HJS wrote:

wayne, that's an awfully nice anniversary present. can't help but
wonder how it is that your wife knew to get you a boron IIX. it's not
the easiest hint to drop. incidently,

It was totally unexpected. She was with me when I had bid pretty hard
on one at a conservation auction before backing down and letting
someone else spend their money. She kept the auction list and visited
the local Winston dealer figuring I wanted one. We celebrated 26 years
this past Thursday, not sure what she sees in me but I think she's a
keeper.

i was thrilled to pieces when my
wife pulled out a diamondglass 3 wt last week for christmas -- except
for the fact that i already have the ds2 3 wt that she and my local
fly
shop didn't happen to know about. so i sent it back for a 5 wt reel
(i'm kinda regretting letting go of that rod which was really really
sweet).

Grasshopper, we need to talk. The DS2 3 wt is a graphite rod whereas
the Diamondglass was fiberglass. Furthermore one was probably a
different length. If you are a trout fisherman you can never have too
many three, four and five weights. Going forward the appropriate
response is to keep the rod but politely mention she forgot the reel.

and now i'm dreaming of the rod. one thing i do know about the
winston: the grip seems slender. i like the beefier grip on the sage
rods. any ideas whether winston would make one up with a fatter grip
if
i end up liking the cast of that rod?

Winston offers some customization. I own 11 Winston rods but 5 of them
were custom made by a guy in St. Louis on IM6 and BL5 blanks with
fatter grips but Winston customized two others for me with beefier grip
and a different wood spacer.

I think you will like BIIx, but I also like the SLT and the XP from
Sage. Sooner or later there's no reason to think you can't own one or
more of each. grin