Hey guys, I am looking at the Rainshadow REVS68UL and the MHX 781 UL and looking for any feedback you might have with these 2 blanks.

I am thinking about making a UL Fast action Trout/Panfish rod. It will be used for small spring/trout streams to small lakes for panfish, 1/64 to 1/16 oz jigs and 1/32 - 1/8 oz rooster tail spinners and crankbaits with either 1# braid or 4# mono. I also use small 1/100 - 1/80 oz nymphs under a strike indicator but those are short cast or drifts in the current. 500 reel size.

I have a 5'3" Falcon UL/F I like but want a longer rod for cast distance and line control. My dad has a 6' St. Croix UL/F that is a little to whippy for my taste (bends up past the first eye).

So with that said does anyone have any experience with those blanks? The whippiness I think is my biggest concern as I fish small jigs alot for trout and need a fast pick up and I don't set the hook like a gorilla lol. I know the whippiness adds to casting distance but the hook set is more important.

Specs of the blanks are
REVs68UL 6'8" UL/F 1/32 - 3/16 Butt. .385 Tip 4.5
MHX781 6'6" UL/F 1/32 - 3/16 Butt .295 Tip 4.0

I did notice on my dad's St. Croix the tip is 3.5 so might explain some whippiness.

I have thoughts in my head of a Tennessee handle and on occasion using it maybe with a fly reel to make short cast with 2 wt. fly line for dry fly fishing (winter midge pattern), not sure that would work but eh. Thanks, Bill.

William,
The only comment that I can say is that I have built a lot of rods on different Batson Rainshadow Revolution blanks and I have been very well pleased with every blank from this line of rod blanks.

I have built a few rods on the MHX blanks and they are all right - but if I had to pick one brand, it would be the Revolution line for my personal rods.

The tip size on the Rainshadow blank in question is a 4.5 which should be just fine for your hook setting concerns.

REVS68UL Satin Black 6'8" 1 2-6lb. 1/32-3/16oz. 0.385 4.5 F UL 1.1oz. Ultra Light Trout & Panfish

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But MHX makes excellent blanks so to be sure you could do a side by side rod comparison after you built identical rods on the two different blanks and then you could tell us your fishing and handling results from each rod.

Good luck

Hi William -

I know opinions vary - but here is mine. I work at Mud Hole and have built many UL rods this year, and the S781-MHX is one of my personal favorites for a few reasons. It's really light and sensitive, and the 6'6" length is great not only for getting lighter stuff out there farther - but the fast (less whippy - as you mentioned) action still allows for great accuracy. Personally I like a little longer UL (6'+) as I feel it serves as a better lever to get a better hook set. Anyways - I've had success with the S781-MHX.

Last week i finished building the MHX 721 and the Batson revuls62. Both my builds are two pc rods. The MHX is a tad faster but the Batson has a tad more power, both are built with the Tennessee handle and i used Pac bay Model M guides. I use these for casting 1/16 oz lures for crappie up to two pounds. I prefer the Batson as it has a little more power, I bought more of these blanks both MHX and Batson. The Batson blanks are more consistant in power and action which tells me QC is really great at Batson. Both blanks will work for me but i just prefer the Batson YMMV. For my 6 foot 6 rods i use the Stcroix SCV's they are more powerfull and extremely faster i believe the line ratings are 2 to 8 or 4 to 8.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2018 06:17PM by Terry Kirk.

We have a POINT Blank fan currently cutting a few inches off the PB661LF for Ultra Light panfish and "pond" bass. He bought 5, says it's perfect

I just want to say thank you very much for everyone's input and experience, it is very much appreciated. I am a DIYer and only have a couple builds under my belt so I rely and learn from the knowledge of you masters here.

Terry when you said the Rainshadow had more power, am I correct in thinking that it will handle the 1/16-1/8 oz better then the MHX and the MHX will handle the lighter 1/80-1/32 oz a little better with a faster action?
Like Roger said maybe I need to make both :), you all here turned me on to the Rainshadow blanks.
Gregg I am with you on the longer rods, I am slowly making my entire arsenal of rods of the longer version, or maybe that is my excuse to keep building my own rods lol. Just need a bigger rod building budget.
Jim thanks, I was eyeballing a couple of those Point Blank blank for another application.

