THE MORNING AFTER his short film "Running Down the Man" (produced with Felt Sole Media partners Travis Rummel and Ben Knight) won the "Five Minutes of Fishing" video event sponsored by The Drake magazine, Cloudveil and Scott at last week's Fly Fishing Retailer show, Frank Smethurst was peeling the lid off of a four-dollar coffee downstairs at the Denver Hyatt Regency. Remembering the beer-fueled spontaneity of of the previous night — packed house, no A/C, all quiet-in-the-theatre rules ignored — I approached gingerly.

"Great job on the roosterfish film, Frank."

"Oh, thanks!"

"What are you going to do with this and all the other great stuff you guys have been producing lately?" I was expecting detail.

"We are going to change fly fishing forever."

The notion that "we need to do something different" — now coming from both tenured product designers and those sporting dreadlocks freshly undone for the show — seemed a given.All I could really do was smile and nod my head. If you love fly fishing, you best choke skepticism when confronted by enthusiasm of this intensity. Besides, I had seen the cleverly shot footage of Frank and his brother wrestling big fish out of the Baja surf and could not argue.

"Want an organic peach from my friend's orchard?" Frank held out a large, perfectly formed specimen. "You'll need a napkin." Here was fly fishing marketing, it occurred to me, the way it should be done.

There had been few gray-hairs at the video screening, but those in attendance were left reminded that as much as fly fishing products lend themselves to classic advertising techniques, something was missing from those exhibitors who didn't embrace something edgy, a little askew from the nostalgia marketing that worked for so well for so long. The notion that "we need to do something different" — now coming from both tenured product designers and those sporting dreadlocks freshly undone for the show — seemed a given.

This year's show attendance was down as expected, because of the move to a late-August time slot ("the only Denver dates available," I heard), but there was a sentiment shared among most of the top-end suppliers that the quality of buyers represented was better than ever. Unlike in 1998, there were no lines of order-toting retailers waiting to talk to reps. Instead, buyers were getting serious face-time with presidents, engineers and marketing directors.

We couldn't possibly cover all of the new products at the show. But we're going to share much of what retailers heard — the good, the bad and the spin-doctored ugly, note our own favorites (see the end of each page for our Best of Show picks), and let you administer the trial-by-fish tests yourselves. "After all," the president of a well-known rod company said to me on the first day of the show, "I tell all of my customers to stop talking and go out and fish."

Oh, and by way of explanation, "Four Feet of Anything" is a catch-all phrase meaning that what you choose for fly fishing gear is sometimes irrelevant, or at times a matter of personal taste. Maybe.

Rods

Tim Rajeff and Jamie Hixson of Rajeff Sports and Echo Fly Fishing showed us an interesting "extension" of the dual-mode fly rod concept at the show: they have a new rod out in 5 and 10 weights — the Echo 2 — that allows conversion from a 9'6" rod to a 10' rod with a simple change of tip sections (the rods they showed me were 4-piece). As Tim pointed out, the extra rod length — which is also modified in taper — does two things: it moves the action of the rod down from the tip and toward the grip, making it a better rod for roll-casting and controlling larger amounts of line; and it gives the float-tuber/drift-boater fisherman better line control by keeping the line higher in the air. Echo 2 rods sell for $269-279 (single-handed) and $349 (two-handed). Read more here.

Orvis continues to make incremental changes in its rod line, carefully choosing improvements in its designs for both fresh- and saltwater. The highlights this year are the Superfine Trout Bum Series rod ($375) and the Zero-Gravity Series ($625-675), which was first introduced in 2005 but has quickly become one of Orvis's best-selling rods of all time (Field & Stream named it one of its "Best of the Best for 2006). Read more here.

Sage created a stir this year with its announcement that they were dropping the XP Series of rods. As a brand label, 'XP' had held the attention of serious fly fishers for many years, but apparently Sage feels that the new Z-Axis technology represents enough of a leap forward that they could retire the brand. The Z-Axis concept replaces glass hoop fibers with graphite and reduces the amount of material required. Sage will bring out the Z-Series in rods from 4-weight ($585) to 10-weight ($825). At the show, Sage was also highlighting new fly rod, reel and line outfits that include a Sage rod (either Fli or Launch series), a Sage reel, and a Rio line with backing, all in an attractive zippered rod/reel case; price: $350-360 for the slower action Launch, $460-465 for the Fli. Read more here.

Rick Pope of Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) is known for looking at the marketplace a little differently. In part this is due to the influence of Lefty Kreh, who believes that it is not necessary for rod manufacturers to introduce dramatic changes in fly rod design in order to increase sales year over year. Instead, TFO sticks with the tried-and-true and makes sure they produce quality products at affordable prices, but always with a few yearly improvements and new offerings. This year their NXT Rod and Reel Outfit, beyond coming in at a pretty remarkable $175 price ($185 for the 8/9 weight with fighting butt), also includes a nice zippered case. In their general rod line, they're introducing new rods designed by Jim Teeny in 10' ($224) and 9' ($199) models, as well as a rod in 5- ($139) and 8-weights ($149) produced specifically to help raise money for Casting for Recovery.

Loomis was the only manufacturer we found at the show with a rod designed specifically for surf-casting: their CrossCurrent Beach Rod, which will arrive in two sizes, an 11'3" 10/11-weight 4-piece ($500) and an 11'3" 12/13-weight 4-piece ($500). Additionally, they are expanding their Roaring River Stinger series to include a 13' 8/9-weight 4-piece GLX rod ($795) and 15' 10/11-weight 3-piece Alta rod ($525). They are also adding a new "summer steelhead rod" in the NativeRun series, a 10' 6-weight 4-piece GLX ($650), and two new Streamdance models, a 9' 4-weight 4-piece Max Line Speed rod ($620; a great hopper/streamer rod) and a 9' 6-weight 4-piece Max Line Speed rod ($630; designed for large streamers from a boat and sink tips).

In the minds of many saltwater anglers, Scott has been challenged in recent years to produce a rod as good as their old STS models. But with the introduction of the X2s series ($575 to $595; 6-weight to 13-weight) — which won American Angler's FFR show KaChing! award for saltwater product most liked by retailers — things may be about to change. For trout anglers, Scott is creating a stir with some new bamboo rods designed by Eden Cane's Bernard Ramanauskus, who is the only rod builder who has figured out how to create nodeless transitions in bamboo rods (this allows the strength fibers to transfer energy through the rod length more efficiently). The SC Series Bamboo rods retail for a steep $2650, but everyone we talked to at the show who had a chance to cast them thought that they were a great value in custom-quality cane rods.

Other notable new rods: R. L. Winston's Boron IIt rods, Redington's SS Supersport Series, St. Croix's Triumph Fly Rods, Beulah's 10'6" Switch Rods and Blue Water Series, and CND Spey Rods' Black Spey Series.

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