I think there is some variant of "the cockroaches will always survive" law at play here. Back in my younger days, when I spent a bit of time working livestock, I usually wore jeans and t-shirts. (Actually two pairs of jeans, to protect against getting kicked.) My "nicer" t-shirts got ruined quickly. I bought a bunch of the most unasthetic t-shirts the campus bookstore had to offer (and UT Martin had some ugly t-shirts). They were worn hard but not worn out. I still have the ones I didn't gratuitously discard. So it is with cheap fly rods. (I still have all of them, too.)
Ed