poll: Sage z axis or TFO Deer Creek?

[sacrivertrout]

I had a chance to cast the tfo Deer Creek side by side with the twice as expensive Sage Z axis and found the Deer Creek cast much more nicely, and farther out.
Very surprising for a rod that is half the cost! It took a top of the line CND rod to outcast the TFO. Anyone here cast a Deer Creek and Z axis Side by side and find the Z axis to outcast the Deer Creek?

[aaron]

This post is very steve sullivan esque...

But in attempt to remain civil cost has no correlation to casting distance. Any competent spey caster knows this. You're paying the extra bucks for lighter more advanced graphite, made in the USA, etc. A good spey caster can cast their comfortable limits with just about anything that's properly lined. The difference is in feel, recovery rate etc.

The deer creek's are very nice rods, for their price range. Z are much lighter and have very different flex profiles for the most part.

Basically it is ridiculous to compare the casting distance as correlated with cost unless their is and underlying motive.

This coming from someone with extensive experience with each rod in both the deer creek and z axis lineups.

[Jasonh]

Both the TFO Deer Creek and Sage Z-Axis are great rods. It all depends upon which two rods you were throwing and what lines you tried on each of them. Many rods that are labeled the same line weight very rarely cast the exact same lines the same and have similar load. While I think the Z-Axis 5126 and Deer Creek 5/6126 are great rods, each one feels better with a different line. The Deer Creek seems to cast nicely with a CND 5/6 where the Z-Axis does not seem to like this line nearly as well. If you were to put a Rio AFS 5/6 or 6/7 on each rod, I would probably side with the Z-Axis on this one.

I guess what I would say is that every person has their own casting stroke and loads a rod a little different. A spey rod that feels good to one person, might no feel so good to another. It does not suprise me that you liked the TFO over the Z-Axis, they are both great rods at a very different price. There are many great rods at there now at a lower price point that can compete with many expensive ones, Beulah, Echo, and TFO to name a few.

It is cool to see what others have to say about comparing different spey rods.

[sacrivertrout]

This post is very steve sullivan esque...

.

What is a Steve Sullivan esque post and how is that jibe civil? He lives in the same city as you right? Did he have a run in with you? And where does this leave CND which is made in the far east but costs $800?

[Rick J]

As others have stated in various fashions, there is much more to a fly rod than how far it can cast - seems way too many folks place too much emphasis on how far they can cast and not much else.

Do you place value on how light it feels in the hand, how it balances, how smoothly and effortlessly it casts or how easily it can manipulate line once it has been cast.

An example might be: I think that the original Scott G 904 (single handed rod) is one of the finest all around trout rods ever developed. Can it cast as far as some other 4 wts? No, but it can cast as far as I want it to and it can do so many other things well. There are a multitude of 9' 4 wts out there - some more expensive, some less but none would I rather have in my hands.

If you like the TFO for all it can do with the line system you have chosen, then by all means get it over the Z-Axis