Fly Fishing - Comparison of the Trilene Knot with the Improved Clinch Knot

ssd45

I'm new to this site so I hope I am posting this message in the right place.
I purchased a TLS PM 909-4 at a fishing show. I was told the rod was brand new and under warranty etc. I got it for around half price and the vendor told me it was because he had too many heavy rods and they were a year old. He had a rod on display and when I made my purchase he got one out of the trailer that had never been opened.
When I got home and looked at it a little closer it was pretty obvious the grip had been turned down, the date code is written in black ink "11/05" all of my other Orvis rods are in block letters "1299" (all my other orvis rods are the older Silver Labels) and the last thing is there are silver thread inlays at the ferrules. The rest of the rod information looks like legit Orvis printing.
My hunch is the guy was trying to pass reconditioned rods off as new. My concern is that this is a bogus rod.
If anyone out there has a TLS and could check to see how the date code is written and what the thread wraps look like at the ferrules I would be very greatful.
Thanks for your help

Shaq · Location: Adirondacks

I believe the code is when the rod was made, as in November '05. And some of the premium rods are hand written to give it the "Personalized" touch as all my Scott rods have the entire serial and type of rod hand written. I know that orvis burns a D or R into the cork for Demo or reconditioned so that there people at the rod factory know. Not sure what you mean by turned down reguarding the cork. You should go on the orvis site and call the rod people and they might be able to tell you more. Does it have a serial number?

ssd45 · Posted: Mon 06/12/06 9:16 am Post subject:

I have emailed Orvis, they told me the same thing about marking the grips with an "R". The customer service guy that emailed me back said he was going to check with a rod tech about the dates. That is why I wanted to check with a current TLS owner to see if their date was handwritten.
As for the grips being turned down it looks like they were sanded on a lathe. There is a lot of filler in the cork too. To me, there is no way that Orvis would let a rod out of their shop with such bad grips. So I was thinking someone sanded the "R" off of it.
I don't think Orvis puts serial numbers on their rods, just the date code.
The thing that really kills me is I bought one on ebay for my dad for fathers day and as soon as I received it I turned around and mailed it to him. I should have opened it to see how the date code was written on his.
I'm probably making too big of deal out of this anyway, I got it for a good price and it casts fine and I have never had problems with any of my fly rods where I felt the need to send them to the factory.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

hey ssd45 and shaq,

i came to find out that my information regarding your dilema was not good and not from a credible source. therefore i deleted my comment ... i was only trying to help - and probably just made things more confusing - sorry for that. i hope things work out for you ... keep us informed as to how things pan out. ... thanks.