I want to make a couple of fly rod comparison's on two different brands that I have,I would like some of your input.First I own a Cabelas 9ft 4 piece 10 wt rod XST salt water extreme it is a good rod, fast and alot of power,I have had no problem with it,but the rap on these are some break at the last ferrel near the tip,out of 12 reviews on Cabelas web site 4 of them broke,but also have a 25 year warranty and were promptly replaced,I wanted a back up for a trip to Arkansas so I ordered TFO Axiom 9ft 4 piece 10 wt rod,the first thing I noticed was it had a rod sock but no tube case,the Cabelas rod does have one,the second thing was the TFO had no hook keeper,the XST has one.The finish on both are excellent the TFO a med dark blue,the XST a dark blue,personally I prefer the dark blue,they are both translucent and show the weave of the cloth and the weave on the XST is cleaner. I tested the actions and casted both,the XST has more power and can lift a line out of the water with ease,and the casting is with less effort, the TFO has more effort to do the same,the TFO has 3 stripping guides and one is very large like a salt water bait rod,overkill,the XST is about 2 oz lighter and casts crisper ,TFO is like clunky,another thing I noticed was the construction of the blanks,the TFO started out with a larger butt section maybe 1/8 larger then at the first ferrel got even larger after that it tapered down towards the tip rather fast and a little skinny,that is why the tip section was not as strong as the XST.The XST blank starts out with a even taper all the way to the tip but thicker all the to the tip,if you flex them side by side on a tall ceiling you can sure see the difference in flex and power,I dont understand how they both can be 10 wts, and why does the TFO start out large butt and larger to first ferrel and then tapers thin to the tip ,it looks kind of funny,what do you folks think.

Thanks in advance,have a good and safe day.

Captain Wayne Valley Fire Service,Valley Springs Calif.