KDawg wrote:
Looking for a new 7 or 8 weight for Great Lakes Steelheading. I
grealy
enjoy my 9' 5 weight Orvis T3, and had originally considered a second
one, but would like to diversify a bit.

Has anyone had particularily good experience with Sage, Winston,
Burkheimer, or Thomas & Thomas? I'll probably spend $600 - $700,
which
falls in line with upper-tier offerings from each of them. Winston
uses boron, which sounds like a throwback, but I've yet to speak to
anyone that's not motivated by a commission about the benefits of
this
approach. Someone once told me that Thomas & Thomas was an excellent
choice, but then I met a guy that spent an entire summer trying to
get
a broken rod replaced. From my perspective, at this price point, an
unlimited warranty is absolutely required.

Any opinions out there? Thanks in advance!

The Burkheimer rod blanks are about as good as they come. But for the
life of me I dont see how guys can spend 700.00 on a rod, they just are
not worth the money. I custom build rods of all kinds and I get good
money for them but a custom rod is far superior in every way than any
factory. The last rod I built for myself was a 8 dollar blank, 15
dollar reel seat 30 dollars worth of sic guides and 14 dollars worth of
cork for the handle and it cast better than any factory rod in its
catagory. Before I started to build rods I was stuck on Sage, now I
wouldnt touch a sage, there are blanks out there that are just as good
for a quarter of the price. Do your self a favor and go to your local
shop and get the name of a cusom builder and you will get a better rod
for less money. Ps: dont go to your fly shop go to a regular tackle
shop and ask. Hope this helps you out, Bruce