FLY ROD WARRANTY

          BY JOHN BERRY

Last week my wife, Lori, had a guide trip with Kaylee, a teenage girl, on Dry Run Creek. They did quite well landing several nice fish, including a trophy rainbow and brown trout. Somehow during the day her client broke Lori’s Orvis fly rod. It was her first fly rod and at seven feet nine inches it was perfect for Dry Run Creek. Luckily Lori had brought a spare rod for the trip and had Kaylee back in action in a matter of minutes. Her dad was concerned and offered to pay for the rod. Lori explained that the rod had a warranty and there would be a minimal shipping fee to have the rod repaired. It was not Lori’s first rodeo. I had personally caught the tip of the same rod in the hatchback of my old Volvo station wagon, when we were fishing at McClellan’s many years ago. 

We found out then that Orvis had one of the best warranty programs in the business. They were the first to establish a no-questions-asked warranty program a couple of decades ago and were quickly followed by most, if not all, of the major rod manufacturers. The warranty covers the original owner for twenty five years. You have to pay shipping to get the rod to the Orvis rod repair shop but there is no charge for the repairs and Orvis pays for the shipping back to you. The turnaround for the repairs was about two to three weeks and they were done flawlessly. 

Unfortunately, I have close personal knowledge of the inner workings of several rod manufacturers’ warranty programs. I have come to this stage by using them. The manufacturer that I am the most familiar with is Temple Fork Outfitter (TFO). They are a supplier of low cost, high performance fly rods. Between Lori and me, we have four nine foot five weight professional series fly rods that we use for client loaner rods. These rods are subject to an incredible amount of abuse and near constant use. I generally send about three rods back every year for some sort of repair. TFO has a really good warranty program. It is for the life of the original owner. There is a twenty five dollar fee for repair and you have to pay for shipping the rod to TFO. The turnaround is fantastic. I generally get mine back in less than a week. I discussed the great service with Rick Pope, president of TFO, at a fly fishing show a few years ago. He said that they usually had a twenty four hour turn around but they did not advertise it. 

When I fish on my own, I generally fish with one of my Sage rods. Somehow, I have not broken a rod since they came out with their lifetime warranty. I did manage to break my beloved Sage Light Line nine foot four weight, which I bought before they began warranting their rods. It was my hands down favorite rod and I had fished it for over twenty years. I broke the tip and sent it back to Sage. They sent me an email and said that the graphite II used to originally manufacture it was no longer available but they would make me a new one out of graphite III for $175.00. It took a couple of months in all but it was worth the cost and the wait.

I often say that I am involved in a mixed marriage. My wife fishes Winston and I fish Sage. After fishing her various Winston rods for a bit over a dozen years, Lori had a handle come loose. We sent it back to Winston and they charged us $50.00 for the repair. It took almost two months but the repair was flawless. 

As you can see, breaking your fly rod is not the end of the world. All of the top manufacturers offer a solid warranty program and some pretty good service. 

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.