I love the fight of a fish bending the rod and ripping out line with the drag set at 5 to 7 lbs.