I will be building a 9' 8wt for a trip to Alaska. I like a med-fast action. advice on the lightest most durable for the bucks? I hate to spend alot on money and time then fall on it like I do. Think I will build 2 for this trip.

It would be hard to go wrong with either the Loomis GL3 or St. Croix Legend Ultra. Of course there so many other good blanks as well. RainShadow may have something equally nice and the Perigee blanks discussed here are becoming quite popular. None of these will break the bank but all perform at a top level.

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Investigate the Graphite USA 9 foot 8 or 9 weight 4 piece fly blanks. They cast extremely well into the wind, and with their construction are perhaps the most durable blanks on the market. The blanks are medium fast and have the stiffness in the butt to handle large fish. I built two of them about 4 years ago and they are my go-to rods for travel when I need an 8 weight. While in alaska, I landed two 10 pound salmon in the salt with one. Absolute fun!

Doug Weber
Weber Rod Works

I have always been curious about GUSA flyrod blanks. As far as I'm concerned they are among the best blanks for casting and spinning rods, but how do they compare in fly--say to Perigee, Loomis, or even Sage? I'm sure they're good; my question is "how good?"

Bob,
Currently am building on a St. Croix SCIV (fly legend) 8 and 9 wt. blanks. They are very nice and much lesser priced than Sage with all the expected performance. These are handily a great Salmon rod for east coast Atlantics, but should do well for your situation as well.

For the extra strength GUSA always comes up, but I don't know . I sure like the price vs. performance of the SCIV. Enough strength in my opinion in an 8 wt. rod and the comparisons of casting performance were documented that excelled over Sage and Loomis.
Something to consider.

Happy Rodbuilding and have a great Alaskan fishing adventure. Been there, done that, and it was great!

Rich
www.solyrich.com

I built a 4 pc from a Pac Bay blank and I like it better than my GL3 2 pc. The rod seems to have just a little more back bone than the GL3 but slightly heavier in hand (but its a 4 pc) H&H has the Pac Bay blanks on sale right now for 50% off.