Matrix: What type of small stream rod do you fish?

[palewatery]

A graphite rod is the most overpriced rod by far.

At retail prices, the graphite rod is the most expensive rod you can own.

With the greatest of respect I would have to disagree with both of you. It’s not so long ago, only a few years, since cheap graphite rods were downright nasty and the difference in quality from low end to high end was huge but those days are gone.
Brand new you can easily pick up a graphite rod that’s serviceable for $100 and one that’s really very good for under $300. Last year I cast a friend’s rod that was bought new for $60-70 and while it looked rough it cast beautifully. Top ends for pretty much all the big name brands are around $700, compare that like for like with Bamboo rods from the same big name makers, Thomas & Thomas Classic $2600.. Thomas & Thomas Individual $3450.. Orvis Standard $1395.. Orvis Special $3500.. Winstons for $2750 - $3000. Then there’s Tom Morgan Bamboo for $3850 and Graphite for $1400. Tea Stick Bamboo’s which I’ve never tried but have heard are not great start at $600 for ones machined in the far east and finish built in the US.
For new rods top names who make both types of rod have the average cost of the Bamboo’s at least twice the price of the top Graphite’s, the market sets the price for both of them.

Second hand is much the same story with the market determining the price only supply and demand come into it a bit more, but if you spend time looking you can pick up Graphite bargains just the same. High end rods change and get updated every couple of years so second hand ones are readily available and with the cheaper rods getting better every year decent second hand Graphite’s are getting better and cheaper too.

Whether Graphite is better than Bamboo or Bamboo is better than Graphite is a whole other subject. It’s also very very open to each individuals likes and dislikes.

The 100 bamboo (wood guys in this group) are the guys who love the mountains, know the outdoors, know the ins and outs of tying, know fishing. They are not caught up in the media frenzy for the latest and greatest. They are the ones I want to be a part of and learn from.

The 100 graphite guys are into FISHING! Focused on it but not the most knowing of the whole scene of fishing and the outdoors. Lower percentages of all around (tying, conservation, casting dynamics) general knowledge... Concerned more about names than performance.

Again, with respect, that’s a sweeping generalisation. That’s your experience/opinion and I respect that but it cannot be expanded across the whole fishing scene. At least not from a UK standpoint, maybe it's a cultural difference between the US and the UK???

My 2p.