I have 3 custom rods with fiberglass blanks made by Harrington...no longer made but they are great for the downrigger with strong butt sections and very sensitive tip sections...the reel seats are not as nice as the newer and lighter graphite ones and they have foam handles ..great for downrigger use and also for fishing divers on the Columbia. I prefer a cork handle but they get chewed up a bit in the rod holders...I have a couple custom Clearwater rods that I like although one of them has broken every time I used it..doesn't make sense to me why that particular blank is so fragile. Usually it breaks riding in the car..it's a beautiful rod for looks but not functional so it hangs in the garage for looks. One of the rods that broke at Neah Bay last week was my Lamiglas Salmon Special which is a great downrigger rod..can't say how it broke for sure but about 5" of the tip snapped off. The rod that went overboard with a 40# king attached to it was a Lamiglas Kenai Guide model. I also have a couple of Fenwick HMG graphite rods which are nice as well . Maybe I'll try for a longer rod like a 10'6"..the

Shimano Convector seems to be a nice rod for the money but is too limber for the downrigger.