I am planning on building a 4 wt glass rod for the smaller creeks and streams in my area, thinking 7' to 7' 6"-ish. I am looking at cheap blanks for this one, can anyone tell me what blanks have been good for them? I have seen Aventik, getbent, bloke, and moonlit blanks, what do people like and are there others I should consider?

I have built 3 get bent 6'6" 3wts and all have been true to weight and fish nicely, I just purchased an Aventik 3wt (for myself) and it's more of a 4wt but haven't gotten to fish it yet. If I build another short rod I'm going to try the Proof blanks. No experience w/Proof blanks, the Aventik fit/finish looks good for such a cheap price, Get Bents aren't perfect but certainly acceptable fit/finish. Bought some cheap China blanks from an e-bayer in Wyoming and won't be buying anymore, crude and overweight by a couple line wts.

Has anyone built one of the blanks from Ye Olde English fly shop in Florida? I've been considering either a 3 or 4 wt. I am curious about the mention of carbon helix core?
Here's some information from their online description:

We have just added a new line of Olde Fly Shop series Fiber Glass fly rod blanks to our rod building section.
They are constructed of Uni- direction fiber glass with carbon helix core and slip-over ferrules. The advantage of this is to reduce the weight of the blanks and also increase the strength of the blank compared to the traditional scrim construction. These blanks have great performance, smooth casting and accurate action.

Oldschoolcane:
I have a rod built for me by preast on the Olde English Fly Shop blank. When I first read of the carbon helical core, I would have expected a fast, stiff blank. My rod was built on a blank described as a 2 weight on the Olde English website. Randy (preast) built one for himself, but then had to build 4 more, as several of us decided we had to have one. Although listed as a 2 weight, we find it casts very well with a 1 weight, perhaps more accurately with a 1.5 weight, like an Orvis Superfine or Barrio Small Stream WF1 line. Of the five rods he has built on this blank, he reported to me that the blanks have been consistently straight, weight and other dimensions equal.

Larry

This is very interesting, Larry. I have the Proof Lantern already but may try a Olde English blank as well? Just curious enough to try it.
Matt, the Lantern blank is just great although I haven't built it up yet. Jigsup the Olde English blank has graphite scrim its not entirely a graphite blank.


Tim