In defense of cheap equipment

[Hound]

I guess I must be different from some flyfishers. I just can't justify paying 400 bucks for a flyrod. It's not that I can't afford it, I have spent more than that on books for school. I just can't understand why a rod could cost so much. Are they enchanted with a magic spell that will make your flies irresitible to Trout? I hope not. You can't really do anything else with a flyrod besides fish. It doesn't open cans or keep a beer cold, so I really don't understand. Sure, they may use some exotic wood from africa in the seat or use advanced high modulus graphite, but does this mean more fish in the creel. Not necessarily. I guess I'll have to be content fishing Ga streams with my "cheap gear". You should have seen the guy's face at the Fish Hawk when I asked him to spool my new 4wt DT line on my old Martin 60 reel. I'm sure he got a good chuckle. Oh well. As long as my cheap rod and reel catch fish I'm satisfied. However, one cannot put a price on technique and experience. Those things cannot be bought, only learned and perfected. Just some food for thought.

Hound

[BUDMAN]

Right on Hound equipment is not now and never will be a subsititute for technique. I fished for two years with a $20 outfit from k-mart and even though I now have one quality outfit I still use an old fibergl****rod and martin reel when the situation calls for it. However if I run across a rod that will keep my beer cold i'm gonna buy it.

[Loren]

Hound,

There's no question that you get results with your "cheap" equipment (although the rod I saw you with was not cheap - just a good value).

I recently used a friend's rod while he was showing me a double-haul. His rod was a lot less work than mine. To check this, I tried a GL3 Loomis and found it to be more efficient than mine as well. An upgrade for me would mean less work on the creek.

Loren

[David Edens]

Technique is essential.....However, a quality rod will make casting easier, more enjoyable, and will enable you to catch more fish because you will be able to fish places you might not be able to reach with a lower modulus graphite or fibergl****rod. As Birddog says, "You can go places in a Landrover you can't go in a Yugo."

To quote the September/October issue of "Rodmaker Magazine", "For any given stiffness, a lighter rod will dampen quicker, transmit vibrations better, cast farther and reduce fatigue on the angler. That is why fibergl****outperforms bamboo and why graphite outperforms fiberglass."

That is why the higher modulus, more expensive graphite rods outperform the lower modulus, less expensive rods.

Unfortunately, the R&D required to develop the high modulus graphite and resins required to construct these rods is very expensive. For the GLX, RPLX and similar rods, that is what you are paying for. The graphite is a small proportion of the cost.

Now for an answer to the expense problem. When these manufacturers produce blanks, many of them are not straight enough to p****their rigid quality control. They are very castable and have essentially the same qualities of the first quality blanks. Fortunately the seconds are available. I build rods on these blanks, and they are all I and many of my friends fish with now. The rods are built to a higher finish level than the comparable commercially built rod, and cost about half as much. Or if you want, you can build the rod yourself and save even more.

If you want more info, send me an e-mail at DavidEdens@AOL.com. Or give me a call. I am in information for Athens, GA.