A few hours out yesterday.....

[chesters1 1587]

To be honest, you can pay an awful lot of money for a mass produced high end fly reel, which if anything should be cheaper than a pin.

People were paying orvis prices for intrepid made reels!

[Martin56 338]

To be honest, you can pay an awful lot of money for a mass produced high end fly reel, which if anything should be cheaper than a pin.

Yep' I've seen them for up to & over £600 or so. That's a lot for something that does very little else but store the fly line.

Maybe the legacy from the idea that Fly fishing was a more gentlemanly pastime and who's participants historically enjoyed more disposable income than us mere mortals.

[Tigger 708]

Same high price seems to apply to a lot of fly fishing rods also.

Maybe there is a genuine build cost reason for the high price but I can't fathom out what the reason is.

[Steve Walker 941]

The high end fly rods tend to use fancy materials (though how much difference it makes...) and have fancy fittings, detailing and luggage. But I reckon youre mostly paying for the name.

[Tigger 708]

Yeaph, your probably right Steve.

[Martin56 338]

Many sports/hobbies are now very much "Dressing Up" affairs with stuff "To be seen Wearing & Using" & stuff maybe Not!!

[Vagabond 1021]

Apologies to those who have heard this before,but in my triploid rainbow era I used greenheart fly rods and these new-fangled split-bamboo rods.. Everyone else used high tech carbon fibre plus various exotic additives and made snide remarks about "grandpa's rods" There was unmistakably a culture of one-upmanship about the syndicate I had many rainbows in double figures and up to 21 lb odd and to be fair, most people caught doubles - there was little skill involved apart from playing a strong fish on light gear.

 

Many used lead-headed flies lures. If such a lure hit the carbon rod during their many false casts it produced a weak spot. The next fish that put a decent bend in the rod found that weak spot and the rod snapped - this happened at least three times that I remember and my response each time was to chuckle, shake my head and audibly wonder "why people went in for cheap plastics rods". (they were about £700 a throw last time I ;looked) That left me decidedly one up

[Phone 750]

All,

 

I have to admit, I was never afraid to pay for the reputation and integrity of the maker (somewhat in all things). Also, there was a time I admit, I didn't mind showing off my "stuff". In the US we didn't use camo - we had wearing apparel with patches pointing to our "rod" if you know what I mean

 

Phone

[Phone 750]

All,

 

Fly fishing - in my experience - the world over is a "cult nitch". There seems to be consensus justification for anything you could imagine. Vagabond's story, case in point. Greenheart is hugely expensive to import, 1 in 10 blanks are suitable, harder than a brickbat, and extremely difficult to get used to (IMO And yet, even the "posibility" of an advantage could not be measured in cash money.

 

Phone

 

Steelhead and tarpon reels CAN go well over $1000

[Vagabond 1021]

Greenheart is hugely expensive to import, 1 in 10 blanks are suitable, harder than a brickbat, and extremely difficult to get used to (IMO

I have just checked, and I own nine greenheart rods, in various stages of repair or disrepair, ranging from a spliced-joint salmon Spey rod of 14 ft to a very light Wanless-style spinning rod of some 7 ft. All I have owned for fifty years or more, none were bought new, but acquired for a few shilings when everyone else went crazy over fibre-glass. I suppose the whole lot cost me the equivalent of thirty quid of today's currency. All except the Spey have caught me the fish they were designed for. Yes, they need getting used to, especially the slower action of the larger rods. However, i doubt, at the age of 84, that I will ever use them again, as at long last I find fly-fishing too tiring with all but the lightest rods - I used a ten-foot greenheart wet fly rod until well into my seventies - single-handed - are we men or mice?