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Thread: An Awesome Rod!

  1. #1

    Default An Awesome Rod!

    I recently got my hands on an Orvis T3 9' 5 weight 4 peice rod in a 9.5 Tip Flex thinking I'd make it my new streamer, nymph, big river rod. The rod was absolutely beautiful but it felt a little heavy and unbalanced in hand. Needless to say, I loved the looks but didn't like the feel. It was very fast and stiff. I couldn't feel line load like a really wanted. It would however cast to the moon and you could cast into the backing. I don't think however that casting into the backing is needed nor is it a good way to actually hook & land trout.

    So, I was a little dissapointed in the rod. I contacted Orvis and let it be known. I told them I wanted to feel the line and have very little weight. I talked about how the Sage XP felt and how I liked that rod. We discussed where and how it would be fished and then came to the conclusion that a Zero Gravity in the 8'6" 5 weight 4 peice 6.5 Mid Flex would be just about right. I agreed and said send her out. Guess what? It was overnighted to me for Free!!!! I had it at 10 AM the next morning. I opened her up and this awesome, beautiful, super light rod just came into my life like a newborn baby. She only weighed in at 2.75 ounces. All four peices! So I had this awesome looking rod and I couldn't wait to cast her and didn't know if she would breath with life like I wanted. I felt the need to cast her BAD. I got home, pulled her out and lined her up. I laid out about 20 feet of line and gave her a cast. It was absolutely amazing. Yard casting this rod only made things worse. It would do whatever I wanted. The rod was nimble, light, sweet, had amazing feel and was very accurate. It would also shoot all the line and go well into the backing. I was in total Shock and Awe. It would load 15 feet of line as easily as the entire fly line. I felt this feeling of amazement. I couldn't believe a rod could really feel this good. I now had to fish her BAD. So luckily, my brother and friend called Wed night and said, lets go fly fishing tomorrow! We usually go when we are all off so Thursdays work best. I couldn't say no as this rod was speaking to me to use her under real fishing situations.

    We got up early in the morning, left town and drove 80 miles, got her out and she was brought to hand and rushed to the water. It felt even better then the evening before, yard casting. The rod will do everything I want on command. It played the fish very well, it had power where needed and was just so amazing that I can't say enough about her. After about 3 1/2 hours fishing and more than 40 fish we had to call it a day. Now the rod is waiting for next Thursday so she can come to life again. I absolutely love this rod.

  2. #2

    Default Re: An Awesome Rod!

    thats a serious uprgrade
    wow and they just sent you that rod free!
    and you got to keep the other rod
    am i reading that right?

  3. #3

    Default Re: An Awesome Rod!

    No, I sent them the T3 and they sent me the Zero Gravity in return. I was just shocked that I got it the very next morning. They told me 3 days. It was like Christmas...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Portage, PA
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    2,900

    Default Re: An Awesome Rod!

    brhokla: I'm happy you got a great rod, but why do they charge so much? YOU THINK THEY WOULD MAKE A NICE ROD FOR THE AVERAGE INCOME PERSON. You are blessed that you can afford such nice equipment and I don't begrudge your ability to purchase it. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THEY HAVE TO CHARGE SO MUCH. I'm writing this I guess because I'm frustrated with my search for a rod I like and can afford. Fly fishing is an expensive sport; that's both bad and good. Bad because it's expensive and good because the cost of equipment probably deters many average persons from joining the crowd. I AM A FLY FISHER--I'VE GOT THE SICKNESS. LOL!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Buena Vista Co.
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    1,168

    Default Re: An Awesome Rod!

