The Epic brand was born out of the simple desire to “Build a Better Fly Rod” after having seen so many fly casters hampered by stiff lifeless fly rods.
Epic Hand Crafted Fly Rods
Fly Rods with Soul
NO OTHER ROD CASTS, LOOKS OR PERFORMS LIKE AN EPIC
BECAUSE NO OTHER FLY ROD IS BUILT LIKE AN EPIC.
We put the best of everything into our fly rods, that’s what makes them so damn good.
At Swift we believe in producing the very highest quality product we can. We believe buying cheap is a poor investment, it's bad for you, bad for the industry and bad for the planet. Epic fly rods are not only exquisite they are built tough to last a lifetime.
Our goal is that you will be passing your Epic onto your kids.
Let someone else do cheap - we do excellent.
Our goal is that you will be passing your Epic onto your kids.
Let someone else do cheap - we do excellent.
Fly rods designed from practical experience.
Epic fly rods are the result of thousands of hours of practical fly fishing and fly casting experience and thousands of interactions with fly casters and fly fishers from all around the world - first hand experience watching, listening and being totally immersed in this all consuming sport. The idea behind the development of Epic fly rods and the brand ethos is the result of 20 years of professional and semi professional fly casting, fly casting instruction, fly fishing movie making, a keen eye for practical design and quite literally, a lifetime of fly fishing.
Fly rods designed and built by fly anglers and rod makers.
Epic is the brain child of Carl McNeil. Carl is an IFFF Certified Master Fly Casting Instructor and has been involved in the International Federation Of Fly Fishers Instructors Program for many years, serving on the CI examination committee and International testing committee. Carl served as an associate editor for the IFFF's fly casting magazine the Loop and is a recipient of the Presidents Pin award for services to fly casting. He is also a recipient of the IFFF's conservation award.
Carl has taken instruction and learnt from the worlds most iconic fly casters and fly anglers. That learning continues on every trip, every customer interaction and every angler he meets. There’s always something new to learn, a different take on an old theme.
Carl has taken instruction and learnt from the worlds most iconic fly casters and fly anglers. That learning continues on every trip, every customer interaction and every angler he meets. There’s always something new to learn, a different take on an old theme.
The picture at the top of this page is of Trevor Bourne. Originally from the UK and an experienced fly angler and accomplished fly caster, Trevor has been building custom fly rods for over 20 years. When we looked for a master fly rod builder to head up our production studio and perfect our designs we needed look no further than Trevor.
A more recent addition to the dream team is a name that needs no introduction. A professional fly fishing guide since the age of 21 April Vokey has fished the world over. A successful writer, teacher, speaker and one of the sports most notable personalities, Aprils experience with two handed fly rods rounds out the team.
Our FastGlass® fly rods are quite unlike anything you've ever cast - don't confuse these fly rods with conventional fiberglass fly rods. FastGlass® is a light, responsive and extremely tough unidirectional S2 glass-fibre composite. This material combined with our Epic tapers produces fly rods that are very special and an absolute joy to fish.
FastGlass® is a registered trademark of the Swift Fly Fishing Company.
FastGlass® is a registered trademark of the Swift Fly Fishing Company.
Carbon Fibre or FastGlass®?
Epic Carbon fibre fly rods are very light, exhibit faster recovery speeds and are extremely sensitive.
Choose a FastGlass® fly rod for silky smooth action, a fuller flexing taper and unsurpassed strength and durability. The fuller flexing nature of FastGlass® helps protect light tippets and fight big fish. FastGlass® is more fun to cast and fish - they just have more soul.
More fly rod for your money
It's simple. At Swift we just spend more on making exceptional fly rods.
More time, more effort, more thought and more money.
We invest more of your hard earned dollars on the very highest quality components and craftsmanship than any other production fly rod manufacturer anywhere - period.
While other leading brands invest between 17 and 25% of the total retail cost of a fly rod on it's actual construction;
At Swift that figure is over 60% - more than twice that of the accepted industry norm.
