[ED: Another in a short series of reports from the FFR show about goodies that might not get a lot of press, but deserve to.]
I stopped by the Thomas & Thomas booth to talk about their fabulous Heirloom fiberglass fly rods — the rods that cast like buttah, but unfortunately, cost like caviar (just a reminder Undergrounders — Christmas is coming [hint, hint]).
Instead of the expected product pitch, I basked in the glow of rod-designing legend Tom Dorsey’s obvious affection for the kind of fly rods that feel like, well… like fly rods are supposed to. After all, he still offers the gratifyingly smooth Paradigm graphite rods on a custom basis, and with the Heirloom series, he clarifies what fiberglass could do if given half a chance.
His newest saltwater rod is the Fusion Series — rods that defy that “faster is better” movement running rampant among most rodmakers. The Fusion series are designed to cast heavily weighted flies like — as Dorsey put it — “you were casting a 5wt rod with a size 14 dry fly.”
Lofty goal, and Dorsey — who apparently enjoys designing rods like the rest of us enjoy eating apple pie and ice cream — had some very interesting ideas about how to achieve it.
Available in 9′ lengths in 8, 9 and 10 weights, T&T Fusion rods are available in two-piece and four-piece versions. They classify the 8 wt as an ideal, “medium fast” bonefish rod, but suggest it would be hot stuff whenever you’re throwing weighted flies.
They’re priced on a par with the rest of today’s premium fly rods: $695 for the 2-piece model; $795 for the 4-piece travel version. As soon as I talk that traveling bastard Ian Rutter into smuggling me along on his annual trip to Belize (he’d stop being a bastard at that moment), I’m buying one.
Sadly, T&T’s Web site hasn’t yet been updated to reflect their new rods, but it should be any day now. Give it a look.
See you coming off the luggage conveyor, Tom Chandler.
[tags]fly fishing, thomas and thomas, t&t, fusion fly rod, fly rod, saltwater fly rod, ffr show[/tags]
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