What Makes a Superior Fly Rod Manufacturer
In this article we will examine some of the factors which, in the opinion of High Country Flies, make for a superior fly rod manufacturer. After 25 years, we’ve come to realize that merely building a fine rod is not enough. Why not? Read on.
Performance is still #1
While building a great performing fly rod may not be the end all; it is still the single most important aspect of being a superior fly rod manufacturer. Simply put, if your rods stink, who is going to care that you have great customer service? Yet, we have stopped carrying some pretty good rods over the years for various reasons which I’ll elaborate on later in this article.
Consistency
A given line of rods needs to be consistent throughout the various line weights it is offered in, as is the case with the Sage SLT line. For example, the 4-weight should have the same performance characteristics as the 8-weight. While this is true of the Sage SLT line, such is not always the case.
Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, there needs to be consistency from rod to rod of the same model and line weight. In other words, all 5-weights in a given model must perform the same. This is less common than you may think due to the difficulties inherent in the manufacture of modern graphite. What we’re talking about here is quality control, and without it, we really don’t have much at all.
Does the manufacturer back its products?
Any fly rod manufacturer worth its salt will have a lifetime warranty against material defects and workmanship. Modern graphite fly rods should last a lifetime. Normally, any defects are quickly evident. But if you don’t have problems early, chances are that you never will. So why not offer a lifetime warranty?
More important than the standard lifetime warranty is the actual customer service you’ll receive should you need it. Turn around times on rod repairs is an important issue. If you break your rod tip in a car door and it takes 6 months for the company to repair the rod (we’ve seen it happen), I guess you’d better have a backup rod because fishing season is going to be over before you get your rod back. Not cool. Especially if you own only one rod.
Has High Country Flies ever dropped a rod manufacturer?
You bet. We won’t sell a rod unless the manufacturer adheres to all of the criterion outlined above. We’ve dropped manufacturers when their rods didn’t keep pace with the available technology or the competition. We’ve dropped them when they couldn’t deliver consistent performance from rod to rod. And we’ve dropped them when they just flat out refused to back their own product.
What remains are what we believe to be superior fly rod manufacturers…Winston, Sage and St. Croix.
