I saw a post a few months ago about cheap fly rods from China. I was looking for a 7 wt and found a nano fly rod from Maxcatch on Ebay for about $180. I checked the Maxcatch website and found it for $143. It looked to be the same rod that bigyflyco.com was selling for $199.

I went ahead and ordered it along with a Toro fly reel for $55 and a spare spool, $16 sink tip line, and $22 WF line. It shipped UPS from China and arrived in only four days.

I really like the rod. It is light and casts the cheap WF line pretty well. Haven't tried the sink tip yet. I also have a Lamson liquid fly reel with Orvis bass line that I am going to try out soon.

I liked the rod so much I went ahead and ordered a 4, 5, and 6 wt rod (birthdays coming up and wife graciously let me get this). I have an Orvis 5 and 6 wt Recon and if the Maxcatch rods are comparable to the 7 wt I think they will match up very well with the Orvis at about 1/3 the price.

The rods match shipped yesterday and should be here by the 6th according to UPS.

We are fixing to hit China with 25% tarrifs on $200 billion of goods and if the rods are part of that it will increase the price somewhat.

Maxcatch also has a lot of inexpensive rods/reels that would be good for sons/daughters to try out to see if they would be interested in fly fishing without breaking the bank. The one down side is there isn't anywhere to try out the rods before buying that I am aware of, but most of the reviews I have seen on the internet have been generally favorable.

www.maxcatchfishing.com/fly_fishing-lure...on_fly_rod.html

For those who have no problem in dealing with a Chinese company, your money will go far with Maxcatch gear. I have a 7 ft. 3 weight glass rod I purchased from them. While the taper of the rod is not my favorite, the execution of the rod build is excellent. A buddy of mine has a couple of their Avid fly reels and is very happy with them. Another friend had purchased an Avid and decided to try out some of their even lower priced offerings. For $28 he received a nice wide arbor 3/4 weight reel with backing, line, leader, and a couple of braided loop conncectors. The reel appeared to be well made, was very smooth in action. If you set the drag tight there was some grabbing, but at the drag levels normally used, the drag was smooth. He also picked up a couple of identical reels, in different colors, for $14 each. Hard to beat those prices, and the quality is much higher than expected for those prices. For a beginner or for kids, this can be a good place to shop.

Larry

I own 6 Maxcatch Rods and like them a lot. The reels are great but don't buy the models under $ 50.00. If you have not tried Euro Nymphing, U can get a great rod for a great price. Try the 11' 4 weight Switch Rod combos! I own 3 of those and we catch big trout in Oregon swinging sculpin streamers.

250 to 300 grain Skagit Head with mono running line. 10 feet of T8 sink tip is not a problem! A July Neck Surgery canceled my September Trip to Oregon? Here is the river I grew up on! The North Santiam River gets very little pressure and it is rare to see another drift boat or raft on a weekend trip! You can find Maxcatch on Ebay and AliExpress App. The fly lines are not great, but we have found the Nymph Line to be pretty good. We run those on 9' 5 weight. The nymph lines not only roll cast like a dream but over-hand cast well too!

https://www.maxcatchfishing.com/

I have a maxcatch Glass 8� 5 weight. It�s has very strange and steep progressive taper. The butt is larger in diameter, by a long shot, than my glass 7/8 weight CGRs and even a little bigger than my 8/9 weight G.Loomis Short Stix. It�s like Maxcatch was trying to make a very fast glass rod, but I don�t think being that fast with glass is where it�s at. It�s amazingly heavy even for a glass rod which are known to be heavier than carbon. I would like to try the 5 weight on a big redfish or something big and strong. With the rod butt being what it is, I�m not sure even a big ugly or jetty tuna could bend the rod into the butt.

It�s definitely something I could use and do occasionally use, but with so many other rods I like more like the CGR series, the maxcatch 5 weight hardly ever gets in the game. It may be that I just like slow glass and fast carbon and not the other way around.

I�ve got an maxcatch Avid fly line that pretty good.

Thanks for the feed back, I was thinking of getting one but I do like my CGR.

Never tried a Maxcatch rod (and never heard of them before this thread) but if you are looking for a fiberglass rod I will throw in a plug for the Eagle Claw Featherlight fly rods. I have the 6-6, 7 and 8 foot models and like them all, with the 7-foot being my favorite. All of them have Martin tuna can reels (60s models) I bought on eBay, making the combo cost less than $50. I have heard bad things about slightly more expensive Eagle Claw Crafted fly rods, but have never tried them. What I can say is that if you buy a $25 Featherlight rod, you will have a ton of fun.

I have a 9 ft TFO 5wt rod. A little long for the kayak and would like something that makes catching small fish more fun. Also something that if something happens to it is not such a big investment.
I have been looking for an inexpensive shorter 3 wt rod. Preferably a slow rod.
Sounds like the featherlight might be what I am looking for.
Do you have 6-6 3 wt?

I have all three of the Featherlights. The 6-6 is listed as a 3/4 but I find it more of a 4 weight than a 3 weight. It is a super fun little rod but I didn't find that it cast the 3 weight line very well.

Can you tell me about the 7 foot rod that is your favorite?
How would you compare the 6-6 and 7 foot rods?

Go for the CGR from Cabelas it comes in the length you want and the action. I have the 2 weight and love it.

The Maxcatch Ultraglass series, as previously mentioned, has a rather odd action taper, with most of the rod's flex occurring in the last 18" of the rod. It takes a pretty strong pull to flex the rod into the midsection, and I don't know what it would take to get the butt section to flex. The Maxcatch Uniglass series is made from S-glass and has a more typical progressive taper. I understand that most people prefer to use at least one line weight heavier on the Uniglass rods. Like many others I enjoy the CGR's, but I think the 3 weight version is too short to use anywhere other than a small stream. The 4 weight would probably be a better option. Another good 3 weight rod, at 6' 7" long, would be the Aventik or Riverruns rod, available through E-bay or Amazon. This rod offers a decent medium action progressive taper blank for less than $100.

Larry

I have a 6 weight line on the 7' rod. Kind of tough to explain, but it just feels better casting than the shorter rods, presumably because it is a bit longer. Don't get me wrong, I like my 6'6" rods and fish them often, especially on smaller creeks where they excel, but the 7' rod just has a little better feel.

The 8' rod has a 7 weight line on it and it casts nicely as well. I tend to use it when throwing bigger flies such as Lunch Moneys and the excellent deer hair divers TFFer Karstopo sent me. I have modified it by adding a handle to the butt end to make it look like a switch rod, but the line I have on it currently doesn't allow for two-handed casting, although the rod is whippy enough that I am not any line would really allow for two-handed casting. I just thought the handle looked cool so I bought the kit online and added it to the rod. Here is a link that shows the switch rod, and a link to purchase the conversion kit.

Ocelot, if you want to meet up some weekend at Bethany Lakes in Allen I can bring the three different Featherlights out so you can try them out.

Many thanks for the info.
Being able to take the lighter rod fishing in creeks or tighter quarters was my main reason for asking about the 6-6.
I will have to take you up on the offer to try them out.
Will PM you when a weekend looks good.