MHX 9'0" 8 wt. Native Fly Rod Blank - NF908-4

This is a rod that is growing on me as time is spent with it. I built out the rod with an REC reel seat, ultra select cork rings, titanium fuji strippers and single foot rec recoil running guides.
Let's start with the bad first. At this price point for a made in China blank, I expect a dead straight blank. This one is not. It has an off-spine cant that pitches to the left. I see it every time I put the rod together and site down the guides. Tho it doesn't have a noticeable consistent effect on casting that I'm aware of, at this price point for an import rod, I expect a little tighter QC.
Now for the good. I built this as a backup on a recent Bahamas trip. I paired it with Rio Elite Bonefish Pro and a Tibor Everglades. I intended on using my Sage Xi2 as my primary rod, but I kept reaching for this one and ended up fishing it more. I have better loop control and therefore better presentation with this rod. It isn't super powerful like some of the others I've used but it recovers nice and dampens well on everything under 80 feet. Because of this, it fishes really well. This isn't the longest casting blank that I have but I think it may be the best for fishing. Yes dumping the fly line is possible with ideal conditions but that isn't this rod's forte, with the Rio line everything has to be timed just perfect and too much power will cause the rod to be slightly soft. However, when fishing, I rarely am making a 100 foot plus cast. Having it hit a small window at a tailing fish from 30 to 60 feet and this is when this blank shines.
Bottom line, I've already ordered another 6 wt Native blank. If this one performs like the 8, I will probably add the 7 and 9 to complete the quiver.

If this blank was straight, this would be a 5 star all the way. As it sits, it is a 3.5 star (I gave it 4 because the performance). For personal use it's more than acceptable, but as a former rod builder with over 1000 units sold, I'd have to discount if I missed this prior to starting the build. I will be checking better going forward.