Fly Rod Warranties

Fly Rod Warranties

I once planned to lay several fly rods on a table, so I could take a hammer and break them all at once. Then I was going to send them off for warranty repair and judge the different companies for how long they took to fix the repairs, the quality of the work, costs of services and so forth.

Even though that would’ve been world-class (media) clickbait, I just couldn’t bring myself to breaking the rods. I might have sooner taken a ball-peen hammer to my own toes, but that didn’t seem like a very good idea either.

Letting nature take its course instead, over a few years I managed to break a handful of rods the old-fashioned way (by being an idiot). So, I sent them off and what I learned was that one cannot fairly compare rod companies on warranty service, because they’re all different. It’s an apple-oranges deal. Some have made their manufacturing processes so uniform that they can replace one broken tip section with another off the shelf (Orvis, Epic Fly Rods). Others (Sage) will rebuild the broken part specifically to match your rod.

You can decide for yourself how much the “custom” factor appeals to you, but when I sent off four rods, they all came back in basically the same order I anticipated. Orvis was fastest (within a week), Winston slowest (about six months), Sage and Scott were in between at a couple months each. Which is pretty much what all these companies say they do, if you read the fine print when you buy the rods/warranty in the first place.

I didn’t test other rod companies because, fortunately, I’m not that fantastically uncoordinated that I can break rods by brand, but I am sure that will happen over time. I’ll keep you posted.

I also found it interesting that some companies still try to decipher the degrees of carelessness that led to the rod breaking in the first place. Sage says its “fly rods come with a lifetime warranty for the original owner, covering defects in materials and workmanship. This warranty applies to the rod, blank. However, it does not cover damages from misuse, neglect, normal wear and tear, fire, theft, or intentional breakage. A repair or replacement is at Sage's discretion.”

I mean, I get it if the reel seat falls off when you take it out of the tube for the first time (which has never happened to me), but pulling on a 100-pound tarpon with a 7-weight kinda pushes the boundaries of common sense. And who’s recording the play-by-play to make that judgment call?

What’s the point of warranties if they’re not no-fault warranties? In many cases, what we’re really talking about is a tiered menu of repair prices. In others, it truly is “no-fault.” Your dog ate it, we fix it. You break it in a screen door, we fix it. You smash it with a hammer…we fix it.

I still contend that consumers are already pre-paying for most of those fixes. Figure one in three rods gets broken, so build a third extra into the price tag up front. Whether that’s been a boon or bust for the average fly shop over the past 30 years or so has been a topic of hot debate for, well, 30 years or so.

The days of taking your broken rod to the fly shop and they send it in for you, and a couple weeks later you get your fixed rod back–at no cost (yes, believe it or not, this is how it happened, back in the day)–have gone the way of the dodo. You can easily drop a couple hundy getting your warrantied rod fixed by some companies.

Which leads us to the real question of the day–are rod warranties even worth it anymore? The companies that kick everyone else’s asses when it comes to warranties don’t like me asking that. And neither do the companies that, truth be told, consider warranties an albatross.

So things stay the same.

But I’d sure be curious about what kind of reaction consumers would have if they were given the option of buying warranty coverage or not at the time of purchase, like you get when you buy a stereo at Best Buy. Would you spend $1200 for the fly rod all-in with warranty, or, say $800, knowing you save up front, but will eat the cost if you do something stupid and break it?

I can tell you with certainty that anglers would be a lot more careful with fly rods minus the automatic warranty.

For damn sure, no jackass would be dumb enough to even think about smashing them with a hammer. – Kirk Deeter

Killing The Clock

“The length of the casting stroke is a function of the length of the line being cast. The relationship works like this: short line, short stroke. Longer line, longer stroke. So every time we change the length of our line, we also change the length of our stroke. Consequently, there can be no fixed backcast position. The correct backcast position varies depending on the distance being cast. Could be 10:00 a.m., high noon, 3:00 p.m., or any time in between. In my case, it turned out the right position was about 1:00 o’clock. That resulted in my line turning over perfectly, straightening out just before settling gently to the floor…”

Read the entire article on Substack.

