Quote Originally Posted by jack smith
Quote Originally Posted by Jordan
Well.. CND's line goes from $375 to $700 or so. You'd be hard pressed to get a Sage or Winston for that kind of money. The Winston is $835 and the Sage line starts at $720 (for an ultralight 6wt) and goes up from there. .
The 8 weight 14 foot fli Sage is $450 (http://www.kaufmannsstreamborn.com/Cata ... /SAGFLIRO/)

The Winston Vapor is $399.

Sage and winston's warranty is lifetime for about $35. CND is $65 PLUS SHIPPING AND HANDLING after the first year.

I really could be wrong about this, but aren't the low end sages and winstons made in china as well?


If you don't like CND rods, then don't buy one. As I mentioned earlier, I like them - a lot. This is ironic because I don't own a CND, but do own multiple Sage and Winston rods. My next two-hander will likely be a Scott, but as far as I am concerned, CND rods look like a great value for the money, and the reviews I have read indicate that they are at least a match, performance-wise to the rods produced by American single-hand rod builders.

Here's a review of the CND Black Spey rod.

CND ?Black Spey? 14 ft 8/9/10 rod


Nobuo Nodera at CND has a long history of producing fine spey rods and his new series called BS (Black Spey) lives up to his good reputation. I tried the 14 ft 8/9/10 rod on a windy day at the recent Japanese spey clave ( Japanese Spey Clave Report ). This rod was a cracker - light, perfectly balanced and a joy to cast. The rod is slightly slower than the action I am used to but generated fast tip speed and had enough power to handle the faster stroke that I use. The deeper action ensured even softer casts with big loops would unroll easily.

I did not try any sink tips on this rod, nor cast it with large flies, so cannot make any accurate comments as to how it would handle these, but with a mid belly length floating line and an easy casting stroke it should get the vote of approval of most spey casters.

Summary

Another find rod from the CND stable. It loaded best with around 650 grains and a mid length belly. Beginners would find this a delight with the 9/10/11 WindCutter, while more experienced casters will love a MidSpey 8/9. One of the rods of 2006 for me!


- Simon Gawesworth
Seems alright to me. I can understand that some people like to buy only American products, and I sympathize, but I don't think you should be so dismissive of Asian and/or European 2-handed rods. There is a much greater level of interest in spey casting in those countries compared to here. Nobuo Nodera has a pretty strong pedigree in the spey community. To each his own, I suppose.