I've spent 500 bucks on a rod before. I've done a lot of stupid stuff for that matter.

I'd rather build a $500 rod for 250 bucks, and make it with better components.

I'd have to say I'm really surprised at how lousy the components are on many of the off the shelf high end $500+ rods. Sometimes the reel seat is what I'd consider "mid-grade" by my own building standards. Often the guide set is mid to low-grade, even on hardware most would consider top of the line. For the most part, paying that kind of money for a new rod off the shelf is no longer worth it to me. If I really want that blank, I'll buy the blank, and then make a rod that's twice as good for a little over half as much.

I guess that's just a plug to build your own. You can do it cheap, you can do it high quality, you can do it both ways, and it's always satisfying to fail and succeed using your own stuff,

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