Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Maxcatch fly rods

Anyone ever try them? Most reviews are very positive and the cost is low. Am considering picking up a couple of their 4 piece, 10 wt rods for salmon in Alaska. Sockeyes are notorious for breaking rods on the Russian and Kenai rivers when combat fishing.

I haven't tried that brand but I do fish with a Courtland Fairplay when I go to Alaska. It is about the same price as the Maxcatch and casts well and I've had no problems with it at all. I got the rod/reel combo.

Is there an Echo in here?

Toughest rod for the money... and they perform about as well as the high end rods. An 8 is plenty.

Salmon never break rods on the Russian! It is operator error. Touch your rod above the cork while fighting decent fish and watch it go. Splitshot dings are not there from fish either.

I bought their 7' 3wt glass rod on a whim. I was pairing it with a DT 4wt line, and it still felt well underlined until I was casting 50' or so. Kinda not the purpose of a fiberglass rod.

The fittings are pretty cheap, but for about $70, what is to be expected?

I seem to recall someone on the Speypages having good luck with their rods as well.

Thanks guys. Seem like they are at least worth a try. Ordered a 10wt and once I have time to try it might buy a 8 and 9 to see if they are a better fit.

I will say that I've never owned a high-end fly rod but have caught a lot of fish on fly rods over the past 60 years. I decided to to replace some of my old fiberglass rods and bought 3 Maxcatch rods to cover small stream trout to northern pike and am not disappointed.

Echo's are a pretty tough rod, especially their fiberglass versions.

Know several guides (not in AK) using them for salmon.

I really doubt that Maxxcatch is their equal on big fish rods.

MM

I remember back in the late 80’s and early 90’s Korea was known as the fishing rod capital of the world. Each time I went there TDY would stock up. Not much difference between how an inexpensive fly rod and a high end one was built other than cosmetics and attention to detail.
Doubt much has changed since the Chinese have taken over.
Expensive fly rods, say over $300, are designed to hook fisherman more than fish.

Yes. Breakage is 95% on the fisherman. If under gunned in a fight, one simply drops the tip and goes to the reel.

Watched a cross stream guy dunking eggs for silvers one day break two rods before leaving. His strikes on a bump could extract the ivory from an elephant.

I have early glass Fenwicks up and into some fine custom (Orvis/Meiser) rods. Not one of them is an orgasmic experience, and I live for steelhead fishing. I'm happy to fish either any day of the week, as I'm not into cosmetics or impressing the next guy down the bank. Last guided steelhead trip I got grief for packing a 1970's 9-wt glass Fenwick with a Pflueger reel on board. One guess as to the sole person landing fish that day.



There's a famous line somewhere about folks that blame their equipment.

The current Fenwick AETOS series rods, are really hard to beat for the money, but they don't make one heavy enough for taking on big Kings................but within their capabilities they are really great for the money.

Coming from a long time (& still) G-Loomis fan.

MM

Great pic.
I think that Fenglas just might be a better fish-fighting rod material.
I've had many fishfights on the Deschutes with Fenglas.

Love the Metolius river I always heard it meant (River of stinking fish) used to have Salmon in it

Yes, famous spot in that pic.

Rod arrived. Seems pretty nice. Not a lot of adornment on the rod and I am fine with that. Cork handle has a slight petroleum odor but that should go away in time. The case the rod came in is first rate. Reasonably light weight and action is what I expected for a 10 wt 9 footer. Without wetting a line my thoughts are I like how the rod feels and it is really nice for the money. $74 delivered. Just placed an order for another Predator but this will one is a 9 wt 9 footer. When you are chunking a 1/2 to 3/4 ounce sinker it really isn’t “fly fishing” anyhow.

Ordering direct from their web site is the best deal as they do not tack on sales tax. Both eBay and Amazon are higher priced and then sales tax is added.

Thanks for the follow up. I’m looking at the same rod for muskie.

Those Spey rods look good. Looks like some great pricing. Let us know how they hold up to a salmon.

The 9 wt arrived 5 days after ordering it direct from their web site, maxcatchfishing.com. The direct order was priced less, and they didn't charge state sales tax. They also included two fly lines, one floating and one sinking, plus a nice neck scarf. All for $74!
Slight differences between the 10wt vs 9wt. The fighting butt on the 10 is about 1/2 inch longer and of course the rod had a slightly bigger diameter compared to the 9. Actions felt almost identical.
Both are the same color, dark blue. I liked the fact each section of both rods was labeled with the rod weight and length. This will help mixing them up once they are out of the cases. The 9 shipped in the same excellent case the 10 did. One hell of a bargain for $74 and two fly lines.

Their website product description sentence structure & wording sounds typically Chinese-English.

The least they could have done would have been to hire an American PR company to do the write-ups for their website.

MM

One last thing, I was breaking down the box the rod came in and found they also included a cool looking summer baseball hat.
A 9 wt fly rod, two 9 wt lines, and one hat for $74. Bargain of the year if you ask me.