    Quote Originally Posted by lastchance
    brhokla: I'm happy you got a great rod, but why do they charge so much? YOU THINK THEY WOULD MAKE A NICE ROD FOR THE AVERAGE INCOME PERSON. You are blessed that you can afford such nice equipment and I don't begrudge your ability to purchase it. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THEY HAVE TO CHARGE SO MUCH. I'm writing this I guess because I'm frustrated with my search for a rod I like and can afford. Fly fishing is an expensive sport; that's both bad and good. Bad because it's expensive and good because the cost of equipment probably deters many average persons from joining the crowd. I AM A FLY FISHER--I'VE GOT THE SICKNESS. LOL!
    For the same reason they charge $36 for a $12 pair of wool socks.

  6. #6

    Default Re: An Awesome Rod!

    Actually, I saved for some time to purchase a so called premium rod. I didn't go spend $655 on this rod. I opted to get the lower priced T3 but then didn't like it's feel. All the rod manufactures charge huge sums for the top of the line rods they produce. They call them Premium rods! The Sage, The Winston, The Hardy, the list goes on & on. All of them have rods that are more than some peoples house payments. I agree the price is about to the point of stupidity. I also know that you don't need to spend this amount of money for an awesome rod. I have cast many awesome rods that cost half this price and some for even less. Take for instance the Lower priced and one of my favorites Redington RS3, Sage Fli and Launch, Winston Vapor, Orvis TLS Power Matrix. All these are awesome casting rods that feel great and look Great. These rods are all also priced in the $179-$325 range. Shoot, right now Bass Pro has the RS3 on sale for $139 and it's an awesome stick. You could of course build your own awesome custom rod...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Portage, PA
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    2,900

    Default Re: An Awesome Rod!

    brhokla: I know what you're saying. I was looking at buying a Redington RS3. It's hard to believe what you've just written--$139 at Bass Pro. Great. I'm going to look into it right now. I have built about 15 rods and I guess they were too low end to feel well in my hands. I wish there was somewhere I could try a blank before I ordered it. I guess if you pay cheap, that's what you get. Thanks for the help and have a great holiday weekend.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Florence, KY
    Posts
    1,402

    Default Re: An Awesome Rod!

    First congratulations on the rod. I'm glad you're so happy with it and it's working well. It's always a pleasure to have some thing that works the way you want it to work and gives you pride in ownership.

    I can sure sympathize with the price concerns. I have too many expensive hobies. I play acoustic guitar and a good quality acoustic starts in the $2000 range and goes up. Like fly rods, one cannot own just one guitat and I have a couple. I also am involved in competitive target shooting where a good target rifle is not inexpensive either.

    I've become kind of sticker shocked to the point of being numb, but wow, fly fishing can go up in price quickly. I just got started into it this year and have a St. Croix rod (Premier series I think is what they call it) and my son has a Cabela's (5 piece stow away). Neither of these are high dollar rods. They cast OK and we're having a lot of fun catching bluegill, bass, and crappie with them. However, I'm already getting the itch to upgrade. By this time next summer, I will most likely have a decent rod. I plan to cast a bunch of different ones to see which fits my style. I hope that by the end of summer, I will have developed a style and have enough of a feel that I can tell the difference and actually be able to notice what makes a Sage or Winston feel different from a lower end rod.

    Word to the wise, if any of you fellows (or ladies) ever decide to take up guitar, it can also lay a serious hurt on your bank account.

    Jeff
    fishing bum in training
    My blog:
    http://www.kyflyfishguy.blogspot.com/

  9. #9

    Default Re: An Awesome Rod!

    Quote Originally Posted by lastchance
    brhokla: I know what you're saying. I was looking at buying a Redington RS3. It's hard to believe what you've just written--$139 at Bass Pro. Great. I'm going to look into it right now. I have built about 15 rods and I guess they were too low end to feel well in my hands. I wish there was somewhere I could try a blank before I ordered it. I guess if you pay cheap, that's what you get. Thanks for the help and have a great holiday weekend.
    I haven't checked the Bass Pro website to verify this sale but in Broken Arrow, where I am they have it on sale. Great rod for the money. I absolutely love my 8'6" 4 weight RS3. Just a really nice rod with awesome feel.

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