My go-to trout rod is a 2pc Orvis Henry's Fork Superfine Graphite that's probably 35 years old. I love the flex on it, but I want a 4pc that will travel easier.

Looking for similar flex rod with a great warranty. Basically don't want to buy another rod for a decade or more. Top end of my budget would be $5-600.

What do you go with?

Sage One 9' 4 wt 4 piece for traveling. Good all around rod that excels at nymph fishing and small streamers or hoppers (heavier flies). Not my favorite rod for dry fly fishing. If I am Fishing a bigger stream or the wind picks up will use a 5 or 6 wt. picked up a nice Orvis Recon 7wt for streamers last year that was pretty dang sweet.

Winston Boron III in 8' 6" 4 wt for dry. This rod is amazing and not even close to my other rods.

Would like to have a 10' one day for tight line nymphing.

As the tippet size drops and the size of the fish increases, the drag or start up enteria becomes much more important. I've had some mediocre reels but my Winston is paired with a Gen 1 Hatch Finatic and works great! (This is important when targeting 18-20" fish on 6 and 7x, think spring creeks)

You can meet your price range by building the rod with a blank kit. Sounds like fun but I haven't done this yet. You can also find rod builders that use the blank kit you want and save a few bucks.

For a trip last year, picked up a used TFO 6 wt that was amazing for the price.

I've got an 8wt Mangrove with a Ross Rapid that is my salt water/large bass fly rod.

My 5wt reel is an Orvis Access mid-arbor.

Find a good used Sage XP 590-4.

Might be worth pushing my purchase back a couple months and buying a top end rod.

Anyone having experience with the Scott Radian?

My wife uses a Radian and I love this rod (4 pc 5 wt). Plenty of power for small streamers and nymph rigs but feels like it has a softer tip. I generally Like 4 wt's for dry fly but always steal her radian if need a 5 wt and she's not around. You can't go wrong adding this rod to collection!

Wow! I hadn't looked at new flyrod prices in a while. I don't think I'd be able to justify some of the higher end rods. My first rod was a Sage 5wt DS that came with a reel and line in early '90s. Nice rod, but a little clunky for the creeks I was fishing in the Sierras. I bought a Sage 389LL blank for around $180 and built my first rod. It's still my favorite and a fantastic dry fly rod. I next built a 6'6" Hardy rod for less than $100 that is great for backcountry small creeks and tight places. I built a "faster" St Croix 4wt that's ok in the wind and for bigger flys and nymphs, but I prefer the medium action. I just looked up what would be comparable to the 389ll and found the Sage zxl series, but at almost $700 that's just nuts.

mandevilleag said:

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Wow! I hadn't looked at new flyrod prices in a while. I don't think I'd be able to justify some of the higher end rods. My first rod was a Sage 5wt DS that came with a reel and line in early '90s. Nice rod, but a little clunky for the creeks I was fishing in the Sierras. I bought a Sage 389LL blank for around $180 and built my first rod. It's still my favorite and a fantastic dry fly rod. I next built a 6'6" Hardy rod for less than $100 that is great for backcountry small creeks and tight places. I built a "faster" St Croix 4wt that's ok in the wind and for bigger flys and nymphs, but I prefer the medium action. I just looked up what would be comparable to the 389ll and found the Sage zxl series, but at almost $700 that's just nuts.

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Yeah, there's a lot of sticker shock.

The upside of it is the ability to buy 1 rod and then have a fantastic warranty/repair policy that means you can get it repaired/replaced at a more nominal cost in perpetuity.

Orvis Recon
RL Winston Nimbus and/or Kairos
RL Winston BIII is on closeout at 499 regular price is 795

https://www.gorgeflyshop.com/store/pc/R-L-Winston-c232.htm?gclid=Cj0KCQjwuLPnBRDjARIsACDzGL1SsqSOlUBNblKwFAfJW-8fJYWjq8CQG2u1YDH0eEemq7aOgPgsWD4aAp1pEALw_wcB

Understood. That's how I justified spending $180 on the Sage 3wt blank in the '90s. Unfortunately, if I were to break it there is no replacement now. I'm sure Sage would find some type of replacement for me, but I'm not sure at what cost to me. The blank cost me $180. The nearest Sage to that type of action is the 386zxt for almost $700. I'm not going to close a car door on my favorite rod to find out, but I doubt they'd replace it with a $700 rod.

rather be fishing said:

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mandevilleag said:

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Wow! I hadn't looked at new flyrod prices in a while. I don't think I'd be able to justify some of the higher end rods. My first rod was a Sage 5wt DS that came with a reel and line in early '90s. Nice rod, but a little clunky for the creeks I was fishing in the Sierras. I bought a Sage 389LL blank for around $180 and built my first rod. It's still my favorite and a fantastic dry fly rod. I next built a 6'6" Hardy rod for less than $100 that is great for backcountry small creeks and tight places. I built a "faster" St Croix 4wt that's ok in the wind and for bigger flys and nymphs, but I prefer the medium action. I just looked up what would be comparable to the 389ll and found the Sage zxl series, but at almost $700 that's just nuts.

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Yeah, there's a lot of sticker shock.

The upside of it is the ability to buy 1 rod and then have a fantastic warranty/repair policy that means you can get it repaired/replaced at a more nominal cost in perpetuity.

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I'm curious, how common is it to break a fly rod? I just started fly fishing this month and I got a beginner outfit from Orvis. They were really trying to get me to move up to a more expensive setup and stressed the warranty. If it costs $60 to repair (Orvis Repair Charge) it really only made sense to me if you had a high end rod and even then you would have to think a rod breaking was something likely to happen. It all seemed like a wierd insurance program and they would be better off selling the rod more cheaply and not offering the paid warranty.

More common than you'd think. The car door or tail gate crunch is probably #1. I've also seen people carry their assembled rod pointing forward like a joust just asking to ram the tip into a tree or the ground. I had one buddy snap the tip on his rod when the head on his nymph hit the rod on his back cast.

I broke my TFO after snagging some grass on a back cast. I assume it had a knick on the rod that was a weak spot.

Fly rods are a lot more delicate than bass rods. Exception being my Fenwick fiberglass rod. That thing feels like it's pretty indestructible.

Orvis is doing a trade in sale for Father's day. 20% off recons and superfines with a trade in of a working fly rod.

Orvis Recon is the best rod in the OP's price range .

https://www.yellowstoneangler.com/gear-review/2019-4-weight-shootout

Have you considered fiberglass?
Some of the newer ones being put out are pretty fun to fish with. I have a cheap Calaba's one and have cast a few of the newer name brand ones, I like em.

Thanks for linking GA's latest shootout, always fun to read through. This is shaping up to be a depressing summer for me on the trout fishing front, have to live vicariously through the Texags posters adding pics and trip reviews to the Freshwater Fly Fishing thread!

Agree with comments on Recon rod but haven't cast a 4 wt. Good to see positive feedback from GA's review.

+1 for the recon. I have an 8wt that I use for flats fishing, and have thrown a 5wt. I would guess it will be a bit faster action than your old rod though. They still make superfine rods too and I have heard a lot of praise for them.