Cabela's FT fly rod

I am looking for a 9 ft 4 wgt fly rod for occasional fishing here in the
Colorado/Northern New Mexico/Northern Arizona area. At the Cabela's store their FT (code 904) sure felt great ...but many have said I really need to test with reel and line. I wonder if anyone out there might have some field experience with this particular rod?

Willi, I'm sorry, but I gotta call you on this one. I could be wrong and if so, I apologize in advance, but do you have any proof that Ken is "acting"?

Wolfgang writes(my word, what a pleasure to type those words, where ya been,lad?)

pretty quick out of the blocks and beat me to,perhaps, a slightly milder rebuke to old
Stev on this one. Whether he meant to or not, he essentially said "this is my approach to fishing and everyone who disagrees should leave the stream". It does serve as a valid example of a point I made way back on this thread: one doesn't need missing teeth, or spinning tackle, to be boorish. Fly anglers, as a group, bring their own set of behaviors to the mix. Some good, some bad....

FWIW, I have three Cabela's rods. An old Fish Eagle, a Stowaway and a
Stowaway 7. I like all three just fine and have had no quality problems with them. So a blanket statement that their rods are no good just ain't right.

From following various boards I have yet to hear anybody who owns one complain about it. In fact, most seem to feel like I do that they give you a heck of a lot of bang for the buck.

I've seen a lot of velvet Elvis, but you're the only guy I know of who thinks he has a nude.

Very good information, Ken.

Some of Cabelas products are good but they can't compete with Sage for fly rods.

Actually companies like TFO (Temple Fork Outfitters) are getting into
Cabelas pocket now with very good imported low end fly rods.

Nah, you're just groovin' to the ad copy.

....herein, lies the problem. If the word "Louie" does not "call to mind", in no particular order:
1. Breakfast a la Skivies 2.Bobbing upside down at Penn's 3. The Way Navy used to be (dammit!)
4. The Rapid River 5. A decent,generous soul then, you haven't been on or near ROFF long enough to have the slightest clue what you are starting to step into......
Tom p.s. since it seems to be end-with-a-lyric week, I'll offer:
I Don't Wanna Be a Pinhead No More!
dee dee ramone 1977

There are several reasons why one would want to or even not want to own multiple rods in multiple configurations.

Sometimes it can be the type of waters fished. If you live in lets say North
GA, odds are you will fish some tight mtn creeks, some tailwaters, some warm water bass fishing, and the occ jaunt to Savanah for Flats. While one rod might be suitable for all of those, odds are you would be more comfortable with an 7-8'3-4wt rod for the tight creeks, probably slower action, an
8.5-9' 5wt rod for the tailwaters, probably a five weight in a little faster action. a 9-10' 5-6wt rod for the lakes (better to float tube fish with-you can thank me now for justifying your new 6 wt) and not to be outgunned, a
7-8 wt for the saltwater trips. Simple and applicable reasons why four rods at a minimum would be required. Add to it types of fishing (dries, nymphs, streamers, winds, no winds) and maybe a rod of the same weight/length but differing speeds. Take that guy from N. Ga and move him to chicago where he now has to deal with wi spring creek tricos, hex hatches, steel head, salmon et al and we have a new two weight, faster action 5wt and nifty slower action 7wt plus a 9 wt.

Those are just practical reasons, but for the sake of gear whoredom the appropriate answer would be that the true gear whore would never soil his/her favorite dry fly rod by using a nymph therefore he/she requires a nymph rod which of course can never be used to fish a streamer so a streamer rod is required. This must be repeated accross all applicable weight classes the fisherman may want to fish. Lastly two other rules apply to gear whores,
1.You can never have enought 3/4/5/7 weights and 2. If you find a rod you really love, you must buy at least three of them because sooner or later they will quit making them.

Once you have this down pat, let me know. I can show you how to tie knots in your tippet while it's in mid air without using your hands <g>

no disclaimer required.

Thanks for the justification. I intend to print this post and leave it on my wife's pillow by way of an explanation. Of course I will be out of town for the next five days so that should give her plenty of time to put things into perspective!!!

Its good to know that I am following the rules. Now I just need to get a
10' four weight for those occassions when I need to do some serious nymph fishing - God knows I shouldn't be high-sticking with an 8 1/2 foot rod!

Joe C.
(who has a dozen fly rods and now has that many more waiting on the "wish list"

John K asks:

Quite a few of us, myself included, consider the proprietor of EZFlyfish a friend. My point was that Ken was real quick to dump on a rod I might be willing to bet he has never cast.
Responding to another thread(cyli??), I think that model of Cabelas Rod is on an American-made blank. Hence, no KPOS designation there. The Sage is a decent rod for the price, but the original poster stated that he tried the Cabelas and liked the feel of it, and that is VERY important, both in terms of matching the rod to the caster and confidence whilst casting.

Just can't wait to get back to the Amish titty bar, can ya? You can have the heaves and the craves simultaneously.

Or so I heard......

The Cabela's FT904 lists at $225. For that kind of money you can get a good fly rod, why settle for a Cabela's ?

