Let us face some disturbing perceptions about our sport. Two of the biggest ones:

Fly fishermen are wealthy elitists that judge others not by their fishing skills, but by the gear they are able to pruchase.

Owning that 'new' rod (or reel, waders, vests, etc.) is not about how it fishes, but how it 'looks' to the people who see you fish.

Basically, what these two 'perceptions' indicate, whether true or not, is that the image of fly fishing has become similar to the one of Hollywood celebrity. Seeing who can out shine their peers on the red carpet.

I'm all for effective marketing. Economies don't thrive from saving money, but by spending it. The folks who build the high end rods have learned that they have to keep the cycle going, or they won't make money. If it was more profitable to just keep making the same rod for years, they'd happily do so. They don't do it for the same reason that car makers don't. 'New and improved' sells.

I'm sure that many of us here are done with 'new' rods. We are happy with what we have (I know I still have blanks I want to build on, when I get the time, but they are already on the shelf here). We find all the hoopla over the 'new' rods a bit tiresome and maybe even a bit funny.

It's a fact of the human condition that we tend to think that our opinions and concerns are shared by the majority of others. This is almost always an erroneous belief with regard to the smaller concerns of our lives. So while I might, and you might, believe that most fly fishermen think as you do, the fact of the matter is that fly fishermen are a diverse group of individuals. Opinions and buying patterns are not consistent with any one philosophy.

There are certainly as many folks who want that new rod as there are folks that feel they have all they need. Otherwise, Sage and Scott, et. al., would be broke.

You can, if you choose to, just ignore all that advertising hype.

By the way, I completely disagree that any significant number of people will buy a new rod because they thingk it will improve their fly casting skill. Anyone who has ever cast a fly rods either knows better or is hopelessly doomed to a life of mediocrity and poverty. A new car doesn't make you a better driver, and a new golf club won't improve your swing.

Buddy