High $ rods

[jdmidwest]

What kind of rod did you wear the guides out on? I assume you are talking about the tip guide, not the snake guides.

[Rolan Duffield]

I'm referring to all of the guides. You will normally find the greatest wear at the top inside of the guides as well as the tip guide.

Rolan

[jdmidwest]

I see, I read a little closer. Cheap rods with chrome guides do wear out fast. Same goes with spinning rods, chrome sucks, just a thin coat of metal on softer metal. Just another way to cut corners. Not many rod makers use chrome any more.

[Greg]

Rolan your comment about wearing out chrome guides surprises me. I use one rod 90% of the time and fly fish at least once a week - sometimes more. Yet I've never worn out a set of guides. I've been using my current favorite rod for about 2 years now. It's probably seen at least 100 days of action as a conservative estimate. It has plain old hard chromed snakes. I don't see that the guides are worn at all.

Not doubting you. Just surprised. I was always told the hard chromed guides held up pretty well. Maybe they make them better than they used to?

Greg

[Guest flyfishBDS]

Best reply I heard (and It might have been Beeson) to the wife/high dollar question was ask her how many times she's been to the hair/nail salon in the past year how much a visit. You will be in front

I can't tell you how may times Ive been asked this question, are high dollar rods worth it. After all they all do the job, even those hideous $20 wallyworld special with that crap fencing wire flyline on it.

Ok I sell Sage and TFO, (No commission) but I get to test cast a lot of brands as I write a gear column for NZ and Australia's biggest FF magazine.

There are no bad rods over $200.

Under $200 there are some very nice rods _ from real FF companies. The only crap Ive cast comes from some big box, general tackle or a clothing maker pretending to be a fly company.

So why not buy $200 rods instead of rods 3 or 4 times as much?

One the more expensive rods generally do work better, but a lot depends on the individual. Generally its not necessarily going to mean a whole bunch more distance, but its going to be smoother, easier to do what you do. I add mostly

Generally you will find them lighter and a lot lighter than the cheaper models, which usually translates to a sweeter feel in the hand. Again Mostly

The question really is what is that extra worth to you.

Now its too easy to say only rich folks with no idea of fly fishing are the ones buying expensive rods. Its a cop out, I know several customers driving beatup trucks that deserve a good burial so they can keep buying topline rods.

Similarly for status. I wear/cast Sage a lot, part of the job, and its never got me groupies, extra cash or anything useful. LOL Neither has my TFO collection. So so much for status

I bought my first Sage back in Oz (when I was earning a very nice salary) but in relative terms it cost me about what an SLT would cost your average American fly fisher $500. That was what an ENTRY LEVEL US-made rod would cost us, a Z AXIS now I think is around A$1300 so no whining to me about rod costs, we get it good in this country. LOL

Back to the point.

For me if the the purchase of good fly fishing equipment, apart from having great tools, if it says anything its about your priorities and commitment.

I don't fish any other way, I don't play golf, drink in moderation, don't need to buy fancy suits ties etc for my job, live in a tiny apartment, work hard to buy the stuff I want. I can choose between another lens for my camera or a new rod or reel. That might be a TFO or a Sage, a Tibor or a Ross Worldwide, I need the camera but hell new rods are more fun. Anyway you get to make the choice, its a free world.

I want you to walk out of my shop happy _ that's the fun part of my job. You get what you want and what you need, according to your budget, taste fishing styles and so on.

Cheers

Stev4e

[Rolan Duffield]

Greg:

It's good that you checked your fly rod guides. You have to look very closely at the top inside of the guide to see if their are any fine ridges caused by the fly line traveling through the guides. Many of todays fly lines are much improved over those used in past years. If you have a problem of fly lines wearing out, be sure to check those guides.

I haven't used chrome guides for over 20 years. I prefer the Fuji Hardloy guides which do not wear. Also, their is a Titanium Carbide metal guide that should not wear under normal use.

Rolan

[Greg]

Rolan

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep checking. I've often wondered why even the high end production rods usually come with plain old hard chromed guides? My favorite rod is custom built (not by me) and even though I haven't had any problems I wish now that I had specified tich (titanium) coated guides.

