I just Demo'd both the Professional Series 8wt and the TiCR 8wt and I really liked them both, especially for the value. The Pro Series was mat black and well finished, nice reel seat and alignment dots were nice. This rod cast well and for under 150.00 it is no question, the best rod for the money. The TiCR retails for $209, which I consider to be a screaming good deal considering how well it cast. Much faster at the tip than the Pro Series. I had both rods and spent the majority of the time fishing this rod. I liked it so much, I am buying one! The rod also performed well with fish online. I appreciate all the effort Chris Scoones put in to get this program together. Also his place is easy to get to off of I-90 in North Bend. Now that I've got my 8wt Rod, now I am searching to replace my reel.... it never ends!!! Jason Decker
Chad brings up an interesting question that's been around as long as people have had opinions: to what extent are our opinions influenced by preconceptions? I wonder how the two oldtimers would have reacted to the rods had the logos for Sage and TFO been missing or obscured - in other words, a blind test. Both clinical drug trials and wine tasting rely on so-called blind or double-blind testing (or tasting) to obtain results that are divorced from the frailty of human perceptions and biases. In the latter category, I regularly meet with friends for an evening of wine tasting, good company and a fine meal. We agree beforehand on what type of wine we'll be tasting and a maximum price for the bottles we each bring. We decork the bottles and our kids then put them into plain brown bottle bags, tape the necks and put a big number on each. We each then taste them in a random order and record our impressions and a numerical score for each. At then of of the flight, we tally the scores and then unveil each bottle from low score to high. It's often a huge surprise when we see how poorly a highly-touted bottle compares with others generally perceived as less worthy. I'd love to try the same thing with fly rods. K
Sounds like a great idea but it would be hard to cast the rods if they were in a really long brown bag. blessings jesse
It was lined up with a distance taper 7 weight line; for many folks uplining it by a weight might be appropriate, as it is a stiff and powerful rod. It will really gun a cast! If I told you the distances my buddy Ed and I were getting with it, you'd be calling bullsh_t on us, but trust me when I tell you we were really gettin' them out there. I know a guide who fishes on the Sound, and he has Sage 6, 7, and 8 weight rods on his boat. He said the 7 weight is his favorite all around line weight to fish in the Sound. Using that logic, that TiCrX 7 is no-brainer for a Puget Sound salty person. :thumb:
kent I was a seriuos amatuer beer maker for four years...won many state 1st prize awards....all beer was taste tested unlabeled...same as world beer comps...you bring up an interesting point in blind casting testing. It is amazing the affect of having a brand name that leads many to a purchase of that brand product. Nike are cool shoes but I still love the Chucky Taylor Converse.....but I have bought Nike...and I always search out Sage when considering a rod purchase...yet might not be the best...but the name still is Kendall Jackson 2001 Chardonay ...excellent ...but my wife and I have been impressed with Bogue (Sp?) Trader Joe's Chardonnay ..7.99 bottle...better than Ste. Michelles and Kendall. In our opinion of course. We have not been to happy with the Australian Chardonays..although they always get great write ups.
I've got a TFO TiCrX 8 wt that I love, but now that I'm doing more trout fishing, obviously I need a lighter rod, and my cheap Scientific Angler isn't cutting it... I picked up the TFO TiCr 6wt, the Sage Fli, and the Thomas and Thomas Helix last weekend for some comparison. Of all three, I liked the TFO the best. It was probably the heaviest of the three rods, but was fast/had good power. I felt like I was the most accurate with the TFO. Like a handful of others have mentioned, the dots to help line up the sections are a great feature - it's really surprising that none of the others have had the same idea. As I mentioned, this was my favorite of the three I tried the other day, and compared to the Sage XP (which I spent some time with a few weeks ago) I think that I'll probably go with the TFO. I wasn't casting the two side by side, but given my level of skill, I didn't notice a marked difference between the two. The price difference makes it easy...
I fished a local ditch with the tfo 12' 6 6wt and that rod rocks. I had my local shop order one for me, Because he was out. He cant keep it in stock.
As a first time fly fisher I got a TFO 8Wt 9 ft 4 pc rod. I look forward to using it in the salt fishing for src and coho. It sounds like my buddy picked out a good rod for my wife to give me for christmas.
Test drove the TiCr 8 wt. & 10 wt. rods for 8 days in the Bahamas from the beach on the ocean side, and on the flats. I know, tough job but somebody has to do it, right? :beer2: Clear upgrade from the Pro series, which I previously have used and liked, but the TiCr has more backbone than the Pro to enable casting into the wind and dealing with big fish. Had some serious wind to contend with, 15-20 mph most days, but both rods threw line with authority. I had to cast the 10 wt backwards to keep the weighted flies from whacking me on the back of the head with 0/2 flies. I had both rods over lined by one weight class, with a salt water tropical line, Rio MS Clouser taper for the 10 wt., and Cortland 444 bonefish taper for the 8wt, which was perfect under the conditions. The 10 wt did fine on hard lunging, head shaking black tip sharks up to 4 feet, and performed flawlessly on reel smoking screaming runs by permit. The 8 wt rod was great for bones on the flats and fish in the surf, including a couple of baracuda that were beached. After a rain shower, a bunch of 20"+ Blue Runners were feeding on the surface like trout on a mayfly hatch; actually, more like pirana; the 8 wt showed it has finesse as well as power, allowing good control for surface presentations and tip soft enough to allow fun with smaller quarry, and act as a good shock absorber for the big boys.
I recently bought a Powell Tiboron II. While it is so light and fast it is sick, at this point I like the feel of my TFO Pro better and there is a $360 price gap........hmm?
I borrowed the TiCr 8wt for a trip to the Caribbean. I really enjoyed it. In my opinion it casts like a 8wt, but fights like a 9wt. It packed well, I got it through the security without a problem, just had to put it through the x-ray machine. On the beach it cast really well. I was able to shoot out some good casts to feeding bonefish and it had enough backbone to fight with large fish. I was a bit stupid and I tired to take on a tarpon with it (it was all I had, and since I was there, and they were there, why not?). I am sure it wasn't a very big tarpon, but big enough for me. Lets just say I was a bit undergunned. I thoroughly enjoyed the fight while it lasted. The rod performed great, it was able to turn the fishes head and put some pressure on it, but just not big enough. I own a TiCr 6wt and am more impressed with the 8wt. It will definitely be on the possible purchase list. Thanks Chris. Finni Pic 1 - casting through schooled baitfish Pic 2 - first self caught bonefish (wife spotted for me) Pic 3 - hard into a tarpon
I tried out the TiCr 6wt a few weeks ago. I liked it quite a bit, but didn't like the fighting butt on there. Felt a little heavy, so I think without it would be about right.
I actually just bought a 7wt TiCr for the beaches and have taken it out a few times already. That thing gets some serious distance...
Dude, you didn't like the fighting butt on the 6, but TFO uses the same size butt on its 7 weight and you bought one . . . I agree that the butt is a little large for the 6 and 7, but I'm sure that's how TFO keeps some of its prices down; it uses the same size butt from 6's on up, so I suspect to keep it simple during manufacture and to buy it in bulk. Very good rods, and great sticks for the money.
Richard, I like the fighting butt when I'm going after bigger fish like salmon and steelhead, but not for trout. I really don't use my 6wt ever for salmon or steelhead, so I don't like the fighting butt. The 7wt I bought is just right for summer steel and small salmon and I like the fighting butt for those. The butt is a little big, but I do like it on the 7, just not on the 6. Does that make sense? Just personal preference.
