I recently purchased a 2 piece, 8', 3 wt St Croix Avid....... at Cabelas for only $99 rather than &160!! Big sale, the new green color this year, so the old color (grey/black, much better IMHO)...... what a wonderful rod.

My friend has a 5 piece, and all the sections add weight and take away some action. If you don't have to take your fly rod on a plane (try 1st class, you can take longer stuff there) then why buy all the pieces? More expensive, more trouble to assemble, they come apart, and a worse action...... why do they make all the spinning high end rods one piece?

I've had a banner year trout fishing. The 8' 3wt is perfect for the streams I fish. I can't see any difference with my cheap Avid and my friends $600 rod!! Mine is just as lite as his, and both have fast action..... and I've caught way more fish then he did last month!! My 2 piece is pre-rigged in the back seat of my car. I have to wait for my friend to put all the sections together before we go fishing. Now he usually keeps them together except for two pieces!!! LOL Now he is trying to make a 2 piece rod!

Fly fishing is Nirvana,
the last Working Class Hero