What is your favorite small or lesser known fly fishing brand?

M

milleger

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Feb 21, 2007
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Just wondering what your favorite small name fly fishing company is, and why (price, performance, value, etc)? I am mainly wondering about rods and reels, but any input is appreciated.

I am not in the market for anything in particular, but would like to make my next rod or reel purchase from one of the smaller companies.

Thanks.

Justin
 
Bamboo rod makers amaze me with the fact that its a vertiable cottage industry in this day and age.

There also seems to be a surprising number of guys who roll their own fiberglass blanks.
 
want one of these reels badly:
http://www.speyco.net/

 
I have to say I'm partial to mike mcfarlands glass rods, I built up 2 using his blanks and love them both to death. sadly, I don't think he offers blanks anymore, and I can't afford to buy a finished rod from him.
I really have no favorites when it comes to reel manufacturers. in modern reels I use mainly orvis and have no experience with the smaller makers, but there are some real (reel!) gems out there that I lust after. I've love to get my hands on a Kineya from japan.
 
bikerfish wrote:
I have to say I'm partial to mike mcfarlands glass rods, I built up 2 using his blanks and love them both to death. sadly, I don't think he offers blanks anymore, and I can't afford to buy a finished rod from him.

He doesn't. I've got one, which is lovely but a bit slow. Someone else built it, and I'm not happy with their choices.

I've been waiting for the perfect approx 8' 4/5 or 5/6 to appear used. I'm hoping its one of Paddock's lemon rods, or a Kabuto clear. I'm also dangerously close to just buying a Steffan out of the gate as its cheap enough, but I find his blanks ugly.

Man, I want one of those sweet transparent Kabutos.

 
Steffen Bros. -------------- rods an blanks
 
Again, hideously ugly. In a world where you can make rods of any colour, brown is blah.

Performance, and price!, speak volumes for the man's rods, but they aren't sparkling pretty like others.
 
I'll stay away from the bamboo world, where as gfen said, there's a cottage industry out there (and I do own one by DreamCatcher fly rods).

As far as mainstream, it's certainly not an unknown brand, but they're known more for lines and other gear. Cortland. Their rods are very underappreciated.

I own rods from Sage, Loomis, St. Croix, etc. The little $100 and supposedly "cheap" Cortland ranks up there with the best of them.
 
Gotta go with Mike McFarland. Very nice guy, knowledgeable and makes a great product/s. I was lucky enough to pick up one of his rods used. Turns out it was the fifth he ever made. It’s amazing. Since then I have had the opportunity to cast/fish some others. He makes so many different tapers, you would be hard pressed to find at least a few you don’t like. If you have the opportunity to visit with him do so. He’s usually at Somerset too.

 
J.P. Ross makes some nice stuff indeed. I haven't fished there stuff, only casted it, but the customization is wonderful and Jordan Ross couldn't be a nicer guy.
 
I'm sure everyone knows mine http://coltonfly.com/ Bob has always treated me very well and is always willing to share his knowledge on gear and places to fish . Plus he's a resident of PA .
 
wsender wrote:
J.P. Ross makes some nice stuff indeed. I haven't fished there stuff, only casted it, but the customization is wonderful and Jordan Ross couldn't be a nicer guy.

Agreed. I just ordered his new 6'11" 2/3wt glass rod and can't wait for it to arrive. I also have a 7' 2wt Beaver Meadow that throws dries very nicely.
 
Thanks for the input guys. I checked out the web sites of everyone you mentioned and there are some seriously impressive rods being crafted out there.

Fredrick, any specific suggestions for a saltwater rod from Colton? That might be my next rod, especially with the end of year deals you posted. I have no experience saltwater fly fishing and would be looking for a good all around rod.
 
To be honest, I've never been a close follower of fly fishing brands. I pretty much build all my fly rods and use price point blanks. To the extent that I have any brand loyalty, I'll join Pcray in endorsing Cortland.
 
I really want to get one of these but first Im going to have to get a new rod to put it on first

http://www.tightlineflyreels.com/services
 
Quillfly,
no offense but thats just an Ari Hart with a hideous orange finish.
 
Not nearly as hideous as Art T Hart, which leads me to believe the guy took the good parts and made them interesting.

Also, I find orange things to be awesome, but only some orange things. Orange Elements, Challengers, Things and Beetles and... well, OK, that's it. They're all cars. And this reel which has the lumpy inelegance and awesomeness from sheer industrial purpose of the VW Thing in Acapulco Orange.

Man, I want one of those things. And Things. Both a thing and a Thing.
 
I'm not done, actually. See, Ari T Hart reels are hideous and somehow people like them with their silly little triangular bits and all that.. they're trying too hard, and I think that everyone who owns one does so only because its Ari T Hart and deep inside can agree: Its one ugly lump of metal. ArI T Hart's sitting in his Dutch Oven or whatever Dutch people call their homes, and he's doing whatever Dutch people do (and we all know what that means) and he's thinking, in Dutch, "I will make a reel and it will be goot and it will have how the English say it will have the tri-ANG-le and I will make it heedeeOOUS and they Americans will buy eeeT because it will have my name bork bork bork" and he's right.

Bam. A couple hours in a coffee house with a ruler and whatever it is one buy sin those coffee houses abd biggity bam, its just this massive pile of nonsense with a $1000 price tag on it.

But then you've got the what have you up there, which like the Abel Arm, comes along and says, "there's a sane idea under this lump, and I'm going to run with it." Then, you get it anodized in Acapulco Orange (because one loves VWs, although I will accept Hemi Orange if your a mopar guy) and you think to yourself, "this is now something special." Finally you price it at under $200 and churn it out of your house in the USA (PA, none the less!) and it becomes awesomely rad, because its not a stupid Ari T Hart lookieme reel. Its just awesome.

But you know what guy-who-makes-these you should do? Port the spool on the inner portion, if not the spool's sides where the line sits. Y'know, the inner bit, the "hub" area if it were. I dunno. I just think it would look moar awesome. And my opinion counts because I am a Mover and a Shaker, and I am Hip and the Kids love me. And because I wrote this post. This very long post. Because frankly, dude, I love that thing. Its awesome. And its orange, and that makes it more awesomer.
 
Gfen,
what kind of drugs are you using?Lmao the things that come out of babes mouths.
 
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