Why would we do this?
Simple. To be better.
We invest more for our blanks, more for our cork and more for our components than any other company - because we want the very best.
How can we do this?
From their inception Epic fly rods have been sold direct to the consumer. We do not have huge legacy distribution networks and middlemen all vying for a slice of the fly rod pie. We work with only a small number of exclusive retail stores to offer and support our product. These outlets share our values on quality and service and are satisfied to accept smaller margins in order to offer something unique to their customers.
"We know that the little things make all the difference and that good things take time,
which is why we never give in to the temptation to cut corners.
Only care and attention to detail deliver the very best results."
One at a time. Honouring timeless craftsmanship.
Our standard is others Premium.
The finest Japanese silk wraps, premium quality guides from Snake brand USA,
and the very finest cork sourced directly from Portugal to ensure quality.
and the very finest cork sourced directly from Portugal to ensure quality.
Take a good look at our cork, our standard is other’s premium.
All our rods feature internally reinforced ferrules, our alloy reel seats are just about bomb proof
and our rod tube should be military issue.
Our rod bags are hand sewn each evening by the lovely Hayley.
These are just a few of the things we’ve incorporated into our designs to ensure you are fishing a quality fly rod that will last a life time.
High tech engineering, old school love.
At Swift we tend to swim against the current, favouring solid design, innovation and original
thinking over consumer mass production, fashion and fickle trends.
Epic fly rods combine industry leading technology with the soul and passion of the rod
builders craft. We believe there is art in making the finest quality product we can.
Hand crafted, tough, durable.
Every Epic fly rod is hand crafted one at a time with tender loving care in our studio workshop
in the small alpine town of Wanaka, New Zealand.
Built Epic Tough.
Honesty, quality and durability never go out of style.
When others are thinking how they can reduce costs on components and manufacturing, we’re
thinking about what we can do to make our products better, tougher, more durable, and last longer.
Fly rods that box above their weight.
Our FastGlass produces an extremely smooth casting blank that loads at medium range, yet
has the lifting power of rods in much heavier line classes. Our C series carbon fibre rods lead
the field in modern composite fly rod design.
FastGlass, strong and light.
Because our FastGlass is so strong we can use less material, this gives us a very strong
blank that is light and extremely responsive. Our glass rods exhibit the full flexing feel,
strength and casting goodness without the associated weight and 'that 'Noodle' feeling we all know. At swift, we make great fly rods, not noodles.
strength and casting goodness without the associated weight and 'that 'Noodle' feeling we all know. At swift, we make great fly rods, not noodles.
C series advanced Carbon Fibre.
Our C series Carbon fibre rods are at the very forefront of fly rod design.
Only the very finest components are used in their
construction. Full Helical scrimless construction, multi modulus, all unidirectional carbon
fibre and the lowest resin counts in the industry.
We believe this is the most sophisticated carbon fibre fly rod blank available. Our natural
unsanded hard gloss finish is all about making your rod lighter, more durable and better performing.
The Tapers.
Materials come and go, but fly rods are all about tapers.
Each blank in the Epic series is rolled using tapers developed over many hours of testing,
measuring and the most important metric - casting.
Our Epic tapers balance power and accuracy with striking aesthetics and sheer casting pleasure.
Cast one and try not to grin.
Truth to the material.
Epic fly rods incorporate the classic designers concept of “Truth to the Materials” which holds
that any material should be used where it is most appropriate and its nature should not be
hidden. With this ethos in mind each Epic fly rod uses components that we believe are the very best.
The Epic Promise
We guarantee everything we make.
We are so very confident that every product we make is of the highest quality possible
we guarantee your complete and absolute satisfaction or your money back.
Our warranty policy
Our warranty policy
Be kind to the environment, walk tall and be Epic.
#DoEpicShit
Proudly Born & Bred in New Zealand
Shop with Confidence