Product Buzz

We review the MFC Fly Tying Mat: a durable, non-slip mat designed to enhance your fly tying experience. Hatch reviews the Patagonia Guidewater Waterproof Backpack and the Simms Dry Creek Z Backpack (Patagonia: “everything you need, nothing that you don’t” | Simms: the zipper requires some conscious thought). Bucktail Flies: “Beastly bucktail baitfish flies tied by Andre van Wyk, aka Dre, a South African Chewbacca. Some say each one is tied with a signature strand of his beard…” From Flylords: The Best Graphite Fly Rods They’ve Ever Fished and the Most Versatile Fly Rod in the lineup (spoiler alert: it’s a 9-foot, 6-weight). From GearJunkie: Best in Show: ICAST 2025. “The truth is, not every new product is good. Not everything deserves a spotlight just because it’s new. And I definitely didn’t have time to see it all. ICAST is massive, and I’m just one person with a very full notebook.” From Field Mag: The Merino Wool Alternative Backed by Hoka, Ibex & More. “Textile industry veteran Andy Wynne designed a twist-free way to spin merino fabric into yarn that helps it retain its renowned performance properties in a lighter, more breathable base material. And thus, Nuyarn was born.” The Top 5 New Fly-Fishing Products At ICAST 2025 from the House of Fly: Trxstle ARC System Roof Rack and Epropulsion eLite Electric Outboard Motor stood out.

Fly-fishing News

Check out our new Flylab Substack and the cool content over there. Some smart fishing advice from Worldcast Anglers and Fish Camp about handling fish in the heat of the summer: “tips for trout anglers to consider this summer to ensure we are being as trout friendly as possible.” Larry Dahlberg on the Mill House Podcast: “More than a television host, Larry was a true visionary and master angler. He had an uncanny ability to read water, analyze structure, understand thermoclines and bait movement, and then apply that knowledge to target species most had only dreamed of.” Rock fishing in Australia with Jonny Brooks. Some great photo tips for shooting on your next fishing trip from Jess McGlothlin: “Shoot lots of images–the beauty of the digital era is you can simply delete the ‘learning’ shots.” New Zealand fly-fishing guide Cory Scott heads back to some home waters he hasn't fished in forty years. In Wyoming, the North Platte River goes barbless and bans some bead rigs. “We’re concerned that the advent of this technique overlaps with the appearance of these more massive and severe injuries,” Mark Smith, Game and Fish’s fisheries management coordinator, told members of the commission at a Casper meeting. Deeter goes deep on Tricos: “The trout were already dialed in, swirling and gnashing at the surface, their mouths clicking and popping like castanets.” Fred Telleen as well, with The Clear Winged Curse.

Recent Press

On They Ain’t from Around Here: “Good stuff, Miles. Sadly, true-believer heads are exploding all over the country right now. In any case, here’s hoping that we decide to take a long, hard look in the mirror–both on this issue and other, more important, ones–before we piss away pretty much everything we care about…” – Todd Tanner, Flylab Fan

“I can’t wait to release my next carp–with a smile. As I always have and always will. One of the great fish on the planet along with many others that has to deal with this ‘Non-Native’ BS. How about Yellowstone turning lake trout, one of North America’s finer game fish, into villains. It’s not the lakers’ fault. The whole thing is sad. It’s gross. It’s ridiculous. There’s a long list of examples, but I think you made it clear. Fantastic article Miles.” – Jeff Currier, Flylab Fan

“An engaging, thought-provoking piece; thank you for publishing it. However, in this era of climate change and regulatory rollback, a focus on the enhancement of sport fisheries is no longer enough. We fly fishers should broaden our perspective and invest more of our time, talent and treasure into improving overall watershed health. Doing so will usually help fish, too, of course, although the benefits might be indirect rather than a project’s emphasis. The health of the waters we fish depends largely on what’s happening upslope in their drainage.” – Richard, Flylab Fan

“I have a broken reel handle. How hard is it to get the issue resolved, and what steps do I need to take?” – Roe Collins, Professional Fisherman

Roe, take it to a fly shop–they can get you set up.

We’re always looking for Flylab feedback–send any comments, thoughts, suggestions, and we’d love to hear from you.

Tom’s Leader

“Now, you might think that $5-$10 of monofilament and/or fluorocarbon attached to hundreds of dollars (or more) of gear might be a little lower on his priority list. But Rosenbauer says it’s the number one thing he worries about–not only because that’s the ‘connection’ to the fly and fish, but also because a properly built leader (he builds or at least modifies his own) will do more to help the cast and presentation than most anglers are willing to acknowledge...”

Read the entire article on Substack.

Partner Spotlight

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Marina Gibson and many others have dedicated their lives and careers to ensuring that fishing for wild Atlantic salmon is more than “a beautiful waste of time.”