How much would you pay???

[bullet]

And trout anglers pay considerable amounts for Sage and Hardy fly rods,snobbery,or belief that everything that costs more is better,rightly or wrongly is there,unless you can pick up these rods to give them a waggle I wouldn't buy one,because they have to be right for you,whatever they are for...

Don't forget, Fly Tax is even more than Carp Tax.
I was in a shop recently looking for some tippet and they started pulling out all this Rio stuff, £32 for 100 metres!
I think I'll just stick to Supplex....

 

[John Aston]

Don't forget, Fly Tax is even more than Carp Tax.
I was in a shop recently looking for some tippet and they started pulling out all this Rio stuff, £32 for 100 metres!
I think I'll just stick to Supplex....

Indeed - I used to use Rio Grand Max which was cripplingly expensive - but very, very good. Then I noticed that Reflo Powerline was just as thin, every bit as strong and cost 20% of the price...

 

[108831]

Blimey,they are only trout,I found Drennan double strength the best,outshining all the stuff that was crowed about...

 

[steve2]

Would I pay £500 or more for a carbon carp rod or any carbon rod knowing that the next must have is already in production, No.
Would I be willing to pay the same or more for a hand made cane carp rod, yes, simply because I see them as better value and could say investment.
But then again I am beginning to fall in love once again with cane rods they just look right to me.

 

[John Aston]

Blimey,they are only trout,I found Drennan double strength the best,outshining all the stuff that was crowed about...

Only trout ? Odd isn't it , how experiences differ ? I found Drennan Double Strength very unreliable for my flyfishing on overgrown streams . Not as bad as the bloody awful but much lauded Stroft though

 

[sam vimes]

This kind of thread always baffles me. Why do so many people care how other folks choose to spend their money? Do people rail against Chinese food because they happen to not like it? Doesn't half the population live in houses that are far bigger than they really need and drive cars with far greater capabilities (speed, size, off-road etc) than they'll ever utilize? Do the folks that endlessly whine about the folly of expensive tackle moan at their friends and family if they have a flash car or big house? I rather suspect not, so what's the difference? As obvious displays of wealth go, flash cars and big houses go way beyond a geeky loner owning expensive fishing rods.

Plenty of you have strong negative opinions about expensive rods. However, most seem to based on nothing more than a price tag. "I can't see how it can be better" is the popular cry. How the hell you know when you've not even used the thing you are passing judgement on is a mystery. Another standard is "a five hundred quid rod isn't five times better than a hundred quid one". That's true enough, retail pricing has never given you linear improvements, and never will. If you double a retail price and get a 33% improvement in a product you are doing rather well. That's simply how retail pricing works.

Fishing gear is my one and only extravagance in life. I'm not remotely wealthy, don't have a big house, flash car or go on holidays every few months. I don't want, or need any of those things. Some of you lot really need to give your heads a wobble. You just come across as bitter, jealous and sometimes a little spiteful. Live your lives as you wish, but allow others the same grace.

Only trout ? Odd isn't it , how experiences differ ? I found Drennan Double Strength very unreliable for my flyfishing on overgrown streams . Not as bad as the bloody awful but much lauded Stroft though

I think we may have shared notes on Double Strength before. However, I wasn't aware that you shared my intense dislike of Stroft. I always thought I was on my own with that one.

 

[bullet]

Yep, it is odd, I can't abide double strength either, but have a friend who swears by it....

 

[108831]

Didn't say I particularly like it,but the trout seemed to....

 

[108831]

This kind of thread always baffles me. Why do so many people care how other folks choose to spend their money? Do people rail against Chinese food because they happen to not like it? Doesn't half the population live in houses that are far bigger than they really need and drive cars with far greater capabilities (speed, size, off-road etc) than they'll ever utilize? Do the folks that endlessly whine about the folly of expensive tackle moan at their friends and family if they have a flash car or big house? I rather suspect not, so what's the difference? As obvious displays of wealth go, flash cars and big houses go way beyond a geeky loner owning expensive fishing rods.

Plenty of you have strong negative opinions about expensive rods. However, most seem to based on nothing more than a price tag. "I can't see how it can be better" is the popular cry. How the hell you know when you've not even used the thing you are passing judgement on is a mystery. Another standard is "a five hundred quid rod isn't five times better than a hundred quid one". That's true enough, retail pricing has never given you linear improvements, and never will. If you double a retail price and get a 33% improvement in a product you are doing rather well. That's simply how retail pricing works.

