fatkenny
12-29-2005, 02:48 PM
Last year I bought a Mancini 9wt at the hartford show. I wanted to let everyone know that I am happy with the rod. I was a little concerned because previous posters on this site suggested that Mr. Mancini was somewhat of a sketchy fellow. I have no connection to the company (besides that I bought their rod for the show price of $250).
I bounced some emails at Mr. Jeff Mancini, and I can say that he is reasonable guy just trying to make his company work out. He is really excited about his rods, and I, for one, always side with the underdog over the established brand name. I would happily pay a premium to make Wally World and the new Mako/BassTracker/Whaler/Merc. conglomerates go away. The fact that he, himself, personally responded to my emails and posted on this site tells you a little bit about the scale of his venture.
The rod itself? I would say that it is closer to a TiCr than anything else. Its a solid fast action rod that has pretty much held up to the abuse I gave it. Great rod for blues, bass, but I didn't take any albies or bones (yet?). I have waded with it and fished from wooden skiffs. I have a teton magnum#10 on it (bought it from the ebay lady. I highly recommend her also, "racho deluxo" or something like that). I emailed Jeff about overloading it with a 10 wt. midseason because I wanted to add range, but he suggested that this might be overkill and that I work on my casting technique instead. I would be really interested to hear about what other people think of his rods, and why they have such a big problem with a local guy trying to build a local brand. Has anyone tried his casting basket or seen his videos? Again, all I really have to go on is the fact that I paid 250 for a rod that I am quite happy with. That said, I am kind of a goofball with the fly rod, so if any skilled casters have feedback on the rod that would be great.
(I used to be called whoseyourkenny, but recently changed screen names.)
I bounced some emails at Mr. Jeff Mancini, and I can say that he is reasonable guy just trying to make his company work out. He is really excited about his rods, and I, for one, always side with the underdog over the established brand name. I would happily pay a premium to make Wally World and the new Mako/BassTracker/Whaler/Merc. conglomerates go away. The fact that he, himself, personally responded to my emails and posted on this site tells you a little bit about the scale of his venture.
The rod itself? I would say that it is closer to a TiCr than anything else. Its a solid fast action rod that has pretty much held up to the abuse I gave it. Great rod for blues, bass, but I didn't take any albies or bones (yet?). I have waded with it and fished from wooden skiffs. I have a teton magnum#10 on it (bought it from the ebay lady. I highly recommend her also, "racho deluxo" or something like that). I emailed Jeff about overloading it with a 10 wt. midseason because I wanted to add range, but he suggested that this might be overkill and that I work on my casting technique instead. I would be really interested to hear about what other people think of his rods, and why they have such a big problem with a local guy trying to build a local brand. Has anyone tried his casting basket or seen his videos? Again, all I really have to go on is the fact that I paid 250 for a rod that I am quite happy with. That said, I am kind of a goofball with the fly rod, so if any skilled casters have feedback on the rod that would be great.
(I used to be called whoseyourkenny, but recently changed screen names.)