Take a look at this;

So Stev is just a Usenet affectation. That's weird enough, I suppose, but it's good to know you haven't gone completely off your nut.

He may not be acting.

perhaps, but germane to the argument I was trying to make. Once you start using adjectives like "better" or "best", you have to condition them as to the target user of the item. No different with flyrods.

I'm not sold on this one, either, sad to say.
I've seen disgraceful behavior from both, perhaps different types of behavior( more defined by social classes than otherwise), but seemingly equal in terms of the percent of each group.

<clipped sump pump horror story>

Lucky for the plumber he was dealing with you, as opposed to, say, Walt(no firsthand knowledge here, just what I have heard).

hope your rain lets up (and tapers off on the way East)

Wow...thanks for all the feedback and the "interesting/insightful" discussion. I will stop at a shop in the area to see if I can "try" the
Sage... I have picked up a reel and line to take with me so that I can get a feel for the rod with some load. I very much liked the feel of the
Cabela's in the store versus the St. Croix, Loomis, and one other they had in 9ft 4wgt. Wish me luck ...now to figure out how to get the worm on that
#28 size hook!

I've been groping for the right word to describe them.....and, you may have hit on it!

Clark, I hope to make it down there sometime. I infected my good friend
Harry with the FF bug last year and I don't think he's going to recover. It turns out that his bride is a native Kiwi and they visit down under almost every winter (your summer). They almost had Cindy and I talked into going to
NZ this December, but it's not gonna happen. Maybe the following year.
Whenever it is, I will definitely give you notice and let's see if we can get together for some FF, wine, and maybe some music.

PS I note that the proprietor is a Californian. You sure he's a decent sort?

You say that like you think it's a bad thing. I've never driven a Porsche or a Kia, but I have come to the astonishing conclusion that a Porsche is a better car than a Kia based solely on brand name. Earth shattering.

And I don't like riffraff on ANY waters.

I disagree. I think the DS2 is one of the nicest blanks you can buy. Its price has come way down because Sage has developed newer blanks, but it still makes a very nice flyrod. And, coincidentally, it sells for the exact same price as that Cabela's model. The only thing I know about
Cabela's is the Three Forks models are pieces of shit and most of the reel seats eventually fall off.

so, for the person with but $10,000 to spend on a vehicle, the very used
Porsche is a better deal than the new(with warrenty) Kia??

I hate to be the judge of anyone as riffraff, and further, a little riffraff might liven things up, as I see it.......
having fun on a rainy day Tom

It ain't much of a judgment call. If they toss cigarette butts into the stream, they're riffraff. If they leave their beer cans and empty bait containers on the bank, they're riffraff. If there's a five fish limit and you see a 3 year old, a 5 year old, a 7 year old and a guy with three tobacco stained teeth all carrying five fish apiece and there's only one fishing pole between them, they're probably riffraff.
And as much as it pains people like Willi, there is far less riffraff among fly fishermen than among the fishing population at large.

We've had 6 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and the sump pump in the boiler room of my mother-in-law's condo has decided to take early retirement. I had to loan the plumber my waders. I don't know how my wife got suckered into being on the condo board, but it's a pain in the arse. There's only two kinds of folks who buy those condos, retirees and grad students. Neither one plans to be around very long and they're both so cheap they make a Scotsman look like a spendthrift.

But I just said there were none, so that's the end of THAT, as far as I'm concerned.

Doesn't make a damn bit of difference what a majority of people think. If a majority of people thought a "Dogs Playing Poker" painting was a better painting than the Mona Lisa, the majority of people would be wrong.

Good lord, we've got us a full blown conspiracy on our hands and if the only brave and true heroes of the fishing world, (that would be amateur rod builders), don't educate all of us unenlightened bozos, and soon, the whole damn fishing industry will go to hell in a hand basket.

Shippy, if you really believe that fly rod manufacturers deliberately mislabel the line weight of their fly rods and that fly line manufacturers are following suit, you're as clueless as you are rude.

Nope. I spent Sat morning walking through my vines. Damn near cried. Second straight year of crop failure. I'm gonna try to buy some grapes from the
Central Coast for this year's vintage.

But I did finally bottle about 10 cases from previous years.....

sorry for letting my personal prejudices show, but I cannot see any
"technology" advances with regards to flexible sticks with line guides that advance ones skills beyond practice with the rod already owned, at least when the current rod is in the range we have been discussing. Most of what you are describing is the result of slick salesmanship, personal ego(gotta have the fastest rod on the block) or excess disposable cash(which helps the economy flow, so "hurray" for that one!

well, i will be damned. back again, and not a moment too soon. were it not for forty's desperate effort to claim to be an elite asshole, the ol zoo could be mistaken for a newgroup busily involved in on topic discussions of fly fishing.

well, there *was* this armed forces gear thread, wherein one could sample the fares of usual suspects (peetah, louie, the ol handyman, e.g.)
and an interesting newcomer by the name of slenon...and of course, the massachussetts madmen are proving to be relentless (they know who they are).

anyway, good to have you back. you comin down this way in oct?

That's weird to the point of insanity.

And all this time I figured it was a typo not a wacko.

Now you see, that's the trouble with common logic. It's just so damn common.