Backchannelbob,

If you knew as much as you appear to think you do, you'd know that buying a fly rod is nothing like buying a car. Let me reiterate that there are almost no bad fly rods in today's marketplace.

For example, a friend of mine bought a 9' 5 wt trout rod for 39.95 a few years back at some big box sporting goods store. While I'd not recommend that sort of shopping strategy, my point is that the rod was pretty darn decent. It was light, had a good medium fast action, had enough guides for a rod of its length, and handily cast a line however a competent caster wanted.

What matters in a fly rod is pretty much whatever the buyer decides matters to him or her. All the parameters of a fly rod are subjective. The most objective standard is that any decent caster can cast the line intended to be used on the rod. Beyond that it's all personal preference.

Orvis makes nice rods, but your Orvis cheer is more suggestive of your enthusiasm and rationalization for that particular brand than it is of any expertise you might have across the range of brands and styles of rods offered in the marketplace. If you're familiar with the fly rod market, you'd know that pricing is partly about quality of the build and very much about marketplace image. Sometimes people who just dropped $600 on a fly rod aren't receptive to that information. That doesn't make it untrue however. At the same time, I'm not saying that a $100 rod is every bit as good as a $600 rod, but the $600 rod isn't even close to being six times better than the $100 rod. Maybe two or two-and-a-half times better, at most. Welcome to the fickle world of fly rod manufacturing and marketing.

BTW, of course you can land chum salmon on an 8 wt. Never said a person couldn't. I've landed chum salmon on a six wt, but that isn't the rod I'd choose for chum fishing. If you're fishing where the chums run large, like the Skagit, day in and day out, a 9 wt will feel a little more up to the task. That doesn't make 8 wts unsuitable, just not as well suited as 9 wts. And that is especially so for kings, simply because of the weight of the fish. They pull hard, and 9 and 10 wts have more dead lift strength than 8 wts.

Back to the original poster: Regarding fly fishing investments, a $100 rod and $500 worth of fly casting lessons is a far better value than a $600 rod and no lessons. Hands down.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.