maybe i'm nitpicking, but i don't think i've ever seen a steelhead rod that was not a "blank thru handle" design. the only rods i've seen that aren't like that are the old school pistol grip rods with metal seats, and some offshore trolling sticks.

i know, a little off subject, but there's a lot of guys out there that think if a rod doesn't have an exposed blank reel seat, the blank doesn't go through the handle. not true.

i'm not much of an HMG buff, but i have heard that the techna AV steelhead rods were some of the nicest factory rods ever built. it's really too bad fenwick got bought out by pure fishing and all production was moved to china, and they really cheaped out the steelhead line.