New Fly Rod Suggestions!?

[Illbuyourcatfish]

Hey guys, I figure they're must be some avid fly fisherman on this site so I thought I'd get some suggestions. I've been avidly fly fishing for 16 years, mostly with cheap, hand me down or borrowed rods. Well the time has come for me to get myself a new quality rod of my own!

I fly fish almost exclusively for rainbow trout here in Kamloops and surrounding area both casting and trolling on lakes mostly. I think I've decided on a 6wt rod in the 9+ foot range and both the Sage TCX and Z-Axis lines of rods have caught my eye.

My budget for a rod is between $1000 and $1200 but I'm not apposed to spending less and using the saved money on new reels/line.

My argument for spending my full budget on a rod is that I have the money to spend and it may be awhile before I can spend it again(more looming house renos) and considering I've never owned a quality rod in my 16 years of fly fishing I do feel I deserve it!

So if anyone has experience with these rods or other quality high end rods please feel free to give me your full opinions!

Also the reel I'm looking to get at least two of are the Okuma Helios, any comments or suggestions appreciated!

Thanks!

Jeff

[dean9922]

I have an Okuma reel (not the Helious) 5wt and love it, especially with the inter changeable spools I got. I use a St Croix rod and love that also. I bought it and it comes in 5 pieces so it breaks down into a small rod holder which is great. If you have $1000 to spend just on the rod, I'm sure you will get a pretty good one for that price. I spent about $250 for my rod i believe, and it works great. I would think you could get a pretty decent price on rod, reel and extra spoons for $5-600???? I have never tried a Sage rod, but I have heard you are paying alot for just the name.....not sure on that and it is heresay....if you reduce your overall cost it would then allow you to buy another fish tank and fish.....lol......
good luck and let us know what you end up with.
dean

[charles]

T and T or Thomas and Thomas flyrod and pair that with a hatch reel ...

[Illbuyourcatfish]

Is there a model in the t and t you'd recommend Charles for the type of fishing I'm doing? The hatch reels are almost a little too much reel for the type of fish I'm after. If I get into fly fishing for larger fish ie salmon then the drag technology of the hatch would really stand out. The average size of trout I'm after is 2-4 lbs.

[charles]

Let me ask my spend-too-much-money-on-gear friend and see what he said...

Ross evolution light reel is great at what you do. Very very light weight and strong.

[spit.fire]

old style bamboo rod

it was my favorite rod

[sick lid]

first off you need to decide on a fast or slow action rod. It is all personal preference. If you like a fast action rod, I would recommend sage xp. If I had to keep only one of my 7 fly rods, it would be my 5wt 10ft sage xp. It's not too often in kamloops that I use my 6 and 7 wt rods, unless I am fishing stump lake or the adams. The 5wt xp is an excellent chronomid rod as well as a good troller.
Also it is perfect for the best place of all- the thompson.
larry

[Johnnyfishtanks]

first off you need to decide on a fast or slow action rod. It is all personal preference. If you like a fast action rod, I would recommend sage xp. If I had to keep only one of my 7 fly rods, it would be my 5wt 10ft sage xp. It's not too often in kamloops that I use my 6 and 7 wt rods, unless I am fishing stump lake or the adams. The 5wt xp is an excellent chronomid rod as well as a good troller.
Also it is perfect for the best place of all- the thompson.
larry

sage rocks . life time warranty too

[Illbuyourcatfish]

I would like fast action. Now the 5 weight is interesting. Most everyone I've talked to says to go for a six. You feel six would be too heavy? I'm not opposed to getting a five, but considering I'm now focusing my finances for the first time on my lifetime hobby I can picture myself purchasing a few rods in the months to come...

[Nanokid]

best thing you can do is go to a good tackle shop, and ask them to try out there rods ( I.E a parking lot in front of the store) or go to a rod convention. they happen ocasionally on the island. i tried out a bunch of rods, from 100 - 1800 dollar range. my favorite was the amundson combos

not only are they cheap (311$, with upgraded line, extra casette, and case, and tax) but they compared to some of the Sage rods! no warranty, but they make the same combo in a bunch of sizes ; i have two for trout (5/6) and 1 larger one that i use for saltwater ( open water Coho, and beach fishing for chum).

however, they are not any "prestigious " fly rod combo, but they get the job done well. Sage is the right direction to go!