Saturday, July 20, 2013

First Look - ECHO Glass Series

While I didn't make it to IFTD this year, I did have an idea that there would be some interesting fiberglass fly rods introduced, one of which were the new offerings from ECHO Fly Rods with their ECHO Glass Series.

Luckily the fellows from Gink & Gasoline were there and met with Tim Rajeff to get the full breakdown and background on these new fly rods. 



The ECHO Glass Series will be offered in the following lengths and line weights. 

6'3" Two Weight
6'9" Three Weight
7'4" Four Weight
7'10" Five Weight

Each of these fly rods will be three piece models and will have a downlocking reel seat hardware.  The ECHO Glass Series will be priced at $200.00.

I'll be getting a couple of these to demo and review and if all goes right I'll be adding them to the T.F.M. Fly Rod Loan Program as well.

More information on the Glass Series should be up on the ECHO Fly Rods website soon.

2 comments:

gfen said...

tim rajeff barked, "...and make sure they stand out," as he walks out of the room after making his final presentation on their new fiberglass lineup.

designers, looking at each other, "stand out? jesus, everyone and their mother is coming out with a glass rod... two years ago, that was enough to stand out. now he wants us to make them different."

(everyone sits silently)

"we could, y'know, make 'em clear?" proffers one guy in the back.

"no, some Japanese guy's already doing that."

"hey, how about crazy colours, bright red and blues?"

"no," the lead fires back, "someone's doing that now, too."

"can't do cost, Cabela's has us there."

"i know...." heads turn in unison to the speaker, one of the newer guys on the team, "let's just hack an inch or two of each one so we can claim they're specifically designed to fit outstanding holes in your line-up you never knew existed."

smiles broke out around the room, and the ECHO glass taper lineup was formed.

seriously, what the hell's a 7'10" rod? an inch or two in either direction just really threw it all off that much, eh?

Cameron Mortenson said...

gfen...HA... I enjoyed this and thanks for keeping us all awake.

I trust Tim Rajeff for a couple reasons on this. First, Tim knows glass. He and his brother used to win fly casting competitions on old Fenwicks and other glass fly rods. He's very familiar with what makes glass good.

Second, in the pool of moderately priced glass fly rods, offering lengths that are a little different than everyone else does a good job of letting people know that you're offering something not like everyone else. Could an 8' ECHO Glass feel the same as a 7'11" ECHO Glass? Very likely...but I think offering that stands apart from the same lengths and line weights says something too.