I've been sitting back over the past week and watching this unfold as I suspected there would be a bit of controversey. Most respondants don't seem to have the first hand experience I asked about but do have strong opinions on the rods/market. I suspected this would be the case. That in and of itself is an interesting characteristic of this market segment.

JC, thanks for the hands on feedback. I can only imagine what it's like to stand there with Jerry and go through the paces at the casting pond.

And tailingloop, that was a great read. Thanks for the considerable effort and dialogue you put into that response. You mentioned a few companies/rods that I wasn't familiar with that are persuing the category and that builds the case that this market segment is enjoying some success. Whether it has legs or not, time will tell.

Overall, the general concept makes alot of sense to me. I'll argue that it's *not* about short rods as much as it is short rods designed to throw big heads and big flies. Maybe it's been done previously on the mass market but no one is telling me about it and how it faired. Historical perspective would be interesting, but no one mentioned any.

My own current warmwater rods are a Sage TXL 3wt for bluegills (and most of my dry fly trout fishing) a medium actioned 9' 6wt for creek smallies and pond lmb, and a 9' 8wt for big river and big reservoir fishing. This concept of short stiff rods hammering out shooting heads is intriguing.

That F&S Fly Blog was an excellent read, thanks for the link.