What about getting a new rod for Christmas? We assume you fish well but you don’t want to buy a top of the line rod, since maybe you do’nt want to invest more than 500$, but you still want to have the best. Here’s what we found for you: the Sott Flex, we chose the 9’#5, it’s versatile for all the average rivers we fish in, it’s hand made in Colorado and benefits of all the innovations of the Radian or the Meridian from the same company. The rod itself has a progressive action, it is smooth and powerfull at the same time, it allows you to cast long thin tippets and also fight strong fish easily. The one we tried had a Lamson Guru on and that real matched perfectly. The average price you’ll find the Scott FLex is 475$ and it is probably the best rod at that range of price!