Greg

[Guest flyfishBDS]

OK, now the case for the cheaper rods

As well as my Sages, I have rods from Redington, St Croix Pro, Penn and of course a bunch of TFOs as I mentioned and back in Oz a couple of local rod brands and a very nasty Abu LOL ( a big box bargain I couldn't but should have passed up)

There are a bunch of reasons to buy cheaper rod most of which are practical the you can have your cake and eat it too reasoning:

You can have one now rather than saving

You can get more rod weights

They are easier to justify to the Home Finance Department.

The $250to $400 range (outside the cheapie bracket) has some amazing rods Sage Fli&VT2 have some amazing offerings TFO TiCRX, Redington CPS, Scott E2 Loomis, St Croix Avids (new ones actually are way nicer than the old model). For a while a lot of these rods in this range was basically recycled technology. St Croix,Redington then TFO lifted the standard and the higher end makers got serious and now we are getting some great performing and while still expensive some very good value rods here, compared to the top end.

Around the $200 bracket you can get into the Sages/higher end TFOs/Redington Wayfarer/better St Croixs etc. Some nice rods here. Good upgrade rods or first rods for those with a slightly higher budget. There is the occassional gem the TiCRs from TFO, some of the Launches, Wayfarer 5) but a lot of the other stuff in this price bracket gets a little mundane. Not much difference in action _ but you will find they are nice casting, moderate action, pretty user friendly rods. Load them with a good line and they will serve you well.

Up to $150 TFO-Echo-Redington seems to be the standouts from the stuff Ive cast across the board, with the first two ahead of Redington. Outside the first two I think you really have to cast your way through the model you want. A lot of inconsistency in some brands one 9'5wt will be a lot different to the next 9' 5wt _ quality control lower I guess, you could buy a great rod a good rod or a crap rod depending on which one you pick up off BrandXs rack. Part of the issues of nonFF people making rods/outfits - for instance I ordered in a few different rod brands to test head to head when we seached for the best under $200 rods a couple of years back. One cheap outfit arrived in the box with the flyline mounted on the reel - Backwards. Needless to say they aren't in our range.

For me personally I have several under $250 rods to fill certain niches.

I have one of the old Murphy Wayfarers, sweet dry fly action still and while it doesn'tr come out of the closet much is a favorite. This was purchased when I was on a supertight budget having given up rela employment and was working as a fly fishing writer, basically travelling a lot.

Ive been buying the TFOs as niche fillers for seldom used lighter dry fly rods I have the Pro series 7'6" 3wt and 8'6" 4wt. Both these respond for me with the right lines. Funnily enough I actually think the 7' 3wt $99 TFO is a sweeter stick _ big brother to the FANTASTIC 6' 2wt in that Series One. These two could sellfor twice the price at least _ both are tempting me.

I also love fast action sticks and I picked up the 9'4wt and 9'6wt TiCRs late last year, as stepping up to that action would have meant a $700 TCR (great rod but again I have to justify purchasing) Both of these have really done the jobs I wanted and I was able to buy them and use them without saving.

Again the choice is yours which way you go. The fun is casting all these rods.

Cheers

Steve

[ozarkriverrat]

When you start getting into higher-end rods you need to cast them. Have you done that to all of them??? Which one do you like better?? Problem solved.

[Motor City]

I guess being single has afforded me the opportunity to buy a bunch of gear over the years. I have owned an inexpensive BPS setup, an Orvis Clearwater, built a Winston and broke it, a couple of Scott G series rods (older versions), I now own a Sage zero weight, Temple Fork 2 wt, a 6' cane rod (3 wt), and my main workhorse a Powell TiMax 9' 5 wt and a 9wt that I built myself. You can get into any sort of mental state that you want to thinking the more expensive the rod or even reel, the better they are and the more fish you will catch. In my opinion, the G series were the best rods I ever owned and I kick myself for selling them, and they can be pricy to pick up. Sage of course makes great rods, and I fished a friends Sage Launch 9' 5 wt. It was awesome and light, and cast like a dream. And it did not set back his girlfriend too much in the checkbook when she bought it for him. My advice is to try different rods out if at all possible and shop around for what you like. I have found numerous deals on an ever popular auction site and as a matter of fact it is where I have bought every rod except the Orvis. Do your homework and you will find something to fit your needs. Would I pay 600 bucks for a fly rod? Not only no, but hell no!! Do I run the risk of breaking a rod and not having a warranty if I buy it used, sure I do. Most times people never fill out the warranty card and they pass them along at the time of sale. I hope some of this helps!