I had a 9' 2 piece 5# tied up for me while I was gone and havent tried it yet, still waiting on a reel and line.

It feels pretty good, I put next to a 5# sage discovery series and the Rainshadow feels like its a little faster action.

It only cost me $125 so if its decent I cant complain. If its quality is anything like the other rainshadow blanks It should be a good quality fly rod.

Any expierienced fly fisherman fish one of these yet Id like to what you think about them.

Thanks.

Hey Rich,

I haven't yet, but I've got two kits, a 10' 7wt and a 9' 9wt at home, haven't found the time to build them. I can't wait to try them out, though!

-N.

Rich G

I had the opportunity to cast a rainshadow a couple months ago. There was nothign wrong with it, I just did not like it. To me it felt a lot like a loomis or a lamiglas. The problem with manufacturers who make mostly gear rods but want some fly rods is that they approach fly rod desighn the way they approach gear rod designs. Because of this all their rods feel about the same.
It is my opinion that a rainshadow would be as good as a loomis or a lamiglas or a low end sage so why spend the extra money for a low end sage. I say either buy top of the line rod from a fly rod manufacturer or buy the cheapest decent rod you can find.

It might be an EGO thing as I usually buy what my pocket book will allow. So far the most I've spent on a rod is 215.00 but that was about 7 years ago. They've gone up since then. Jim S.

It should work for trout.

I don't want to debate this topic too much but I can catch more fish with a high quality rod or at the very least do it more effectivly. Many fly anglers have not had the opportunity to refine the skills to the point where the qualities of a high end rod become appareant.

Tiger woods for example can play a great game of golf with any old clubs but I bet he does better with less effort with his own clubs which I would imagine are extremely expensive. My point is that there are anglers who can do more with better equipment.

Would beg to differ RA3. I used to own some cane rods (Leonard, Orvis)and didn't see a marked drop-off when going to graphite.....but I did look cooler

We have been building a ton of fly rods this spring/summer~~~~ all Rainshadow blanks.

I have been fishing the RX8 905 for shad this month and feel it is every bit as good as any rod I have casted..
I have als been fishing the RX8 and RX7 in a 904 (9' 4wt) for river trout and once again love it!

I will have my demo fly rods for sale here in a week or so.. RX8 904, RX8 905 and a few in the RX7 modes as well. all with SicTi guides...

I also have 4-6 made up that I have not been able to fish yet... RX8 904, 905, 906

I've got one that TH made up for me (it's a gorgeous tie), but unfortunately, I never got a chance to fish it this spring before we headed north. It IS going to get a workout this fall though, I'm always excited to try new stuff! I'll post some feedback after I've given it a shot