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3. YES! another rod question, Page 3

Well the answer to these questions is quite simple. Because you paid for it.

Take Winston for example. They offer an “Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee”. Yes there are stipulations and there is a fee and no doubt this guarantee is reflected in the price of the rod. But if the manufacturer offers it and you accept it as incentive to buy you have paid for it and it is the manufactures responsibility, or better yet good business practice, to honor it.

Spence wrote;

"Please don't remind me of the Hardy reel I left on the roof of my car one evening after fishing...I never saw it again after that mistake!"

Oh, so I'm not the only who has done that? There was a trip I made with my Dad to YNP for cutthroats. We had a great day and probably caught thirty fish each and it started to sprinkle and we decided to leave. So we went back to the big Suburban we had rented and it started to rain really hard. I'd borrowed his Fisher rod and one of my early Hardy LRH reels and put it on top of the Suburban - well you all know the rest of the story. It started to rain really hard and we were all scurrrying to get our stuff off and get into the vehicle.

We got into the vehicle and drove off, all the way back to Ennis where we were based. The next day as we are getting our gear out of the vehicle at the motel my Dad says "Where's my rod?" All of a sudden it came to me that I'd left the rod on top of the vehicle and driven off without it. It was obviously gone and it was pointless to go back to YNP to look for it.

So I walked across Main street to Madison River Outfitters and bought a new Loomis 9' #5 and a new Hardy LRH. After that my Dad never let me use his rods anymore!

Left a Sage Rod with a Hardy LRH on the bank TWICE only to return and find it still there...3rd time I did it, no such luck. And as I've gotten older my absent mindedness has gotten worse.

"Well the answer to these questions is quite simple. Because you paid for it."

Yes, you are right except I have never paid more than $350 for a fly rod in over forty years of fly fishing and none of my rods have lifetime warranties - makes me be a lot more careful now that I'm retired and ain't making those big bucks anymore.

Matt,

That's usually how it goes. When we somehow are removed from our routine, what we normally do all the time, something goes wrong.

When I lost the reel (Hardy Flyweight with a DT Floating 3wt line) I had been fishing with a good friend. His car we parked at a bridge and we drove mine upstream and fished down. We were in a rush. We were trying to get in to town to grab some take-out, and get back to the room in time for the third period of the Wings game.

When he dropped me off at my car there were two guys getting ready to do some night fishing. We spoke for a few, which probably made me forget that the reel wasn't stowed properly. As I was driving I remember thinking that I had heard a weird noise but kept driving.

The next morning I was going to the car to grab my reel to see what condition my leader was in and when I opened the hatch I spotted the blue Hardy case sitting in there open and no reel. I knew right a way I was screwed. I never leave the reel out unless it had been raining and the reel is wet...

I drove all over hell, back tracking, but no luck. Most guys know that nearly everyone passes through Gates' fly shop and they run a lost-and-found and most guys turn found stuff in there. No such luck with my reel. This was 1995 and I was heading out west in a couple months...I scheduled all the rods and reels I took on my home insurance for the trip.

Spence

Are those astronomically high priced fly rods with their unconditional lifetime guarantees worth it? YES

And here is the proof: Some people have more money than they have in common sense.

So Matt, from this perspective I agree with you.

Falsifly wrote;

"And here is the proof: Some people have more money than they have in common sense."

That's funny, I was thinking it but you had the cojones to say it.