Chris,we have talked of this before,if the rod was worth the price tag and brilliant I wouldn't moan,in recent years I have picked up many top of the range float rods(something I feel is worth paying more for if they are good),very few are worth half the price being asked imo,weight and diameter of the blank have no point if the actions aren't what the angler wants,everyone to their own,but you can't buy success in angling...

 

[John Aston]

As Sam said , it's a personal thing .For years I owned a hopelessly impractical , leaky , cramped and very noisy car sports car which cost me well over 30k . By any common sense standard it was useless - and doubtless many folk thought I'd have been better off with a sensible hatchback . One of many reasons why I loved it so much .

I am not rich, but I occasionally blow 30 quid on my favourite red wine - doubtless to the horror of modern day Cromwells who think a tenner is too much . Am I bothered ? Nah

 

[mikench]

Money is meant to be spent. That is its sole purpose.

 

[tigger]

Today I used my Acolyte plus which handled gudgeon and commons with equal aplomb. As a modern float rod it takes some beating.

I can't argue with that Mike.

I believe I have put the majority of my float rods through a lot more stick than most people would dream of doing. For my kind of fishing and my target species the drennan acolyte plus in the 13 and 14ft foot models would be my pick of them all, all the more recent float rods that is. The only older models of float rods that I can put up there with the acolytes are the drennan im8 specimen float rod and the normark mkII 13ft avenger. However the avenger is my firm favourite float rod out of all the float rods i've ever had.
Bearing in mind the price of the acolyte rods, imo, they can't be beaten by any rods in the shops today!


A few threads back I noticed a member searching for a new top section for his acolyte float rod, and despite him admitting the breakage was his own fault the usual suspects couldn't resist jumping on the band wagon slagging the rods off....pathetic!

 

[sam vimes]

weight and diameter of the blank have no point if the actions aren't what the angler wants. Everyone to their own, but you can't buy success in angling...

You make a point that I don't disagree with at all. I've said exactly the same myself. However, unless you actually fish with these rods, your opinion on them is worth diddly squat. You may think that they aren't worth the money and, for you, they might not be. However, you don't actually know one way or another.

There are some high price rods that I don't think are worth the money. In some instances, it's just a feeling I have from minimal experience. When this is the case, and I've not fished with them, I try to keep my opinion to myself. It has no proper basis. However, I've actually bought a few that I don't think are worth the RRP or normal retail price. Chances are that I'll have taken a blind punt because I've found something at a silly price. Alternatively, I've bought the odd duffer based on independent reviews and forum chatter. I may not comment on them either. It's hardly sensible to rubbish something you may wish to sell at some point. The subtle difference here is that at least my opinion on them has some basis. I bought them, I fished with them, I know. I don't doubt that some other people will have a totally different opinion on the same rod, but only if they've actually used them does that opinion count for anything.

One thing is for sure, I don't rate anything simply because it is expensive, I never have and never will. A high price tag is no particular guarantee of anything other than the item costing a lot. I also don't rate anything simply because it's thin and light. However, all else being equal, I'll take the lightest option every time. Any angler would be a bloody fool not to.

Everyone to their own, but you can't buy success in angling...

Never, ever have I suggested that money (on kit) buys success in angling. However, I would argue that money thrown at good fishery memberships/travel (where necessary) can actually buy angling success. Good gear does not make someone a better angler, never has and never will. However, it might just make the best of whatever skill an individual has.

If nothing else, if it makes someone happy, it's all to the good.

I don't care at all whether anyone else buys the rods I might. I don't care if they could afford to and choose not to or just can't afford them. I make no judgment either way. I don't need everyone to agree with my ideas about what gear is good, bad or indifferent. I don't care whether someone fishes with a Roger Surgay specials or the most expensive things going. What I do find objectionable is the bile suggesting that anyone buying expensive rods are mugs, marketing men's dreams etc especially when the people passing comment barely even fish and have never even used the kind of kit they are commenting on. The frequent suggestion of it being one upmanship is equally preposterous. I never pay any attention to what anyone is using on the bank. I'd be slightly perturbed if anyone, especially anyone I didn't know pretty well, paid any attention to what I was using. However, I find that in the real world, no one cares. It's only on the forums that people pass comment about how strangers choose to fish and the gear they use when doing it.