Once again thank you all for your help!

William, i think you will be disappointed in casting distance with either blank if you are using 1/32 and 1/80 true weights. If you are using a ball or pencil type strike indicator you might get the distance you want. I use no less than 1/16 oz feather jigs or 1/16 oz ball head jigs with small plastic baits giving me a little more weight for casting. My opinion is neither blank will excel with the weights your using. Keep in mind my blanks are 6 ft MHX and 6 ft 2 inch Revelations. My 6 ft 6in SCV's are a power up but i gain extreme action but 1/16 would be the lowest weight i am comfortable with on those rods. I have a 6 ft 6 in St Croix Avid UL and again in my opinion if you find your dads blank too whippy you may not be happy with the other blanks. I prefer the small tip sizes as when you go up in tube size you may get that whippy action. 3.5 to 4.0 tube size is what i prefer with a size 4 ring. For reference on speed using the ccs numbers My Batsons are 65 degrees aoa and the MHX is 67. My St Croix SCV is 80 degrees and my Avid is 76 degrees. Power ranges from 65 to 75 on my blanks.

One of the biggest reasons i like and fish St. Croix blanks is because they typically have more power and a faster action than many competitors blanks which are rated similarly, when the word "Whippy" is tossed around St. Croix is he last rod manufacturer i think of lol. They do have seemingly endless choices though so you can be sure they have models rated for every application , i'm just not familiar with the lighter stuff.


They are not as cheap as many competitors though and thats a big reason i love Rod Geeks so much since the blanks are St. Croix blanks just priced considerably lower. The selection isn't nearly as widespread however.

I don't normally throw less than a 1/32 oz ball head jig with a little panfish plastic attached, but throwing smaller weights with a float won't be much of an issue. A 1/32 oz. jig is going to fly so far. It just doesn't have enough inertia to overcome the air resistance of the line for very long.

The blank I use is a Rainshadow IP840 trimmed from the butt to 6'8" (mostly because 7' rods are a bit long for my taste), the older version of the REVIP70UL. It's listed under the saltwater popping section. It is not as whippy as other UL rods I have fished over the years, but still has some whip to it. It's the nature of the beast.

If you want a blank that will handle those 1/16 - 1/8 oz jigs with small plastics well and is not whippy, take a look at a 1 power spin jig blank. Mine is built as a casting rod for casting weightless plastics for bass, but on occasion I'll tie on a 1/16 oz crappie jig and go to work.

The method you use with the equipment that you are using works great for fish that are close.

But, often times here, the fish are spooky and unless one stays away from the schools, the fish get "spooked."

As a result, I typically fish for pan fish with a steel heat or equivalent rod.

It is typically an 8 foot rod with a light tip. I also put a reel with a very large spool on the reel so that it has a very high retrieve ratio.

I almost always fish with a 1/32nd or 1/64th jig - plastic tube, hair, feather jig. I fish it under a large "rocket bobber. "

The rocket botter is a solid plastic bobber with tips on each end. One fishes these bobbers flat. Then, when you get a bite, the slightest bit will turn the bobber upright and signals the bite.

Normally the fish take the bite on the fall of the jig. As a result, as the very light jig drifts slowly down, the fish inhale the jig and keep going.

But, the advantage of a rod like this to fish "spooky" fish, is the casting distance. Normally one can cast 30-40 yards with a setup like this. Or, one can fish right beside the boat if one wishes.

I will cast out past the school of fish, reel up to and slowly work the school and if a fish, reel in. If no fish, quickly reel back for another cast.

But, to get the distance, the use of a steel head or back bouncing rod in lengths of 7-8 feet - give a great tool for long distance casting.

So, if you want to catch these tasty creatures in a different way - when the fish are "spooky" try a steel head rod and a rocket bobber with a very light jig.

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[www.rat-l-trap.com]

Rogers suggestion of a 7- 8 foot blank is critically important if casting distance is a needed attribute , i have found 8 feet to be the ideal length for great distance in a variety of conditions. I used to fish 7'6 foot rods but was blown away how much better an 8 foot rod casts ..

