Quote Originally Posted by flyguy66 View Post
The point is hype and marketing vs. skill and personal preference. A fella can spend all he wants on a fly rod, but if he can't make an accurate curve cast or a reach cast and maintain a drag-free drift, he's going to have to pass up a lot of fish. But a kid who learns to do those things with a $40 combo from Wal-Mart will fish circles around him.

There are just more folks in our society today who would rather look like they have stuff than who would rather actually be able to do stuff.
BINGO! I have run across many people, myself included, that vastly prefer the medium fast casting stroke of a rod built on a Sevier blank (Yes, the least expensive blank out there.) over the super fast high end factory rods. This is one of the reasons the Orvis Trout Bum rods are so popular. People can actually cast them and put the fly where they want it to go.

Some of our esteemed members have the skill and ability to fish the super fast blanks. The average fly angler does not. I learned a long time ago that I am not likely to be the next Lefty or whoever the current greatest caster is. I want to have fun with a rod and struggling to fish a super fast rod is not fun for me.