I have a buddy that broke his St. Croix Rage RS610MXF and would like another one. But this rod is discounted and no longer available anywhere we can find. He asked me to make a replacement rod that would have the exact same feel as his RS610MXF. I have never handled this rod and am not sure what blank would match up. He is very picky on how the blanks responds. Does anyone have any suggestions on what will match up?

Since they no longer make the rod, or blank and he is very picky, I wouldn't even try, especially since you know nothing about the rod. If he wants you to try your best to make him a similar rod, than try the Rainshadow REVS610MXF.

[rodgeeks.com]

The Rod Geeks blanks are effectively St. Croix blanks. In this case the carbon 4 series would be a slight upgrade in material from SCIII to SCIV. I doubt you will find anything closer. This is the direction I would go for your friend.

I fish older RX8+ Rainshadows in the 6'10" length with extra fast actions, and they were/are dynamite blanks, but I haven't bought one since they switched to the Immortal and Revelation lines. I also have a 6'10" Liberty blank from Get Bit that falls into the same style of rod. The Liberty blank has excellent swing weight in that it feels fantastic while manipulating the rod while casting and such, but the material doesn't quite give the "feel the bite sensitivity" that I had hoped. I bought it to fish shaky heads for spotted bass in deeper water with braided line. It does that job just fine.

I suspect you have the potential to build your friend a better rod than he broke, but it may not feel 'exactly' the same as the old one.

The carbon 4 would be an upgrade but he feels the SCIV rods are too stiff and doesn’t like them.

The carbon 4 looks like a whole different blank, line weight, lure weight, butt and tip size all larger. I can see why he wouldn't like it. The Rage was a shakeyhead rod, the Rainshadow may be a bit stiffer than he wants also, but all the numbers are closer and it is a shakyhead blank. The Rage did have Pac Bay Minima micros on it, and a Pac Bay skeleton reel seat, uplocking.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2021 06:29PM by Spencer Phipps.

I agree Spencer. But I can’t convince him.

Also thank you Spencer for all the great tips and help you have given me over the years.

Rodgeeks C270MXF. ScIII is not available so this is close

Cut off what you need fron the butt

Not entirely familiar with Rage 610MXF, but I have built a number of blanks looking for a replacement for SC S68MXF. I have built the Rainshadow versions and the Rod Geeks Carbon 4 version. I think the closest action to a SCIII is the MHX Mag XF MB812XF. I am a pretty big fan of the MHX Mag XF blanks, the others are not quite as XF as the MHX.

I’d tell him St. Croix still makes rods... if he’s that picky