And you know what they say about opinions.
Rrrriiiigggghhhhtttt. Cabelas Stowaway and XST fly rods. Fine wine. Rolls Royce. Gucci. Ives St. Laurant. Mobile homes, deBeers diamonds. Can you guess which one’s don’t belong?
RS1, that made me laugh out loud!
Tight Lines,
Deke
[url=http://www.smileyhut.com:aea61]
[/url:aea61]
[quote=“dudley”]
I think that happened about 10 years ago Bob 8)[/quote]
I take it you havent used the Sage ZXL!!
You are right, people wanting to support conservation are paying too much <sarcasm>
SUCK UP! 
I decided a long time ago I don’t want children, so I am not even going to describe where I live LOL
[/quote]
Lemme guess, I forget the city name but it is where Jans Mountainshop is? Went through their to take my uncle fly fishing up in the hills on the provo. Not impressed. Was dessert for being up in ski resort territory.
I am low income and live in the pines within a 100 yards to a hour of the famous: Upper sac, McCloud, Pit, Hat, lower sac,Klammath. Your crib probably is a couple hundred times nicer than mine tho 
I am low income and live in the pines within a 100 yards to a hour of the famous: Upper sac, McCloud, Pit, Hat, lower sac,Klammath.
Hey Nympher,
Looks like Dad, err, Pete, has already kicked me out of the house on account of being a lazy bum. Even though he has continued to give me fatherly advise.
Fly Goddess seems too smart to take me on as a project.
Looks like it’s you and me. Check out my resume. I’ll eat all the food, drink the beer and gladly offer to pay half the bills. I won’t actually pay anything, but I’ll gladly offer.
What ya say?
Jeff
[quote=“nympher”]
You are right, people wanting to support conservation are paying too much <sarcasm>[/quote]
If you want to support conservation. Write a check.
In the case of the Orvis rod. Orvis is the one giving the support, and I give them all the credit.
My Gatti 905 FRHP is under 2 oz, and as fast as a TCR.
In the new Fly Rod and Reel magazine, it states that the Helio 9’6wt 4pc weighs 2 1/4 oz. and the 9’ 8wt @ 2 oz. (assuming this is a 2 pc.)
It has crush proof guides which is nice but on a $750+ rod, I don’t think those guides are going to come that close to anything that could crush them. BUT, it is an unconditional 25 yr warrenty so what the heck.
They are sweet, if you get a chance, test drive one.
should always test drive…whats so wrong with just trying it??
Besides getting the rod in your hands and falling in love with it on the spot, Then spending the 700 something bones it costs. and having to hide it from significant unit.
[quote=“nympher”]
[quote=dudley]
…8)[/quote]
I take it you havent used the Sage ZXL!![/quote]
No I haven’t. Actually, I can’t even find that model on Sage’s website. Nonetheless, I love all the new technologies and developments that have improved fly rods over the years and I love trying out new rods and buying some of them. Honestly though, I must admit that I went through a phase when I just
HAD to have the latest and greatest. But I’m kind of over that now. Kind of. But I do have a couple of rods that I tend to use all the time for trout fishing - a Sage XP 9’ 4 piece 4 wt. and a Sage RPL+ 9’ 4 piece 6 wt. Boy I love that RPL+.
I guess what I was trying to say in the quote above was this. Say a manufacturer, with the help of some divine intervention, produced a rod that would cast any distance, short or long, with pin point accuracy and finesse, despite the casting abilities of the angler. Most of us would buy one and never have to buy another rod again. I know this is all just silliness and sophistry. Maybe my point is that incremental improvements, though cool, aren’t enough reason to change what’s been working well for you. After awhile, of course, a number of small advances amount may something pretty significant. All this from a guy who’s got about 40+ rods up in his fun room. YMMV.
Bob
BTW, I think Orvis rods have been unfairly trashed over the years. IMHO, they’ve always made an excellent product. They may not suit everyone, but that doesn’t mean they’re not first rate.
