TheTruth
Truth in Rod Building
The easy story is the one where we tell you there’s a magic material that makes our fly rods great. It’s simple, and it’s loved by sales and marketing teams. But it's just not accurate.
Great fly rods are forged from commitment, experience, and passion. It takes commitment to source the right materials and components even if they are a lot more expensive, and it takes experienced people to handcraft great rods even if they take a lot more time. What brings those together is a true passion for the craft and the sport.
Of course, mandrel designs, combining the right fibers with the right resins in the right proportions, component choices, and process nuances all contribute to the finished rod.
Our rods are handcrafted by people who love to fish as much as you do, and they’re put together with the know how that comes from designing and handcrafting rods since 1974.
It’s all in the details, and how those details are brought together, and it has a whole lot to do with the people who make your rods.
So yes, materials are important. In fact, they're really important, but that's just the first step in creating a great fly rod.
And that's the truth.
TheCraft
Craftsmanship in every detail
The biggest take away we hear after giving a tour of the Scott shop is just how much of the process is done by hand-And not just any hands. Our team of rod builders is exceptionally skilled and passionate about crafting great fly rods. That’s why many have spent careers here.
Each and every Scott rod is handcrafted in our shop in Montrose, Colorado. We do this so we know exactly what went into creating a rod before we hand inscribe our logo and an individual serial number on it.
Take a look at a Scott rod next to other brands. Something you’ll notice right away is that we don’t hide anything. No coats of paint on the blank covering up blemishes, and no opaque thread to mask sloppy wrap and coating work.
We use natural finish blanks, and transparent threads that let our careful attention to detail shine through.
We also use the very best materials we can design and source. Since we’re dedicated to handcrafting exceptional rods, it doesn’t make sense to work with anything but the best materials we can get our hands on.
In fact, we take so much pride in handcrafting our fly rods, we want you to see every detail.
TheTech
Mixing up a big batch of innovation
We came clean and told you there’s no magic material that creates exceptional performance in fly rods. So, how do we do it?
Think of it like great chefs at work. To succeed, they need the best suppliers, the best ingredients available, the technical skills to put it all together, and the best team backing them up. Miss on any of these, and things might turn out, well, ordinary.
We see technology as a means to an end. It’s a way to make a fly rod more efficient, effective, and enjoyable. Before we create a rod, we ask ourselves which materials will best accomplish the design and performance goals, and which process improvements can we apply to get there?
That’s why we’ve innovated so many of the technologies in fly rods over the past forty years, from multi-modulus lay ups, to unidirectional and bi-directional graphite reinforcements, to the low mass slim sleeve ferrule.
It’s also why we dream up angler friendly touches like alignment dots to easily line up your fly rod sections, measuring wraps to promote better catch and release practices, or self- indexing reel seats to quickly get your reel on the rod. That way, you can concentrate on the things you wanted to in the first place.
When there’s a better material, component or process available, we apply to our rods. When we can’t find something we want, we try to invent it, or work with our suppliers to come up with a solution.
Take a look at our Technology pages on this website to learn in detail about some of the most innovative materials and designs every put into fly rods. We’ll keep mixing up big batches of innovation.