With all the buzz over high priced glass rods, old and new, I wonder how the expensive stuff would stand up in a blind test. The persons doing the testing would have to be decent casters, and either be blindfolded or the rods disguised. In any event it would be interesting. While most opinions tend to be subjective, a consensus is not impossible.
I have cast many inexpensive rods ($5.00-$1000.00 range) that hold their own against the expensive($200-$500.00 range). I have never handled anything in the stratospheric range ($500-? range). Can they be that much better?

Stylin' for your friends and neighbors ain't fishing. The fish don't care what rod you use. I'd rather have a few lower priced rods for different conditions - and some casting lessons - than one "ultimate stick".

I took my 6 year old fishing for the first time this summer. To top off the day, he caught a nice largemouth. Nicer than anything I've caught from that pond. And he did it with his 3' Mickey Mouse rod.

Tom

To parapharase Aristotle, regarding excellence it is not enough that we know it but we must have and use it. A truly superb tool can be practical in that it performs flawlessly without undue decoration and detail, OR it can reflect the ethos of the builder and the user community. A hand built rod with hours of intensive skilled labor invested in its construction, whether glass, carbon or grass, should rightfully sell for a price that reflects the value of that human investment. I applaud those who build and those who can afford to own such works of art.

That said, there are no mass market products that encapusle or deliver such a human investment. And there certainly is no pure performance advantage to the angler in the use of such a tool. Physics alone tells us how the lever works.

In the end, these rods are neither made nor purchased, nor should they be represented as such, because they fish better.

My early morning $0.02

Joe C.

No, a rod is not a rod is not a rod. In fact, quite the opposite. There are a few good sticks that make casting fun and graceful. There are a lot of poorly designed products that are barely worth calling fishing rods - I relegate them to the category of "poles". That said, price has almost nothing to do with the action, castability, inherent accuracy or utility of rod. A good taper, proper guide spacing, and efficient matching of line-to-rod-to-casting conditions is the sum total of the physical equation.

My point is only that, all things being equal, you won't catch more fish with a $1000 Russ Peak than you will with a $100 Fenwick or a $3000 Leonard or a $600 Sage. If the tool is properly designed and used, the only thing the additional investment buys you is art.

I'm not denegrating that pride of ownership. Quite the contrary. I collect, I enjoy and I daydream about the 'big stuff'. I hope to have the money to own it all one day

Joe C.

Through the miracle of Ebay I have traded dozens of rods and fished most of them, and I must say they are ALL different but also mostly all fishable with pleasure. Yes, my $20 Fenwick ff79 has the highest pleasure to price ratio, but the T&T Paradigm (retail $725!) is so sweet I have to smile when fishing it. There are fabulous deals out there, but generally you get what you pay for. Most suprisingly sweet rod has been a Sage fiberglass, although at over $100, not cheap. I like the Sage fiberglass better than the Sage LL rod people go so gaga over. To each his (or her) own!