I understand that rod companies think they need to have ‘advancements’ every year to try to sell rods. They want us to ‘believe’ that it ‘matters’ if they change the flex of a rod, or make it lighter.
Problem is, I no longer believe. I think they are wrong, it’s not needed, it’s not productive, and it’s a gigantic waste of time and treasure.
The weight savings are now measured in fractions of fractions of an ounce. The weight of the backing on the reel, another three or four less layers of it, will give you the same ‘weight savings’ now. Taper and ‘action’ are personal choices.
It’s only a fishing rod. At some point, enough is enough. How ‘good’ does it have to be?
Is the ratio to the level of real, useable, fishing related ‘improvement’ to the high cost really ‘worth it’? Most of the ‘cost’ is in the R&D and the advertising (the materials in the ‘highest’ cost rods are way less than $50).
We are all still catching fish. Heck, all the ‘old’ rods I have still cast okay if I do my part.
What I want to see from the rod manufacturing companies is this:
Lighter, to a point. We are there NOW Fly rods don’t ‘need’ to be any lighter than they are now. I don’t want fly fishermen to be expected to ‘pay’ for hundreds of millions of dollars of research and developement to save 1/10 of an ounce.
Stronger. I don’t want an ‘unconditional warranty’ that we all ‘pay for’ in the initial price. I want them to build a stronger rod that won’t break under normal fishing conditions. If I slam it in a trunk lid or run the tip into the ground, my bad, my expense. Now, with this ‘unconditional warranty’ crap, if they build them fragile, they can just ‘replace’ them…while we ‘pay’ for it (That $40-$80 ‘fee’ covers the actual materials cost of the rod). Rather than trying to build a rod that’s a fraction lighter, why not build one that weighs the SAME but is close to unbreakable? THAT, I’d pay for…
Cheaper. Rather than trying to build new and improved models each year that aren’t needed, do larger productions and work on cost effective procedures that will bring the prices of the current ‘top end’ rod down. Spread that R&D cost over a longer period, and the cost of rods will go down. If you have a good rod, folks will buy it, even if it’s not a ‘new this year’ model rod.
THAT is what the industry needs. If they did that, they’d actually make more money in the long run, we’d have great rods at decent prices, and we wouldn’t have to deal with all this ‘NEW! NEW! NEW! WE ARE GREAT! LOOK AT ME!’ crap every season.
So, while I’m sure some folks are ‘pleased’ that Orvis is making a new rod, I’m just disgusted with the whole thing.
Don’t show me your new rod, show me the fish you can catch…one says something about your judgement or your pocket book, about either of which I couldn’t care less. The other says something about your skills, which are earned, actually MEAN something, and are worthy of respect.
Good Luck!
Buddy
What is the big deal? One person may have disposeable income of $200 for a rod someone else may have $800 in their budget. I say let them get an appropriate rod, go fishing, and be happy! New technology is a good thing. It trickles down. The height of the graphite technology has nothing to do with the price of a bamboo rod that weighs several times as much as graphite yet costs more, and are still in demand. $800 is considered cheap for a cane rod!
This is America, you can do whatever you want to. It’s your money! (What’s left after taxes, that is.)
Greg
Has everyone for got that every company that puts out that $600+ rod ALSO makes the $200. line
I know Orvis does. Don’t buy the HYPE Buddy, I don’t know why you get disgusted. There is the Clearwater, then there is the Matrix or what ever it is called now, and then the superfine…all before you hit $500. All are great rods.
You are absolutly right not to care what anyone else supports, I don’t care either 8)
Have you all noticed also, that a post about a rod under the $200 mark gets a few replies, but mention the big dollar and “DING, DING, DING - WE HAVE A WINNER” :lol:
FG,
That’s what makes is fun.
None of this matters, really, but I do like having the forum to ‘spout off’ where it’s about something that ISN’T important.
Beauty of the internet.
Buddy
I can see where you’re coming from… :lol:
WAIT A SECOND HERE!!! WHO "has money left after taxes!??!
Fly Goddess’s earlier post was right on. It’s all about feel. I love my new Z-Axis. lol.