Some of fly rod costs are caught up in the components. A lot of people don't realize #20 recoil stripping guide retails for $15, quality cork is in the $30 range, double foot snake guides that have a decent finish are several dollars each. Reel seats can get pricy. It's easy to spend $100 on components and then glue them onto a $50 blank.

As for the prepreg, I have my doubts. I've built and repaired enough rods at this point in my life to have the opinion that most rods are relatively close in raw material quality. I have some 8wt and 10wt rods built on IM7 blanks that were $45/each and they cast every bit as well as some of the trendy thousand dollar sticks.

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Posted by Gtmodawg

PNW

Member since Dec 2019

4580 posts

Posted on 4/22/20 at 5:47 pm to HotKoolaid

quote:
As for the prepreg, I have my doubts. I've built and repaired enough rods at this point in my life to have the opinion that most rods are relatively close in raw material quality. I have some 8wt and 10wt rods built on IM7 blanks that were $45/each and they cast every bit as well as some of the trendy thousand dollar sticks.

This absolutely the truth. There ain't a lot of blank manufacturers in the world....the odds are pretty good that the $100 rod is the same blank made to the same specs in the same plant as the $1000 one....when a name goes on it can make a big impact on the price. The various components are the same way....and then the level of finish adds up.....I bet that most people who have ever rolled a rod of their own can go to MudHole and buy the components of a $1000 rod for $300 and do as good a job with some effort at assembling it....and walk away with a product he more or less built himself and the pride that goes along with. Reels are another story....but most fly reels are wayyyyy overbuilt and overpriced....

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