Thomas & Thomas any good?

[luckydude]

I did the $3K donation to trout unlimited and they are supposedly sending me this rod. Has anyone else fished it and did you like it?

If it's great then I'd keep it as a backup 5 wt, though I could easily be convinced to trade it for a nice 7 wt.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thomas & Thomas has had a hard time out here on the West coast.

Out here Sage, Scott, Winston and G.Loomis were here first so it has been difficult for them to get a good shop to become a strong T&T dealer.


I think their rods are fantastic but that doesn't seem to help in their effort out West.


On the East coast you have Orvis and T&T are the local companies so they do better there.

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[James W]

You're kidding, right?
I own two T&T rods.
Workmanship is exquisite, none better anywhere.
The blank design is a perfect blend of casting ability and fish fighting backbone.
They are a small privately owned company, and seem quite happy to remain who they are.
Our subservience to marketing hype and their refusal to fund a massive advertising and marketing machine means we'll never see them out here.
Our loss. (Well, not mine, and soon, not yours.)
Wonderful rods. Big with the Eastern saltwater crowd.

[Idadon]

Had an 3wt back in the 90's that I bought at the Hyde drift boat fly shop. BEAUTIFUL rod and it fished great with a Wulff TT line. But the rig was easily overpowered by our East Idaho breeze. Traded it to a local golf golf pro for a new set of Mizuno irons. Great rod and probably the prettiest fly rod I've ever owned but I still play those irons.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

http://www.thomasandthomas.com/store-locations/

They have 2 dealers on the West coast in Washington.

Sage use to have 60 in California alone.

We were dealers for T&T 20 years ago but it is hard to have too many high end brands.

Sage is still number one in high end rod sales then it might be Winston.

Orvis has made some fanatic rods in the past 5 years or more with the Helios.

Scott and G.Loomis have had a hard time finding dealers.

T&T would be a good line for one California fly shop to get behind 100%.

Not every shop gets to be a Sage dealer, but every shop wants to and needs to have Sage for a high end line.

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