Last week I was lucky enough to be able to attend the International Fly Tackle Dealer Show in Orlando. I believe it was my 20th attendance, in my some 27 year career now. As I have been telling folks...."We made some new friends.....and we made some new enemies".
It was a big year for MRO. Alot going on and alot of "negotiations" that needed to be done face-to-face. Our industry is changing, and many exciting things going on. I'm glad I went!
Over the next few weeks I'll be filling you all in here and on Social Media about some of the changes and updates to the products and the product lines that we support here at the shop. Some are still in negotiations....and as they come to be I'll be sharing them of course.
The 1st "news" that I need to start off with, is of course Sage and the new "X" series of fly rods.
These guys won:
"Best of Show"
"Best New Freshwater Rod"
"Best New Saltwater Rod"
Wow! Total Domination! Clean Sweep!
Sage X Wins!
The crowd gathers in Orlando for the announcements of the winners!
There is no question that the Sage X is one of the best fly rods ever made...and the industry obviously agrees.
Here is the official press release from a few weeks ago about the new X fly rods:
Sage’s New X Fly Rod Family Commands the Water
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. (June 15, 2016)–Renowned fly rod manufacturer Sage presents its newest pinnacle fly rod series - The X Rod. Using KonnecticHD Technology®, these fast-action fly rods create tighter loops to ensure better accuracy, efficiency, and line control with every cast.
“By optimizing our graphite-to-resin ratio, we’ve created a higher density (HD) fiber composite resulting in lighter, stronger blanks to deliver unmatched recovery, energy transfer, and line/loop control,” said Sage chief rod designer Jerry Siem.
The new taper delivers greater blank recovery and a crisper tip-top, allowing anglers to dig deeper into the rod and access more of the lower sections of the blank, shifting power closer to the angler. Decreased lateral and medial movement and vibrations in the blank also result in more accurate and efficient presentations refining the synergy between angler, rod, line, and fly.
The X Rod family, handcrafted on Bainbridge Island, includes freshwater models in three through six weights and saltwater models in five through 10 weights. There are also switch models from 6-8 weights at 11 feet in length and Spey models from 6 to 10 weights in a variety of lengths. Freshwater models have a vera wood insert with a stealth black, anodized aluminum, up-locking reel seat. The Flor grade cork handle is snub-nosed, half-wells shaped. Saltwater and two-handed models use a stealth black, anodized aluminum, up-locking reel seat on saltwater and switch models with an integrated hidden hook keeper and down-locking on Spey models. The two-handed models have a super plus fore grip and rear grip for comfort in hand. The Flor quality full-wells cork handle in the saltwater models offers comfort while the EVA fighting butt offers support for fighting large fish. The black spruce blank color pairs with dark green thread wraps and metallic grey trim wraps.
The rods have Fuji ceramic stripper guides and a hard chromed snake guide and tip-top. Each rod has a laser etched line weight on the slide band and comes in a black rod bag inside an evergreen powder coated aluminum rod tube. Single hand rods retail for $895, switch rods are $995 and Spey models are $1095. Available August 2016.
About Sage:
Founded in 1980, Sage was created with one idea in mind—to build the world's finest performance fly rods. From the start, Sage has maintained that singular focus on delivering the finest performance fly fishing rods, reels, and equipment to the avid angler. We are a company of passionate anglers and craftsmen, continually seeking performance advantages through new materials, designs, and engagement with the fly fishing community. We fly fish. You can feel our passion for fly fishing in everything we do.
**Our order was placed at the show and the Sage X Fly Rods will be shipping out August 1st. We should have them on the website shortly for pre-order as well.
Congrats again to the folks at Sage. From what I felt, this is well deserved.
Stay tuned....there is alot more to report. I couldn't be more excited about the future of MRO, our sport and our industry!!!
Thanks as always for reading and for your support.
Best,
Brian Flechsig- MRO
July 19th, 2016
Mad River Outfitters
813 Bethel Rd.
Columbus, Ohio 43214
614-451-0363
admin@madriveroutfitters.com