 

[108831]

I didn't suggest that you did say that,that was my opinion on what fishing tackle actually achieves,high or low end,good tackle just makes the job easier and more pleasurable,that good tackle isn't always expensive however,as you and I both know and in reality what another thinks about what is spent on rods doesn't matter diddly squat either,because if I choose to spend a grand on a rod,nobody is going to dissuade me,but the questions were asked,peoples opinions given....

 

[John Aston]

Use is a key determinant in my choice of rod . At one extreme , the rods I use for pike dead baiting are used for a couple of seconds to cast and , if I'm lucky , for the odd pike - the rest of the time they sit in their rests , as half asleep as their owner . As long as they cast ok and don't buckle under the strain of a big pike I couldn't really care less what they feel like .

But a fly rod , lure rod or a trotting rod ...that is entirely different . We have to have a harmonious relationship and that means feel , action, weight and even appearance have to be just so. I've sold more than a few rods in - and reels- in these categories which might have come highly recommended but we just didn't get on . My favourite fly rod (Hardy Sovereign ) and lure rod (Shimano Zodias ) are almost soul mates but my Drennan pike rods are just lumps of carbon fibre.

 

[no-one in particular]

Use is a key determinant in my choice of rod . At one extreme , the rods I use for pike dead baiting are used for a couple of seconds to cast and , if I'm lucky , for the odd pike - the rest of the time they sit in their rests , as half asleep as their owner . As long as they cast ok and don't buckle under the strain of a big pike I couldn't really care less what they feel like .

But a fly rod , lure rod or a trotting rod ...that is entirely different . We have to have a harmonious relationship and that means feel , action, weight and even appearance have to be just so. I've sold more than a few rods in - and reels- in these categories which might have come highly recommended but we just didn't get on . My favourite fly rod (Hardy Sovereign ) and lure rod (Shimano Zodias ) are almost soul mates but my Drennan pike rods are just lumps of carbon fibre.

I think that's very important as well, how you get on with a rod regardless of price or recommendation or not as the case may be. And look plays a part in that to some degree, something pleasing to the eye helps. One of the reasons I like cane, it just pleases my eye more than a synthetic material; not that I would use a cane rod just for that but it ticks a box. I have a mixture of rods and I use them as I fancy and what sort of fishing I am doing which changes in spells. I have always fished on a budget not that I have to so much these days but I still do, it's just a habit and I still get a buzz from doing so and especially with cane rods as I still manage to find real bargains now and then. Junk shops and auctions mainly where I get to look and feel before I buy.
I would never pay the full whack for a cane rod or any rod come to that. The last time I bought a brand new rod in a tackle shop was years ago and I was disappointed with it.

 

[David Gane]

For me, price should never be the reason you buy a rod. I don't know about everyone else, but I always like to do research before I make the investment. Not doing so can easily result in mistakes as it's so easy to miss something important (I remember some time ago buying a new spinning reel that cost quite a bit, only to realise on my first cast with it that it didn't have a backwind facility, which is something I use all the time). Having done my research and handled the goods to get a proper feel for it I tend to go for the best I can afford. In my opinion not to do so can so easily mean going back to buy an upgrade not too far down the road.

The one thing I will say though is that if you can't tell the difference, there's no point in spending the money. I took up fly fishing a few years ago and started off with very basic rods. For quite a while I was perfectly happy with them and it is only now that I am fishing regularly and (thank goodness) at last starting to get a better cast that I am able to feel and extract the performance from a rod, which makes an upgrade worthwhile. It's feeling and using that performance that gives you the value for money from your investment.

 

[wetthrough]

@grayson and @sam vimes - sigh, I've just bought some Stroft GTM, as much out of curiosity as anything so won't be too miffed if I don't like it but what is it you don't like about it?

 

[steve2]

The best thing I did before getting into flyfishing was to pay for some casting lessons and 2nd hand tackle before I spent too much money on tackle. There is no point having the best tackle and not be able to use it.
Same when I took up golf I bought 2nd hand clubs, had lessons and then laid out more money on better equipment when I was ready.
Despite what the adverts say spending big money doesn't make you a better angler or golfer. Might make you feel and look better in the eyes of others but a better angler or golfer, certainly not.

 

[John Aston]

@grayson and @sam vimes - sigh, I've just bought some Stroft GTM, as much out of curiosity as anything so won't be too miffed if I don't like it but what is it you don't like about it?

It tangled too easily and broke if you looked at it in a funny way. Others love it .