Are rod prices topping out?

[92Esquire]

I have to say that I'm a bottom feeder with boutique tastes. I've only paid full price for three rods - the first one I bought, my wife's first rod (a TFO CFR 8wt), and my Norling bamboo. All of my other rods have either been used, closeout models, or more unfortunately, bought from shops that were going out of business.

I don't think rod prices are going to top out. There are always going to be folks willing to pay the price for a perceived advantage. I do think fly rods are getting better over time, but not so much that it would be worth paying $300 more for a "new" model when the "old" model is sitting right next to it. In fact, with a lot of the trend towards faster and faster actions, often the "old" model might suit your casting stroke better.

Businesses close, new businesses open. Models come and go. There will always be opportunities for folks to find a great rod at a great price. May not always be the length you're hoping for (often you can find a great deal on an 8' 6" 5wt vs a 9' 5wt, for example), but they're out there if you're willing to look and wait a while.

[oldster]

I once challenged a friend to a blind taste test between my lowly beer brand and his more expensive German import. Guess which one won!
Have you ever blind tested a fly rod?

[bobbyg]

Plastic rods topped out for me about 30 years ago.

[waynep]

I have been thinking about building more rods. I like the higher end rods but I also like mi-priced rods. If I knew more about what blanks were out there I would probably start rolling more of my own. I guess I should just buy a blank, build it, then if I don't like it, sell it for what I have in it.

[Jackster]

oldster... Have you ever blind tested a fly rod?

I haven't blind tested fly rods but a magazine sort of did a 5 weight blind test a few years ago. I mean 'sort of' because anyone who followed new rods back then knew a Loomis GLX handle from another and the different blank colors of certain rods. The winners were both a very high end rod (Loomis GLX) and a reasonably priced rod (Cabelas Stowaway I believe)
A true blind test would be blanks colored the same with identical hardware on them. They did this years ago with racing bike tubing. They had a builder build up different tube sets with identical hardware and geometry and simply numbered the frames so the testers had no idea which tube set they were test riding. This was back when steel was the frame material of choice. The reviewers rated the frames on different qualities and only AFTER entering their impressions of the frames were they told which frame number matched which tube sets (Reynolds, Columbus etc.) Some cyclists are as fanatical about gear as some fly fishers!
This is a test I would love to see done on rod blanks (or better yet, take part in!) but who the heck could afford to?

[jszymczyk]

This is a test I would love to see done on rod blanks (or better yet, take part in!) but who the heck could afford to?

the people who buy $1000 rods!! But then their egos would be crushed and the results would never be spoken of again.

[Buddy Sanders]

I've seen quite a few of the 'comparison' testing of fly rods articles done by various magazines and few TV shows.

Almost every one of them came out structurally the 'same'. They'd state, after whatever battery of 'tests' were complete, that the 'best' rods were a couple of the high end rods and one mid to lower priced rod that they'd claim to 'surprised' about.

I'm not saying the results are 'scripted'. Just that it's curious that they all seem to come out that way.

I'm a bit of skeptic about these things and find it also interesting that the 'winning' rod manufacturers all had quite a bit of advertising space in the magazines where these articles appeared. I'd never suggest that there might be a bit of a financial motive influencing how the test came out. Not with the hard hitting style, high journalistic morals, and well established credibility of the outdoor press .

Okay, fantasy over....

In reality, any 'test' conducted on fly rods by humans is so subjective as to be meaningless to anyone but the casters who do the test. I have friends who have searched for years for the 'perfect' fly rod. Once they find 'it', and many times it turns out to be an older rod with a more moderate action-often even a glass or cane rod, it's seldom a top end high dollar rod. I've picked up these 'perfect for them' rods and couldn't stand some of them. They didn't like my choices all that much either.

Humans are adaptable. The vast majority of us adapt to cast with the rods we buy, not buy the rods that cast best for us. I own several dozen rods. I can cast all of them. Some I like better than others, but all serve their purpose and let me cast the fly and catch the fish.

There are machines out there that can 'test' performance of a rod, but no machine can test for 'feel'.

Buddy

[bowmaker1]

I don't know about the topping out price thing, but I don't think we have seen the top yet. I do know a few things about manufacturing and marketing how ever. How these high end companies have been able to convince logical intelligent people that an $800 fly rod casts better and will land a 3 pound or smaller trout easier than a $400 rod that is generally built from the same materials, is beyond me. I should qualify my opinion slightly by saying that I have never cast a high end rod and the best rods that I own are a Sage Launch and 2 Cabelas LSTs in 4wt, 3wt, and 5wt respectively. These rods certainly cast better than my skill level so why do I need a more expensive rod? They have landed lots of trout, bass, bluegills, and a few catfish with out breaking or any other undo strain, so how would a more expensive rod help me there? There may be some more pronounced differences in some of the heavier duty or salt water outfits but I don't use them so I don't know.

I do know that the fixed operating expenses and much of the variable expenses of manufacturing a $300 or a $500 or a $800 rod in the same length and weight range are all the same. So even with the added expense of those unconditional warranties, and what they have for shipping and minimum service charges if the company makes a acceptable profit on the $300 rod they are making nearly 3 times that profit on the $800 rods. Economies of scale say that if you produce more of a product then the actual cost of that product actually goes down because the ONLY added expense is the small cost of additional raw materials, and perhaps some extra labor costs. All the fixed costs like buildings, equipment, electricity, water, insurance, and taxes basically stay the same. Research and development costs and advertising costs go up for the new high end rods but that is pretty much it. Also those advertising dollars help to convince those of us who can't actually afford the $800 rod that the same company's lower end rods must be far better than some of the other brands that the company sells more of the $300 which aren't bothered by those additional costs associated with the high end ones. We are all victims of the marketing industry. What I am more concerned about is the increase in the costs of fly lines, which now cost almost as much as many lower end rods. $70 for a fly line is too much in my opinion.

[billknepp]

That happened bout 10 yrs ago for me... at some point everyone has the Opif.... that hey.. Why the hell am I layin out all this cash for another stick thats gonna sit in the closet... cause I have three rods that are Always first in line to go depending on what n where i'm planning...