Hey All,

I am very new to rod building and am trying to learn how to select blanks for future builds. I am curious what difference there really is between a Sage X blank for $700+, a CTS Affinity X for $250, or some other brand blank for $100. I would say I am a slightly above average caster (certainly not anything crazy), and I don't want to spend money on something I'm not good enough to appreciate.

I understand that there are construction technique differences between brands and price points, but I also feel like the material science behind a rod can't be that much better between a $250 and $700 blank. It's also very possible that I have no idea what I'm talking about

Joel

Joel -

You are asking a great question and they is probably not a correct answer to it. We all have our opinions and none of us are right and none of us are wrong. A very similar discussion about this just happened this weekend. Check out this post. [www.rodbuilding.org]

As I have said before this can be a very personal decision. I have both the Sage X, Sage 1, RodGeek, Proof Fly Fishing and Custom Fly Rod Crafter blanks I have built up over the years. Some I like more than others. They all do a great job and fit the purpose intended. I think if you are fishing a lot (my wife and I fly fish about 60 times a year) IMO you will start to understand that the $700 rod casts a better than a $70 rod. If you fish 10 times a year you probably will not ever feel a difference. Heck - some guys who fish 2-3 times a year will show up carrying a Sage X with an Abel reel because they are posers (sorry, I couldn't resist saying that).

For the price you also get much better warranties and custom service. Sage is on top of fixing a broken rod section (they send you a new blank section matched up to you existing rod). The $70 rod blank guys may not make you a new section but will sell you a new blank at a discount (it's a lot more work to tear down the broken rod for the parts and then build up a whole new rod than it is doing a single section).

Also - as Lance said in the post mentioned above - getting the right, best quality line paired with the rod can make a huge difference. My wife's Sage One 4 wt. cast like a piece of crap with a 4 wt. Rio Gold fly line on it. I switched it to a 5 wt. Scientific Angler line and it casts like a dream now. (A confession: I usually go up one weight on my fly lines now - I find they most often do cast better).

Bottom line - it can come down to personal preference. Choose wisely Young Padwan on what you build and you will be happy. You could start with the cheaper blanks and as you get better (building them and fishing them) it is a good excuse to upgrade to the more expensive ones. You get the fun of building more rods that way :)

Joel,
From my personàl point of view you can disregard the Sage X, I have fished the 5, 6, and 8 wt. versions and I can tell you I have fished many brands that are superior, the tips are to stiff to do anything close as well as many others and they don't cast the long line any better either. I have a few of the early CTS Affinity Ones in my rod rack and I would perfer those rods to the Sage mentioned.

Hi Spencer,
There was noise that CTS was bringing back the Affinity-One. but if they do not - it can still be ordered through me.
The #10 was a bit of a beast - Great with heads.
But the #9 was very sweet.
I still have an 8'6" #10 that I will never give up.
Feels like you are casting an 8wt - but very powerful.
Herb

Joel,

As a newbie, you should build on a less expensive blank, as Phillip mentioned. One alternative not mentioned in the posts above is the Pacific Bay Arctos blanks. They are a reasonable cost (under $100) and are a higher modulus (RX7 graphite) plus they come in two finishjes, either polished black or a handsome satin brown. I teach a fly rod building class and my students (some very experienced fly-casters) routinely say they prefer them to their Sage and North Fork rods. I would not be able to tell the difference myself, as I am a mediocre fly-caster, but I have been very happy with the rods I have build on the Arctos blanks.

Another less expensive option is the line of Matrix blanks offered by American Tackle - very good fit & finish (a very nice carbon fiber twill section in the butt) and a great blank to start with. While they may be a bit heavier than a Sage-X or Winston Boron blank, they do a great job and won't break the bank.

Rich

One very important reason that Sage blanks are so expensive, is, that they are in the business of selling finished rods! If they sold their blanks for subaerially less than the rods, it would diminish their rod sales

Example; if you could, as a custom builder, would build on their blanks and offer your rods well below their price, you cut into their sale.

As for comparisons of quality and preferences, cost is only one factor, and has little to do with performance.

Philip Bogardus

"IMO you will start to understand that the $700 rod casts a better than a $70 rod. If you fish 10 times a year you probably will not ever feel a difference"




For anglers that have the skill set to take full advantage of the higher end rod I would agree but in many instances anglers with average skills often come away thinking the higher end blank that costs a lot more doesn't cast any better (To them) than a much lower priced rod and they come to that belief based on their inability to extract the performance that the higher end rod is capable of .

Top shelf rods aren't for everybody but for those that have the skills to get the most out of them nothing else satisfies and is acceptable . Some love very stiff tipped rods and others hate them and that's to be expected .

You will grow old and gray looking for objective tests (citing feet and inches) of rods built on particular blanks. That's citing feet and inches in accuracy and distance, not "feelings" or "looks" or "smoothness" or "soulfulness" or some such Madison Avenue jive talk. As for presentation, the angler, the line, and the leader, NOT the rod, are the determining factors. Still, nearly everyone who pays $800 or $1,200 for a fly rod will rave about it's presentation, accuracy, and distance - but still no numbers or measurements. You can't blame them.

Experienced anglers in general can tell just after a few casts if a rod is a real performer or not and so can you Phil . You just like to come across as needing extensive data and measurements to be convinced one rod performs better than another but we all know you can tell just as quickly as any other profoundly experienced angler with many decades under their belt if a rod performs up to their expectations or not .

Now if you were to just pick somebody off the street and hand them a bunch of rods who has no prior experience in casting then you would have a point in that person being incapable of discerning the differences but we all know that's not the case here .

Dup



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2022 04:36PM by chris c nash.

Over-simplification and failure are kissing cousins. The line used on a casting rod has relatively little to do with casting success. The line used on a spinning rod has only a bit more to do with casting success. The line used on a fly rod is critical to casting success. Bait casters and spin casters all cast pretty much the same way: swing the rod and let go of the line. The same advice about rods suits them all pretty well. There is a really big difference between fly casters who wave the rod to cast and those who double-haul to cast. I think it's unwise to offer advice about fly rods without determining how the fly-rodder casts.