A few very generous words from our buddy & Epic Fly Rod builder Pete Emmel of Renaissance Rods, USA

Thank you for the kind words Pete!

"Why does “Renaissance Rods” opt to build on “Epic” glass? Four words: Selection, Strength, Accuracy & Quality.

When I was first approached by Carl about trying the new “Epic” fiberglass blanks, I was skeptical. Why would Carl want a small shop like mine to try out their blanks? After looking at their web site and exchanging several e-mails, I jumped at the opportunity to give them a go. Haven’t looked back since.

They are everything you would ever want in a blank…. graphite or fiberglass. The first blank I built on showed me everything I needed to know. It was faster than any other fiberglass I have tried, without sacrificing the soul one feels with fiberglass or bamboo. Yes, I mentioned soul. Like bamboo, each “Epic” has developed its own character or as I call it soul. Cast one, you’ll see what I mean. Plus the rods are dead on accurate. I can hit where I aim and I am by no means a top shelf caster.

Quality shows throughout every inch of the blank. Not to mention that the line rating is of the blank is dead on, in my opinion. And being fiberglass you know it is durable and can handle the minor bumps and bruises that can eventually cause the downfall of high modulus graphite blanks. When building custom rods, reputation is everything. If you recommend a blank and it fails to live up to the customer’s expectations your creditability suffers. Doesn’t appear I will ever have to worry about that with the “Epic” line of blanks. Did I mention selection?

Finally here is a line of blanks with an ever growing selection of colors and sizes. Usually you are stuck with whatever color (that’s right color as in singular) the manufacturer supplies. A single color makes it a bit hard to build a truly “custom rod”. Epic is up to six colors and counting.

Thank you to Carl, Jeanie, and the entire Swift Fly Fishing team for delivering a truly unique line of “Epic” fiberglass. Can’t wait to see what other innovations you come up with.

Pete Emmel

Renaissance Rods, USA"

Talk to Peter about an Epic build!