ejpaul1

Howdy all. I am a fly fishermen and I have been using a phleuger 2 peice 4/5 rod for three years now and I would like something else. I looked at kirks fly shop up in estes park (my favorite fly shop) and they had a 2 piece sage launch for 170. Now I graduate in three weeks and my wife admitted that she wants to get me a good fly rod for a graduation presentation that will last a lifetime. Sage has what seems to be the best warranty in the business. WOuld you choose a sage, or a st croix? I like sage but it is considerably more.

Also, has anyone here ever built thier own fly rod from a blank?
EJ

Guss

Building your own rod is not going to save you all that much money, by the time you get set up and all. Plus the warranty is only good on the blank and you have to ship it back to them striped down.

As far as rods go Sage is a vary good rod, I have a 8.5 ft #5 SLT, what a rod. They are alittle expensive, but I get em at cost. I have fished with both a sage, cant think of the name but it is comparable to the launch, and a St Croix Avid, both were nice rods and for the price I dont think you could go wrong. I like my sage better then the ST. Croix because it is alot lighter, but it still has all kinds of power.

Last year I fished with a Orvis silver lable and I thought it was also a good lower priced rod (its funny that I call a $200 rod "lower priced"). They also have a vary good warranty, and I have heard from a few people that you cant beat their customer service.

If you are looking for a rod around $150-200 any of the name brand rods will work just fine. They are all different but once you fish with one for a while you get accustomed to it.

Hope this helped,what will your degree be in?

ejpaul1

B.S.B.A. business administration. OOOOH! I cant wait for that nonsesne to be over with. Sheesh, my profs are making everything way harder than it needs to be. Yeah, I'd like a new rod, I really dont think I would use it enough to justify 170 bucks. I dont think we got the dough for it right now anyway. We'll see. EJ

Guss

Well once you are a Business administrator you can buy all the rods you want, the only problem is you wont have the time to use them, or maybe you will make time.

Good luck and congradulations.

Soilarch

ej, I don't have much personal experience at all but like you I'm in college and money isn't exactly plentiful. So I've done alot of reading on which rods are the highest dollor:quality/performance. One piece of information that eased my worries alot is that even the cheap graphite rods made today will outperform the best graphite rods of 20 years ago. (Fiberglass...[&:] and trust me, you don't want to talk about bamboo until you've been a B.A a looooong time)

So, get a cheap rod ($100-200) with a some type of warranty and go at it. It should still last a lifetime and by the time you want to upgrade again you'll know exactly what you're looking for in your next rod.

Champlain Islander

Get the sage and it will last you a lifetime. A few dollars more but the payback will be every time you use it for the rest of your life.

ejpaul1

Have you ever heard of elkhorn rods? They make them right down the street from where I live, literally. The reviews seem pretty good, but they are a small company. Been around since the early 90's.

Champlain Islander

Sorry I never heard of them.

mustad

As usual, CI has said everything that needs to be said.

Cheers,

ejpaul1

So you like sage mustad? I did look at the elkhorn rods and they are better for the money than the sage launch and FLI series. Sage is awesome, I think that they are big enough now that your paying alot for the name. Yeah, seeing sage on your rig is cool, but I got fish to catch! As well, I need a breakdown rod and the traveler from elkhorn is a 4 piece with tube and the action and finish are way better than the comparable launch or FLI. Just my observance. EJ