Apparently I should have placed a t.i.c. note alongside my "potential shame" comment. I use the gear that I want and am not much influenced by what others think in that regard. I have contemporary fishing rods that range in price from $30 (Diawa spinning) to $1200 (McVey bamboo) with most rods costing less than $100 except graphite Spey rods.

The CND Spey Tracker is a really nice rod, but even as a blank (if available) probably costs 2 or 3X the Cabela's rod. KK, when we got our Spey Trackers, the influx of well made, good performing, cheap imports hadn't yet occurred. The quality of low priced rods just keeps getting better, but one must shop carefully, cuz the majority of the dogs are always among the lower price point rods and everything else.

Twitch, yeah, the $60 Cabela's Three Forks rods floor me with how good they are. Bothers me that I bought a Fly Shop house brand 8 wt 2 years ago for $125, cuz I like the action of the Three Forks (med-fast) much better.

Joe, I have to run some errands today; maybe I can drop in to Cabela's and look around. Oh, BTW, which Hardy? Be a name dropper.

Pflueger Medalist reels continue to be among the best values in fly reels. I have three of them altho I no longer use them. They are and always have been clunky, and they're a tad heavy on lighter weight graphite rods.

Sg