looking through past posts and saw the Rogue Rod deal. I live in S. Oregon about 10 minutes from the plant and know a few guys there. Heres the scoop.
They make only top end rods and are now worldwide from flats to deep blue. I use them on salmon and steelhead. Many blanks designed by Greg? Loomis. (Not Gary of G. Loomis fame, but his brother who worked there and designed alot of the Loomis rods. Its no accident that they go head to head with the IMX and usually win. That was the intention. They had one weak rod ( the SM866 med-hvy for 10-20 line. It broke at about 13 pounds of applied force. It was redesigned and re-released in September. Warranty issues here resulted in people snagging springers and horsing them in from the bank with line well beyond rod rating. I saw one guy break 4 rods in 4 days( each replaced the same day by walking into the plant. Finally they said enough and wouldn't warranty the rod again. No rod can hold up to intentional neglect and abuse. For side drifting the SS904 S-2 (9 foot 6-10 line out performs the IMX. Its a fast action 8 weight flyrod blank built into a spinning rod. The SH 864 is a terrific bank rod with a faster action (6-12 line), or the SH 865 med for 8-15 line. For salmon the one piece SM827 is unequaled 8'2" 10-25 line. For 2 piece salmon rods I'd probably look at the redesigned med hvy SM866 for 10-20 line. Make sure its the new one though or you will break it with pressure. If you want a hvy action 10-25 line in a 2 piece I'd look atLoomis or Lamiglas as the consenses here is they fish too heavy. Virtually all the top guides here have switched to Rogue Rods over Lamiglas.(But we're in their back yard so we are a little spoiled. In short these rods are IMX quality or better but more durable (tighter wrapping process on the graphite) and less money.