Over the past few years, I’ve seen references to “sticky” rods. Admittedly, I have not had the chance to fish (or even cast one, for that matter), but am intrigued.
Here’s a good description, I think:
Chform says, “This is quite far from the crisp, progressive US tapers we love to love. It's a bit tippy, very slow. It has a certain hang to it ... Hard to describe. It "paints" in the air and moves the line in slow motion.” From viewtopic.php?f=8&t=42469
It seems many of these are Japanese rods, but maybe not exclusive to that market.

I am curious about people’s opinions about these; do you like/dislike them, advantages/disadvantages, etc?

I just picked up a very “sticky” Axisco Airrite Feelex II and now I understand what sticky is all about. Got it from Amazon Japan for a great price along with a Scientific Anglers Overhead and D fly line that compliments that rod nicely. As has been mentioned before the rod is a paint brush that you have to let do it’s thing, it cannot be forced or rushed or you end up with a pile of line in front of you. But when you slow it down and wait for the rod to uncoil it throws a very nice loop and is very accurate. I have really enjoyed the discovery learning with this rod and its slow action, very addictive to cast. What is also great about this rod is landing a fish on it, that tip oscillates wildly and allows you to quickly land the fish.

A different post states: There is "...reference to a "parabolic" action, but...the rod actually bends quite a bit at the middle. (the one consistent trait of a parabolic action is a *stiff* middle...) In my hands, the rod is typical "sticky" slow Japanese action, where the tip is relatively stout, and the rod work from the middle down. (very similar to a Studio Thin Line, if you've ever handled one of those....). This also may be characterized as a "British" action, akin to early Hardy bamboo, for example."
viewtopic...
Another says:
"We Japanese often use the word "stickiness （粘り）" for explaning the "rod's feel" (not action)
It's an abstract expression and doesn't have concreteness.
Probably, it means slow and smooth, lot of reserve power, etc ... in this case."
When I wiggle the rod its very slow but also very stable. Not wispy or wimpy. It feels progressive with some reserve power, just very slow. Almost has a more natural feel to it. This enables one to throw some beautiful slow rolling loops.
viewtopic...

However, I've never handled a STL, so just trying to understand what "sticky" is. It sounds like a small stream rod.
Are there any other companies that make sticky rods, other than the Japanese market?

My take on sticky means applying the correct power at a very specific time. But isn’t that what parabolic rods are all about?
Just my thoughts and I may be way off.

Thanks all for the responses. BigHeavy-probably a good call on C.Barclay, although I haven't played with one of those, either-guess I should get out more, lol. Are there others In the U.S.?
Which models are favorites (overall)?

I'm not sure if parabolic & sticky are the same thing. Seems like I read somewhere that Chris's rods have some sticky characteristics, but may not have the stickiness found in the (described) Japanese rods. I've also seen sticky described as gooey-but I don't think I'd describe parabolic that way-though I may be off on that.

Hoping Chris Barclay (or other experts) will chime in on this & enlighten the followers…

From my understanding, a progressive action means that the rod bends deeper into the blank as pressure is increased during the casting stroke. Furthermore, most would probably agree that parabolic rods have a stiff middle-but flex all the way into the butt of the rod.
But do "sticky" (or gooey) (& maybe mostly Japanese) rods exhibit stickiness at certain points-or throughout the rod's entire length? Or is the taper curve altogether different from most modern US rods?

It’s a really sweet little rod. From the tiptop Dow about 12 inches it is pretty stiff, and then it wiggles. Like the norie I have it recovers well. Very slow, light, and delicate. Have only lawn cast to this point (norie). I was offered a price that my curiosity could not resist. Definitely fiberglass.

I'm looking at the tiemco glassmaster euflex 7'8" #3. Sounds like a fun small stream stick, & probably quite sticky.