[Patrick Allen]

Well, I finally retired all except one of my older fly rods and bit the bullet for a new 5wt, 6wt, and 8wt switch rod.

I guess I had to break out of the 90's technology and go with all 4 piece rods.

Went to Jim Mercier who started Fetha Styx and now ownes XRODZ.

Jim is a fly geek just like most of us and I couldn't be happier with the new sticks

Hope my wife doesn't find out:rofl:

SCARBOO

 

[IveofIone]

I misunderstood your title line and thought you had re-furbed some of your older rods. But you simply bought new! I have been going the opposite direction lately, replacing a couple of guides on my oldest 4wt and refreshing the guide wrappings. My oldest 4wt is a Powell Ultra with a nickel silver reel seat and is a mighty sweet casting rod despite it's age. I have a highly accurate kitchen scale that I weighed all three of my 9' 4wts on and surprisingly the old Powell was the lightest of the 3. The 4 piece was the heaviest. I have never been that impressed with 4 piece rods despite their popularity. I have several but other than the fact that they break down smaller they show me no real advantage. I still think a good 2 piece is a better casting stick.

I'll be going on a week long trip pretty soon and I am going to be fishing the veteran 2 pc rods. I had forgotten how nice they were. Like everyone else I stuck with the 4 pc once I bought them and rods that were as good or better just gathered dust. The industry seems to have completely abandoned the 2 pc rod since we all did our best lemming impersonation and rushed out and bought 4 pc. Now I'm having second thoughts.

So maybe you didn't upgrade your casting as much as you upgraded the manufacturers bottom line!

Enjoy them anyway and may your wife have mercy on you once she finds out.

Ive

 

[Patrick Allen]

I understand what you mean, I kept my 4 wt two piece Scott Rod as it makes me look like i know what I am doing when casting. I found that my 10' 8wt was just to cumbersom getting in and out of the truck. The 6wt Orvis rod I got rid of was a bit too heavy for my liking and I had it for almost 20 years.

Every once and a while it feels good to try something new and I don't think the wife would understand if I tried out a newer model if you know what I mean.

SCARBOO

 

[Porter]

So is Jim still affiliated with fethastyx?

 

[Richard Olmstead]

Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than permission...

... buying a new fly rod is one of those times.

D

 

[Lugan]

When did Jim Mercier leave Fetha Styx? That must have been recent.

 

[dryflylarry]

I misunderstood your title line and thought you had re-furbed some of your older rods. But you simply bought new! I have been going the opposite direction lately, replacing a couple of guides on my oldest 4wt and refreshing the guide wrappings. My oldest 4wt is a Powell Ultra with a nickel silver reel seat and is a mighty sweet casting rod despite it's age. I have a highly accurate kitchen scale that I weighed all three of my 9' 4wts on and surprisingly the old Powell was the lightest of the 3. The 4 piece was the heaviest. I have never been that impressed with 4 piece rods despite their popularity. I have several but other than the fact that they break down smaller they show me no real advantage. I still think a good 2 piece is a better casting stick.

I'll be going on a week long trip pretty soon and I am going to be fishing the veteran 2 pc rods. I had forgotten how nice they were. Like everyone else I stuck with the 4 pc once I bought them and rods that were as good or better just gathered dust. The industry seems to have completely abandoned the 2 pc rod since we all did our best lemming impersonation and rushed out and bought 4 pc. Now I'm having second thoughts.

So maybe you didn't upgrade your casting as much as you upgraded the manufacturers bottom line!

Enjoy them anyway and may your wife have mercy on you once she finds out.

Ive

I'm with you Ive. I think I like the 2 piece rods better also. I can put one together in 1/4 the time!!!

 

[Tyler Speir]

So is Jim still affiliated with fethastyx?

Jim left a few monthes ago. He has nothing to do with fethastyx anymore.

 

[bitterroot]

All my rods are 2 pc., mostly fiberglass from the 60's, a couple of new home built rods and bamboo. All my reels are from the 60's (or earlier) as well. I used to have a quiver of graphite rods and modern reels but I sold them all off for the slow actions. Personal preference...but I often get some weird looks out on the stream!

 

[Old Man]

I guess that I'm one of the Lemmings. I went out and got me a few 4 piece rods to replace my 2 piece ones. The four piece rods are easier to carry around and store. The 2 piecers are too long for my small truck to fit across the back window. And you can put the four piece ones out of site easier in your truck.

 

[Porter]

Jim left a few monthes ago. He has nothing to do with fethastyx anymore.

Thanks, I wondered if something was up some time ago when they updated their website,. It didn't mention Jim. Wish him the best with his new company.

 

[Patrick Allen]

I think Fetha Styx is going to a more mass produced rods and I don't think that is Jims ideal world. I don't want to speak with him all I know is that his stuff with xrodz is really really nice. He is still located in Redmond. I had no Idea he left Fetha styx till I ran into him at the sportsman puyallup show.

I pulled up his website: http://www.wix.com/x_rodz/X-RODZ

SCARBOO

 

[Rick Todd]

The only advantage to me with the 4 piece rods is when I'm flying somewhere. I leave my 4 piece rods in a two piece configuration. I keep all my rods in the rod/reel combo storage tubes (most of them are double tubes) and just break the 4 piece rods at the middle junction. As to whether they cast better or worse, I haven't been able to distinguish, although my 2 piece rods are older (LL Sage 389, RPL+ Sage 590, GLX Loomis in 790 and 890) My go to rod is a 590 XP and 690 Z-Axis and I really like both and they are 4 piece. I also have a Winston 9wt 9' BL5, which is a 5 piece rod and that one I can't break in half to go in one of my cases. Rick

 

[Kyle Smith]

I have never been that impressed with 4 piece rods despite their popularity. I have several but other than the fact that they break down smaller they show me no real advantage. I still think a good 2 piece is a better casting stick.

Over the winter I got two 3-piece rods (a loop and a greys) and I must say they bridge the gap well between 2 and 4 (duh 3). I wouldn't feel stupid carrying my 9' 3pc on a plane, and they are quicker to set up than a travel rod.