March Brown Travel Fly Rods

[chemdoc]

I am looking for a light weight travel rod for hiking in the mountains and a google search turned up a company called March Brown. They have a 7 piece 3 wt rod that can be used in lengths of either 6'6" or 5'6". They also offer a lifetime guarantee. It sounds like just what I am looking for, but was interested in any advice or insights the group might offer. Thanks.

Phil

[sacrivertrout]

I am looking for a light weight travel rod for hiking in the mountains and a google search turned up a company called March Brown. They have a 7 piece 3 wt rod that can be used in lengths of either 6'6" or 5'6". They also offer a lifetime guarantee. It sounds like just what I am looking for, but was interested in any advice or insights the group might offer. Thanks.

Phil

Have heard that they cast decently, and you wont find a 7 or 10 piece rod from anyone else. Just dont pay retail on them, they are some insane price like $700 (check the website) so they can blow them out through places like sierra trading post and still make a profit.
Try www.bearsden.com, I think they have the rods at about half retail... lets see, they have the executive performance at $349.99, and at marchbrown.com its msrp is $810. Quite a bargain The Bearsden is giving you!!

[Paul B.]

Hi Phil, If you want to try fiberglass you might try the McFarland rod company. He makes some nice travel rods. From what I understand they cast very well.
What kind of bike did you get? I had a friend make a rod case for a 7' 3 piece rod out of black PVC with a sholder strap. I can ride to the stream on my bike and toss it in the bushes while I an fishing. If you want to see it I'll bring it in to the shop so you can swing by and have a look. Paul

[chemdoc]

Thanks for the info guys. The rod I am looking at is listed at $498 on the company website but can be purchased from retailers for under $200. I actually spoke to someone at the Bears Den today.

Paul, I'll be in Saturday for some vehicle service and will stop by. If it is convenient to bring the rod by I would appreciate seeing it.

Phil

[Paul B.]

See you there Phil. I'll bring it. PB

[chemdoc]

I spoke with Bill and he had never heard of March Brown and recommended going with an established vendor such as TFO or Reddington. On top of that, the two email messages I sent to March Brown 10 days ago were never answered and they have no phone number. I would be very concerned if I needed a repair and could never contact anyone.

I ended up stopping by the shop last week and buying a TFO 6'9 " 1 wt rod. It casts very nicely with a 2 wt sage line and I can't wait to get up to the mountains to try it out in some small streams. My only complaint is that TFO does not provide rod tubes. In fact, they don't even make a tube for the rod if one was willing to pay extra for it.

One might think that for $179 a rod tube wouldn't be included, but the Sage Launch rods cost about the same and have nice tubes included. Even the $99 Cortland rod I bought in Montana after breaking my rod came with a tube, so I don't think the low price can be the only explanation. Keep this in mind if you plan to buy a TFO rod.

Phil

[sacrivertrout]

I spoke with Bill and he had never heard of March Brown and recommended going with an established vendor such as TFO or Reddington. On top of that, the two email messages I sent to March Brown 10 days ago were never answered and they have no phone number. I would be very concerned if I needed a repair and could never contact anyone.

Phil

I did not want to say anything but MB has a bad rep. There used to be a web site called www.travelflyrods.com which evaluated rods. A sage xp would get like 3 stars, a winston like 2, but all the march brown rods got 5 stars. All other rods were marvelled in comparison to MB. Well people looked it up and MB and this web site were owned by the same people, the owner of MB. A touch uncouth. MB having a MSRP almost 3 times what fly shops sell them for is a bit weird also, like I said I think it is just so they can dump them on STP, where you will see them often.