Hi,
Cold here in Kansas, but thinking about fishing. Anyone out there fishing Hexagraph fly rods? I have been looking at and reading about them. No dealers close, so have yet to cast one.
Observations? Good, bad, indifferent?
I will tell you right up front that I am a Hexagraph dealer. But I only became one after casting and fishing a few and writing an article or three about them. In the course of the writing, the owner of Hexagraph and I hit it off and he offered me a dealership for a variety of reasons that made sense to both of us. That’s how such things should work: start selling products you really believe in, not start “believing in” products because you sell them. 
If you are thinking about or like bamboo, but are not a died-in-the-wool purist about it - if you like the idea of something lighter and far more durable than bamboo, but with very similar performance and appearance features - and if you like the idea of spending considerably less to acquire all of this than you would to purchase a quality bamboo rod, then you can’t go wrong with a Hexagraph!
Call Harry via the website. You’ll find out you have little to no risk to try one out. You don’t need a dealer in your area to go test them. His business model is designed to take that into consideration. And tell him Ken sent you via FAOL. He’ll get a kick out of that.
I just bought a 7’9" for 4/5 Hexagraph model last month. Follow the link for some information on the rod and the experience.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthread.php?t=32870
John
I have one, fished it for a couple years on trout and steelhead. It is a good casting rod, a bit heavier and more tip-heavy than a similar length round graphite rod. It fought fish well, too.
The ferrules were always, I thought, too tight, hard to get the rod apart. One day, I pulled the ferrules off the ends of the blank while trying to take the rod apart, swore, stuck it in the sock in the tube, and haven’t taken it out of the closet since. Still got the letter that says “send it back, we will fix it for ya” but haven’t gotten around to it. Kept thinking I could just drop it off in Chico, but then never went back that way.
Keep reminding me, I will send it back.
DG, the ferrules are nickel silver. So they are pretty easily adjusted for tightness. Over time, all metal ferrules will get looser. But the nickel silver can be tightened right back up lickety-split! Whether bamboo or Hexagraph, these types of rods must be given a “tune-up” from time to time. If you pulled a Hexagraph ferrule off of the blank, you may have twisted it a bit while gripping it by the blank instead of at the ferrule itself. A bit of twist under pressure can break the bond of even the best epoxy and it’s not hard to do if you grab it by the blank instead of just the ferrules.
And yes, they will be happy to fix it for you…no problem!
Yes, I know how to take the ferrules apart. They were almost impossible to fit together when new, almost sent it back after discussions with Raptor, wore in a little bit but were always much tighter than I thought they should be. Then one day they wouldn’t come apart at all, and when I pulled a wee bit too much…
I just never got around to sending it back since. Too many other rods to use, and never a good mailing tube handy.
The ferrules on the Hexagraph rod I just got fit snugly and come apart quite nicely.
At this point it is hard to imagine having a problem beyond normal wear over time.
John
I always had to ship stuff around inside 2 inch PVC pipe