As usual, Mike, Lefty is right. In fact, it goes further. The trend in rods now to make them faster and faster and lighter and lighter actually makes them more difficult for the novice and intermediate caster to cast effectively in a wide variety of fishing scenarios. Most casting experts agree that a decent medium to medium-fast action 8-9' rod is the easiest on the typical angler who isn't pretty well along the casting learning curve. And many new model rods are getting so light now that two things are becoming major factors in the purchase decision. Many of the lightest tip-flex (fast) rods are more susceptible to breakage. It's just a fact of the way rods are built...laws of physics. And some rods are now so light that they are outrunning the selection of reels on the market that will balance out on them in the appropriate sizes. When the balance is off, the swing weight increases and the gains one should get from owning a lighter rod are negated because your hand-arm muscles are having to compensate for the lack of balance in the rod-reel combo.
There are two more comparisons to axioms of the shooting sports that bear on fly tackle selection I'll share:
"A duck killed with a Remington 870 Express ($279) and a duck killed with a Browning Citori ($1000+) are both the same amount of dead."
There's always been a raging debate about which caliber of handgun is best for personal protection, with various experts falling into different camps and arguing their cases well. But the owner of the Gunsmoke Academy (probably the guy with the longest track record of excellence in handgun defensive shooting instruction in the US and a .45 ACP fanatic) said, "I say carry whatever handgun you shoot the most accurately. If you can hit an assailant between the eyes every time, it doesn't matter whether you shoot him with a .22 or a .45. He's dead either way."
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.
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