Hey folks, I've been a (very) long time follower of the forum, great info and great advice - you have all helped me immensely in my rod building journey. I started building commercially about a year ago - mostly focus on fly rods and bass rods and am located in North Texas. I have a very astute client that is looking for the "perfect" pitchin' rod. looking for recommendations from y'all. My guy is a shorter angler, and tells me he feels like a 7'3" rod is a bit long for him. He also likes to throw smaller baits - 4" creature baits with light weights - around 3/8 oz. Pitching around brush and rock piles, not punching mats. We are looking at NFC 705s but there are several material choices for this blank and I don't have a lot of experience with NFC. I have built a lot of MHX rods, some Batsons, and St. Croix. If any of you were going to build a pitching rod for lighter baits, around the 7' length and cost wasn't a factor, which route would you go? Thanks much.

The NFC Blanks are very nice but in my opinion a little over priced, a good buy if you can get them on sale. The NFC HM705-1 is rated as MH and has an intrinsic power rating of 608.39 gms and the NFC IM705-1 has a power rating of 565 gms. So the HM Blank has more power than the IM blank. Another choice you might want to consider is a Point Blank. The PB701MHF has an intrinsic power of 800.62 gms and is more powerful than the NFC blanks, and is also lighter in weight and cost less. The PB701MF has a power rating of 689.98 gms. Because of the way they are designed the Point Bllanks tend to balance better than most other rods I have made.
Norm

First let me say that I have only built 7 rods to date, so I don't have a lot of experience with the blanks of many different manufacturers. I have two NFC blanks from the Gen2 IM series that I will be starting builds on very soon, but they will be the first NFC blanks I've built on. They are very nice blanks.

With that said, were it me I would build on the Immortal IMMC72MH, and take 2" off the butt to make it the 7' length you're looking for. It is IMO a phenomenal blank. Very sensitive, with serious power (taking 2" off the butt will not hurt the power of this blank) and it will pitch the baits with the weights you're talking about, extremely well.

I have two baits that I usually use when pitching. A Reaction Innovations 4.20 Sweet Beaver, or a 3 1/2" tube from Dry Creek Outfitters. My standard weight most of the time is a 3/16 oz tungsten, but I will move up to 5/16 when I need to get deeper into thick wood cover. I use a stock Shimano Castaic SF reel, 20# Tatsu fluorocarbon line, and I can pitch those baits 25 - 30' with ease using the rod I built on that blank. If I drop down to a smaller creature bait .... say a Baby Brush Hog. The 3/16 oz weight is a little light, but the 5/16 oz weight puts it right back in the ball park.

As mentioned earlier, I have yet to fish an NFC blank so this is just conjecture on my part, but I would say the Immortal blanks from Rainshadow (Batson) are every bit as good as the NFC IM blanks. One of the NFC blanks I will be building on soon is the IM MB709. There is only on reason I am building on this NFC blank, and not an Immortal. The NFC MB709 is advertised as having a moderate fast action. There isn't a blank in the Immortal line up that has a moderate fast action, and the power that the NFC MB709 has. And that is the only reason I went with the NFC blank.

I absolutely love the Immortal blanks, and I can't imagine a better blank to build a pitching rod on, than the IMMC72MH.

Oh and I also think the Titanium Chrome color is gorgeous.

Since your talking about NFC, has anyone try the new Delta series? Their price looks good for a USA made blank especially if they perform well.

From the RainShadow lineup we’d recommend:
Revelation – REVC72M - [www.rainshadowrodblanks.com]
Eternity – ETEC72MH -[www.rainshadowrodblanks.com]

As well as the Immortal that David mentions.

James Taylor
Batson Enterprises
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