I always try to have my ear to the ground to hear what's new within the fiberglass fly rod realm and a few months ago was tipped off that Jussi Sojakka of RFT Gear was working on a series of blanks that immediately perked my interest. I typically prefer glass rods in nearly all line weights that measure eight foot in length or less and his 7'4" 4-weight and 7'6" 5-weight sounded like neat offerings.
The RFT Quick Flex blanks and fly rods are available now in both four and five weights and hopefully I'll have one in my hands soon to demo and test. All indications from the "Glass Geeks" online that I've talked to are that these are impressive and superb casting fly rods.
I asked Jussi if he'd send along the story on the RFT Quick Flex blanks and he did so along with providing a mix of images to compliment the article that were taken by photographer Bastien Artigas.
Jussi wrote... "The RFT Quick Flex blanks are mainly my own project and partially a
dream come true for me. The RFT Gear web shop has been in business for three
years now and we have experimented in collaboration with some other brands. Since our customers have requested something else from time to time,
we have begun to develop our own blanks. Our company has a background of being
involved in tackle development and that has specifically been a great
interest for me.
I took over the company on New Year's 2021 and
immediately wanted to proceed with RFT’s own selection of glass blanks that are
clearly in the modern glass category. Our aim was fast and light yet responsive glass blanks. The development process was fairly
fast due our trusted manufacturing partners.
The blanks are made from S-glass and the taper is progressive.
The present selection has two blanks with a 7'4" 4-weight and a 7’6” 5-weight. The 4-weight is a true dry fly rod developed from the perspective of a Nordic
angler. It’s slightly faster than the five and really crisp. The 5-weight is sort of my own baby as my fly fishing began in the tailwaters of
Central Finland where brown trout is the main target. I love dry fly
fishing but I’m really a “One Rod Guy”. I don’t want to carry multiple
rods while I’m fishing and that’s why the five weight had to be a perfect tailwater all-rounder. Light enough that it doesn’t spoil the dry fly
fishing but it needed to have backbone to work with streamers too in
pocket water.
The blanks are available for all rod builders in our RFT Gear web shop which serves mainly the European market and MB Custom Rods covers Germany. We are also offering RFT Quick Flex fly rods that are built in our workshop here in Finland.
The goal is to expand the selection to heavier range of
fly rods and blanks during next winter. The specs are set but will remain as a
secret until after production."
The RFT Quick Flex blanks can be purchased as the blank alone or as a kit for your own assembly. These blanks are also offered as a fly rod built in the RFT Gear too. It's likely that you're going to have to bust out your currency converter but I bet that it's worth it.
Visit the RFT Gear website to check things out and follow along on Facebook and Instagram for the latest shop news and offerings.
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