Most of The Caddis Fly Staff headed up to Vancouver Washington this past Saturday to visit with Tim Rajeff and his crew at Rajeff Sports. The experienced team of Tim Rajeff, Katherine Hart, Jarod Black and Randy Stetzer gave us the tour of operations and then we got into the nitty-gritty of how and why Echo fly rods are doing so well in today’s market.
Tim Rajeff has been around graphite fly rods since the beginning, when he had actual hair. He and his brother cast the first modern fly rod designed by Jimmy Green at Fenwick in 1972. Tim has worked in the designing, testing and fishing graphite ever since. His enthusiasm and passion for fly rods is matched by his technical expertise and design experience. His philosophy with Echo Fly Rods: “make an affordable first rod and a great back up”. That philosophy has led to the creation of some of the best performing and most durable import fly rods on the market today. Echo rods have exceeded his initial criteria and have become favorite “first rods out of the quiver” for anglers all over the world.
We had fun testing these “over-designed” Echo rods at the distribution center. We lifted, bent, broke and watched Tim do things to rods you simply would never think could be done.
Later in the afternoon we drove over to Tim and Katherine’s place for some on the water testing and a BBQ. The Staff was able to cast the new Echo Edge and Echo 3 Rods. We also got to test an excellent variety of Airflo lines for 2011 on a bunch of Echo rods. Thinking about it now there may have been 30-40 rods rigged up at Tim and Katherine’s casting pond. Echo Switch, Tim Rajeff Spey, Dec Hogan Spey, Echo Edge Freshwater,Echo Edge Saltwater, Echo 3 Freshwater, Echo 3 Saltwater, Echo Ion, Echo Carbon and the list goes on. Thanks to the Rajeff team we tested and ate well. A big thanks to the hosts!
Here are a few of our take-away nuggets from our tour of the Echo – Airflo facility over the weekend.
Fly rods from three wt to 12 wt that will make the most experienced angler smile.
Fly rods and fly lines that have been personally designed by men and women who actually fish their brains out.
Backup fly rods that you can really depend on when you are three thousand miles away from the Caddis Fly crew.
A 99-buck Spey reel.
Airflo fly lines that perform for a wide range of experience and specialized fishing environments.
Overnight delivery of almost every conceivable fly rod, line, and leader.
One-week, 35-buck warranty service.
Cutting edge Echo fly rod designs in Switch, Spey, Hi-stick nymphing, spring creek dry fly, single hand salmon and steelhead, blue water and flats fly rods.
Expect to hear more about these fine Echo fly rods and Airflo fly lines in the future . We fish these rods and lines, and we think you will find Echo and Airflo fly fishing products are worthy additions to your growing tackle treasure trove.
The event gave me new technical reasons to elevate my already high respect for how Echo Fly Rods are designed and manufactured.
Our most sincere thanks to Tim, Katherine, Jarrod, and Randy for our great day. Turkey burgers and spicy chicken Hot dogs were followed by apple pie chaser; and the Hen (no relation to our lunch) provided entertainment by snapping grapes from Jay’s hand — no blood drawn, thankfully.
CD & JN
Very informative and revealing video. Looks like a fun field trip.