There is no FREE LUNCH out there , pro an con on every rod , in order to cast a greater distance you have to get the tip to move faster an that equates to a longer rod in my book,
not to say the shorter rods will not cast , it is just the longer rods can cast a longer distance that is what I think , could be wrong

William Sidney
AK

Terry Kirk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> William, i think you will be disappointed in
> casting distance with either blank if you are
> using 1/32 and 1/80 true weights. If you are
> using a ball or pencil type strike indicator you
> might get the distance you want. I use no less
> than 1/16 oz feather jigs or 1/16 oz ball head
> jigs with small plastic baits giving me a little
> more weight for casting. My opinion is neither
> blank will excel with the weights your using.
> Keep in mind my blanks are 6 ft MHX and 6 ft 2
> inch Revelations. My 6 ft 6in SCV's are a power
> up but i gain extreme action but 1/16 would be the
> lowest weight i am comfortable with on those rods.
> I have a 6 ft 6 in St Croix Avid UL and again in
> my opinion if you find your dads blank too whippy
> you may not be happy with the other blanks. I
> prefer the small tip sizes as when you go up in
> tube size you may get that whippy action. 3.5 to
> 4.0 tube size is what i prefer with a size 4 ring.
> For reference on speed using the ccs numbers My
> Batsons are 65 degrees aoa and the MHX is 67. My
> St Croix SCV is 80 degrees and my Avid is 76
> degrees. Power ranges from 65 to 75 on my blanks.




Thanks Terry, I had to do some research on those numbers but that really helps. I also went and looked at my dad's St. Croix UL and seen it was the SC2 blank which from what I understand is whippier then the SC3 or 5 blanks. I would like the backbone of the rod to go at lest half up the blank and not bend clear down to the handle if that makes sense. That might be hard with that length of UL though.

I fish the Driftless area in NE Iowa and some of the streams are open and easy to cast while others are hand to hand combat so to speak. That was what was behind my thinking 6'6" to 6'10" rod, longer then the 5' for little longer cast and line control on drifts but short enough to be able to fish the closed in streams with out to much problems.

You guys have really provided some valuable insight and I appreciate it. I just might make 2 rods, one longer 8' model for panfish on lakes as well. I do have a couple of those Rocket bobbers just have not used them much, will have to break them back out.

Herb I did check out those Rod Geeks but did not see any UL but will remember them in future rod building adventures. Thank you everyone for your wisdom, I enjoy others insight and learning from them.

One last suggestion William. Since you are a rodbulder i would suggest you look at an off the shelf HMG fenwick 2 to 8 pound test completed rod. I bought 3 of them and i think they would be exactly what you're looking for as far as blanks. The guides are junk IMO and i didn't like the handles so i stripped them down and rebuilt them to my standards and they are really nice rods now. I believe they may be almost exactly what your looking for. These rods can be had for 59.00 and that isn't too bad considering the blanks are really good.

William Minard Wrote: I also went and looked at my dad's St. Croix UL and seen it was the SC2 blank which from what I understand is whippier then the SC3 or 5 blanks. I would like the backbone of the rod to go at lest half up the blank and not bend clear down to the handle if that makes sense.






Actually not the case , i have two rods that are SC II material, one rod made with the SC III ( The softest one out of the four) and one out of the SC IV material and the rods made out of the SC II are the stiffest which is just an example of the material chosen for a certain blank doesn't determine it's action & purpose . That being said higher mod materials are capable of storing and releasing more energy .

I despise rods that bend all the way down to the handle area so i understand exactly what you mean by wanting a more powerful & stiff bottom half of the rod with a softer mid to top range . Forget the UL rated rods , a regular light or medium light would be more along the lines of what you might like imo.

Thanks Terry you have been a big help, I will see if I can find that rod at store. I actually tore a rod down just for practice so that would be fine for me, I am just picky lol.

Exactly Herb, can not stand when they bend that bad. I took your guys suggestion and expanded my search to the light action as well, inquired with a couple companies on their blanks.
I have the St Croix SC3 MLXF which I absolutely love that tip on that blank but will not cast that light stuff like I want to well. We'll figure something out :).

Thank you all, been a big help and gave me alot of good ideas to look into. I only build for myself and family but I sure do appreciate the time you took to help me.