It’s my contention that the only thing spurring innovation is the much reviled competition scene, every other rod maker is fiddling with weight and thinking they’re being creative as all hell.

The idea is certainly clever, a fifth piece, lacking guides, that transforms a nine footer into a Czech nymph rod; but they might want to keep going and include a detachable handle and a three foot extension that makes a full blown spey or switch rod.

Why not more than a single use for a fly rod? It would go a long way to lessen the clutter in the garage, lower the divorce rate, and make rods multi-seasonal, and we could get a deftly accented quiver to carry all those spare sections.

No guides means we can snap them in or take them out at any time. If we’re striding the bank looking for trout and spy a pod of feeding carp, we snap in the stiff section, cut the leader back to 0X, and alter our timing.

Or the line makers could extend the multi-tip concept beyond the spey crowd, and we could snap in a weight forward segment that boosts the five to a six, even a seven …

Walton Powell (and others) have always insisted that rods can handle three different weights with little more than a timing change, suggesting them wily Czech’s were listening.

… and while the mainstream rods go for “less filling” over “taste’s great” they’re just marking time until Graphene can be rolled on a mandrel. The wait won’t be long as they’re already testing TV screens made with a four atom thick variant.

A material one atom thick that’s stronger than steel, almost transparent, and you dare not set the rod down in a strong wind … We’ll jettison the extra scabbard notion and take a segment out of our wading staff to extend the rod.