On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 03:45:50 GMT, "B J Conner"
wrote:

Anyone have any opinions, experience, etc. concerning the South Bend
telescopic fly rods? I know there mostly a club and most of use wouldn't be
caught dead using them for bean poles or tomato stakes but one of them may
be what I need. Number one daughter is not an avid fly fisher person, yet.
She kinda piddles around and know the theory. When she gets serious I might
spring for one of the Reddington travel rods but for now it's gotta fit in a
duffel bag, be cheap but not so cheap that it won't last 3 or 4 months.
She's off to the worlds biggest atoll where there are fish the rest of us
might trade our (insert something precious here) for.
http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/fishing.html
Last trip I got her a telescoping spinning rod. It didn't break and
managed to provide fare for many bar-b -ques.
Cabelas has them in their bargain cave at the moment., so any comments about
the rod and/or what else to send (flys in particular ) will be welcome.

Well, given the skill needed, you can "cast" with any number of rods
that, well, wouldn't be the first choice, so, if your question is "will
it work," generally, the answer is "yes." If the question is, "can my
daughter (reasonably and/or enjoyably) use it," the answer is, "no way
of knowing," but if she can cast with it here, I'd bet she could do so
there.

Now my questions would be, a) if the spinning setup works, why fix what
isn't broken and/or is this really the place for "futzing" around? IOW,
if you want her to be able to have the "fun" of FF, then maybe go ahead
and get "real" gear, but it's a "fish for food" situation, don't mess
around with putting a novice with unknown/marginal gear, b) Just how
cheap are these? You can get some pretty inexpensive multi-parts,
including combos, out there, and since you know she can use the spinning
set-up, get a combo rod, send both reels, and she's not only got
familiar gear to fall back on, she's got a back-up, and c) if price is
a concern, what about finishing a combo blank - love and practicality
"wrapped" up in one?

TC,
R