A Tale of Two Rods

[sgrim]

I recently put together a 6 weight outfit on the cheap. My collection had a hole between 5 and 7 and I wanted a 6 weight that I knew I'd probably only fish a couple times a year on some warm water trips. My goal was to not over-invest.

I started with a very serviceable Cortland reel (red; click & pawl) from eBay... $19 with shipping, and 15 minutes with steel wool to clean up some rust on the frame. A $9 dollar Aventik line from Amazon offends my senses but seemed consistent with my plan. Using Amex points, I picked up a $46 Maxcatch rod for nothing. The whole outfit cost slightly more than a tank of gas.

The other night I took it on its maiden voyage to a pond at a local park.
Pulling into the lot I met a guy coming off the pond, carrying a new Recon/Hydros combo. I was immediately envious, and then embarrassed by my bargain-basement setup. I over-explained the situation. Then he went on to show the same level of embarrassment about the amount of money he'd spent on his gear, over-explaining apologetically for his ostentatious display of wealth. (/s) He told me about a a nice largemouth he'd caught and we moved on.
I later caught exactly one decent bass in the same spot he'd mentioned. Same fish, same water, drastically different quality gear.

The downside is that the cheap rig now has me rethinking everything I thought I knew about rods. This thing is 1/10th the cost of some of the other rods I own and I'm questioning whether I even notice a difference. I know there's no warranty to speak of, but considering the low cost I don't really care much about that. The line was not as bad as I expected. I'll upgrade that another time, but for my purposes it was fine.

 

[Prospector]

Your plan is a good one. The vast majority of my fly rods were about $100. The price of my rods has no impact on the number of fish I catch. I don’t break light tippets and I have no trouble landing large fish. My rods are very versatile.

Over dinner at Kettle in June we had this very conversation. Everyone knew what rods I use and I said that I never used a Sage but I can’t imagine that it would allow me to catch more fish. That was pretty much the consensus at the table. I did say the sage might have had superior guides that would allow line to travel a little further and possibly reach a fish that’s out of range otherwise. Otherwise I see no advantage.

 

[Canoetripper]

I have some nice fly rod reel/combos that I have inherited with my father's and grandfather's passings. I try to fish with them all on my fly fishing trips to the Poconos.

My father had a Sage Graphite III 486 LL 8'6" 4 wt. mid-flex /Galvin Reel. I like it. I am pretty sure that it was manufactured back in the 1980's. I also have his Orvis T3, same weight, line, and flex. Trout Unlimited sent this to him when he became a life member.

I did send my father a 8' 6" Orvis Limestoner Special which is a 6 wt. rod for a Christmans present many years ago(guessing 1988/1989), that included a Battenkill click & pawl fly reel. I know that that has been discontinued, but I still fish with it. I am sure that all of you can understand why I want to relive the memories that I had with my father and grandfather, which is why I have all of their fly fishing tackle.

I am sure that all of these rods have been discontinued as well as that Galvin reel. I have never fished with the T3.

I did send my grandfather's Orvis Battenkill bamboo fly rod to Art Weiler in Kunckletown, and he did a great job refinishing that for me but I haven't fished with it yet. I don't want to break it while I am getting better with my other fly rods.

I totally agree that the trout one is fishing for has no idea or even cares about what rod/reel combo an angler is using trying to fish for them.

I have upgraded to some other rod/reel combos that I use since I fish pretty big water and can use a 9" 5 wt. for streamer fishing which is what I do the most.