New Products for 2011

[jeff kashuba]

I hear you Tim….at this point in my fishing world, I’d rather have more of the “mid” priced stuff than one specific kick a$$ tool…I like having a variety of rods that i know are still made by great companies but it’s not their porsche…plus explaining a 500 dollar rod to the wife would be tough….I don’t even think I could hold a straight face.

jeff

[Adam McDowell]

the TXLF grips are pretty cool. I really like products that re-invent the wheel and it seems like grips and reel seats have been stagnant in their company lately.

Those are such killer brookie rods imho

[Morsie]

I like very much that the TXL’s are now also 4 piece, travelling with them in the past was an issue. The grip looks super too.

Morsie

[greg mitchell]

Thanks for the info Zach. I love Sage rods (I own 3) but it kind of amazes me that $500 is a “mid range” rod. I guess it’s all relative to your income though.

Greg

[Simon Chu]

Anyone tried the LL Bean duffle?
Any thoughts on what is comparable?

I’m also very excited about the TXL-F
4 piece and a really cool handle.

Morsie make sure you bring one to fish that “creek” with when you come over this summer eh.

[ian smith]

I would like to see them make the Z axis switch 5 piece not 4 so it would pack with everything else. Not a big ask and would be hugely convenient. Not that I would sell my 4 pc to get one thogh!

[Mike McKeown]

Finally, and this is what I was waiting to discuss, SA is unveiling a new line category called Mastery Textured.

[align=center:2lg3mpmt]

Scientific Anglers Mastery Textured
(Microscopic view comparing Mastery Textured (left) to Sharkskin (right))[/align:2lg3mpmt]

I’ve been testing a couple versions of this line for a few weeks and I think they’re going to be very popular.  They have a different embossing pattern than Sharkskin, which is not as deep and therefore diminishes some of the things people didn’t like about Sharkskin (like its tendency to cut you).  I’ve been fishing a Nymph and a GPX; both are very nice lines that in my view exceed their non-textured versions from a performance perspective.  The Nymph is a nice light green with a tan/peach hi-vis tip.  I’m told the taper has been revised even since my version, to make it more radical.  I’m in favor of aggressive tapers, especially on specialty lines.  Look for these to fall in the price range between regular Mastery and Sharkskin.

Zach

OK, and no quibbles here, but that means that Sci Angler have like a thousand veriations in their lines, take colors and styles, versus taper… it is just not viable to carry every line they have.

This brings in an interesting delema for us here in South Africa. We cannot carry every line, so if a customer wants something we don’t have, we need to order it, this can take 4 weeks for us to get it. “Wait till we have a big enough order, then the shipping takes 2 weeks, etc…” if we ship an individual line, the shipping will kill us.

So this customer then goes on-line, orders the line from an American on-line store, who can get the line in a day, at almost no shipping, and ship it out. We loose the customer and he is now an on-line buyer, we become a catalogue store, either ordering from a catalogue for customers, or just carry the stock for the customers to look at and then they go on-line and buy.

Back to the original issue, creating too many “lines” with-in a brand is detrimental to the retailer, well that’s the way I see it.

Anyway, looks like a great line, can’t wait to cast it…

[adam taylor]

Mike-

I agree with your sentiment about too many lines.

[Mike Anderson]

Just FWIW if you haven’t cast the CPX series from Redington you should. For the price these rods knock it out of the park.
I’ve got Xi3, SLT, TCX, CrossCurrent, etc, but I find the CPX in my hands about as much as any of them.

[john t.]

Bump

Zach…have you seen any of the new goods from Patagonia?

[Zach Matthews]

I got ahold of Bill Klyn at Patagonia; we should be learning some things shortly.

[Grant Wright]

I like the new Dr. Slick scissors — Another item to add to my wish-list.

[Tim Angeli]

Zach,

Any info on the drag system in those Orvis Hydros reels?

[Mike McKeown]

I don’t know if those ring tones are that good an idea, 2 of them sound like the reel giving in, the others just show how poor the drag system is…

[Zach Matthews]

Tim –

I don’t know; I am thinking that the reel I played with had a cork drag like the Vortex but I am not sure whether this one does or not.

Zach

[Zach Matthews]

bump for Nautilus NWX and fishpond products

[shane cavitt]

Looks like Simms has some interesting entries in the Fly Box category through their Lodge accessory line. The molded foam boxes look like a winner since they use slotted foam and you can use the C&F inserts. I have always wanted to like the Morrell Foam boxes because they are light weight and they float, but I don’t like the solid foam. These seem like Simms might have found a good solution for that. I also like the Wheatley in the Simms orange. Since I am a Texas alum, I have always been a little partial to the Simms orange.

Simms Launches New Lodge Accessories Line-Up for Fall 2010

[Zach Matthews]

Hey guys –

As stated before, I’m in Arkansas for my little sister’s wedding this weekend, but in light of the ongoing Fly Tackle Retailer (now International Fly Tackle Dealer, because more letters is better) show, I thought I’d bump this up.

[m. g. sturm]

There isn’t anything on their website yet, but Winston is supposed to have four new rod lines this year.

[Corey Kruitbosch]

Highlights for me were:

The new Korkers sole system was pretty damn cool IMO .. No key!

I am looking forward to getting ahold of the SA textured line seemed to have quite a bit less texture than the sharkskin and should generate less noise.

No Simms booth .. No Patagonia booth

[Author]

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