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Started By
Message
Thoughts on quality fly gear and input requested
Posted on 8/8/26 at 2:34 pm
Posted on 8/8/26 at 2:34 pm
I am no genius on this stuff so ya'll's thoughts are welcome here.
My two favoriter rods are a Redington Butterstick 5w 8' and a Hardy Zane Sintrix 9' 5w. I seem to be able to cast well with them. I'm getting used to a TFO classic 8w 9' but not in love with it yet. Have a couple others as well, including an Orvis TFS Flex that I can't seem to get a feel for and an Eagle Claw that casts like a Popsicle stick.
As you can see I'm not brand-allegiant and have cheap, medium, and expensive. I'm looking to have fun here and decompress a bit, not show off to my neighbor.
I notice with shotguns that a price level about $2000-3000 is often the ceiling for functional improvement and prices above that are more for decoration and collectibility or rareness. Is there a ceiling like that for fly rods? I'm guessing something like $500-600?
Also I would love a couple stratosphere rods but Id also be afraid to travel with them for fear of breaking them. Something like a Hardy Marksman and Winston for the bay and gulf (over $1k) and maybe a smaller Thomas maybe 5w or 4w 8'is for the mountains. Thoughts on this?
I may punt and get a similar Hardy Zane 9w that is on sale. I really like how my similar 5w casts. Maybe I just wait for a good year in business and celebrate with a Winston.
I fish the gulf between Pensacola and Mobile, various moutain rivers between Denver and Vail, southern tip of Lake Michigan, occasionally Lake Superior west tip/north shore, looking at some Smokies streams soon. Open to more but this all takes time and money...
My two favoriter rods are a Redington Butterstick 5w 8' and a Hardy Zane Sintrix 9' 5w. I seem to be able to cast well with them. I'm getting used to a TFO classic 8w 9' but not in love with it yet. Have a couple others as well, including an Orvis TFS Flex that I can't seem to get a feel for and an Eagle Claw that casts like a Popsicle stick.
As you can see I'm not brand-allegiant and have cheap, medium, and expensive. I'm looking to have fun here and decompress a bit, not show off to my neighbor.
I notice with shotguns that a price level about $2000-3000 is often the ceiling for functional improvement and prices above that are more for decoration and collectibility or rareness. Is there a ceiling like that for fly rods? I'm guessing something like $500-600?
Also I would love a couple stratosphere rods but Id also be afraid to travel with them for fear of breaking them. Something like a Hardy Marksman and Winston for the bay and gulf (over $1k) and maybe a smaller Thomas maybe 5w or 4w 8'is for the mountains. Thoughts on this?
I may punt and get a similar Hardy Zane 9w that is on sale. I really like how my similar 5w casts. Maybe I just wait for a good year in business and celebrate with a Winston.
I fish the gulf between Pensacola and Mobile, various moutain rivers between Denver and Vail, southern tip of Lake Michigan, occasionally Lake Superior west tip/north shore, looking at some Smokies streams soon. Open to more but this all takes time and money...
This post was edited on 8/8/26 at 2:35 pm
5
Posted on 8/8/26 at 4:25 pm to tadman
Posted on 8/8/26 at 4:55 pm to tadman
I just broke my GRP1000 from Cortland.
It was thirty years old.
It was thirty years old.
Posted on 8/8/26 at 9:21 pm to Taxman2010
quote:
This baw noes what he is talkin bout.
"rods are what you like, it doesnt matter what you pay for it".
Awesome video here. This is why I love my butterstick, it's just a fun rod to cast.
Posted on 8/9/26 at 10:20 am to tadman
I fished a Scott Centric 5wt in Gunnison this summer and it was the best rod Ive ever used. I only fish a couple times a year so its hard for me to really compare but this was the first time I'd fished something new and I was seriously impressed. I asked my very wealthy buddy who brought it for me to borrow how much it cost and he said a thousand bucks. Id only pay something like that if I got to fish at least once a month.
Posted on 8/10/26 at 10:12 am to tadman
If you like your Butterstick, you might look at some of the glass options from Echo (people love the Bad arse Glass, but it's a faster action for a glass rod). From your. preferred rods list, I can't really tell if you like a faster or slower action. I don't have much experience with T&T, Hardy or Winston, but I will say that I can tell a pretty big difference when casting my budget TFO or Lamson rods vs. my son's mid-class Scott rod when throwing big bugs for bass.
Posted on 8/10/26 at 10:41 am to tadman
All the higher end rods are great these days. The Winston air 2 max is incredible. Hardy Zane pros are awesome and can be found for cheap. Loomis NRX+ are great. Sectors are very light on the swing and are great rods. You really can’t go wrong.
Posted on 8/10/26 at 3:00 pm to tadman
Always consider the guarantee, whether lifetime, limited, and cost of replacement. You will break something. I just had to mail my broken section to Hungary.
Posted on 8/10/26 at 4:15 pm to JfromZ
I would also say to be sure to consider SPEED of replacement (especially if you don't have a ton of extra rods). I really like the TFO warranty. Yes, I have to pay like $30 bucks to replace a section of rod if I break one, but I can have it to my house in about 2 business days after breaking it. Compare that to some companies where the warranty replacement might be free, but you might also be without the rod for a month or more by sending it back to them, letting them process the claim, then sending you the rod back.
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