I built my fishing partner a rod on a St. Croix 8'6" blank this past Xmas, I forget the exact model number, it was an M86 or something, but it was supposed to be equivalent to a 1024C.

The St. Croixs are nice blanks, I like his rod better than my Loomis 1025 GL2 (different power, of course), but I think if I were to do it again, I'd buy a Rainshadow blank. I just picked up a couple of Rainshadow fly rod blanks (10ft 7wt IM7 and a 9ft 9wt IM6) They are _very_ nice blanks, and you can't beat the price.

Besides, I always like the fact that you can drive to the place if you ever have a real problem.

Keep it local.

-N.