What makes a fly rod high quality?

Like most types of products, fly rods run the gambit of high priced options to low priced options. Often times, and as you might expect, the quality of the rod will match its price, but that's not always the cases. Some specific rods or manufacturers offer a build quality that is above the average grade for other rods at a comparable price. In this post, I want to cover what makes a fly rod high quality, so you can identify high quality rods and, more importantly, low quality rods in your local stores.

The main thing you are going to be scrutinizing is the components used on the rod, and whether they are of appropriate quality. Even this can sometimes be a tricky thing to determine, however, as components could look quite appealing, but actually be made from materials that don't hold up well, or perhaps add more weight than is necessary to the rod. Heres some tips for inspecting the common components of a fly rod:

1. Cork - Are the craters (or pockets) unusually deep, or numerous? Have the craters been properly smoothed with filling? Typically high quality cork will have less craters, and thus you will observe less filled holes in the grip.
2. Blanks - How does the finish look? Is it scratched or uneven in areas (especially important in blanks that are intentionally left unfinished, without a glossy coat)? Are there cracks in the joints where the blanks fit into each other?
3. Real Seat - If an uplocking or downlocking real seat, do the locks wind down well? Are the grooving done poorly, preventing a smooth lock?
4. Guides - Are they bent? Is the coating chipping or wearing off on the insides (or outsides) of the rings?

Other key factors to look closely at are the rod finish and the weight. For the finish, look specifically at the areas covering the thread wraps, by the guides. Check to see if these spots are evenly coated, if there are excessive air bubbles in the epoxy, or if there are sharp points too it. Regarding the weight, it is ideal to attach a suitably paired reel to the rod and then see if the rod feels too front heavy or back heavy when holding it, but that can obviously be a difficult task in some cases.

Keep in mind that using these points on your next rod purchase will help you determine the overall quality of the rod, but it won't be able to tell you if that rod is matched well to the application you intend to use it for. For information on what to consider on that pairing, check out our E-Book on what aspects of your fishing environment to consider when choosing a new rod. You can use the link below to download this helpful content.