I’m a big fan of NF and EDGE. I’ve had multiple factory-built EDGE rods and a couple custom builds. One of the custom rods wasn’t great, but that build was weird anyway. The others have all been excellent. I’ve broken two and had to send them back – yes, it took awhile to get them fixed, but they set expectations accurately in advance.
In fact, I called before sending the first one in and ended up having a fabulous and wide-ranging conversation with Steve Pitcock, one of the managers. We covered a bunch of industry trends and their factory-direct pricing model and told some fishing stories, then somehow ended up talking about how the so-called “tiger” economies in SE Asia during the 90s resembled the northern Italian city-states of the Renaissance. Like I said, it was a really fun exchange, and I genuinely appreciate the fact that this community still includes some characters like that who haven’t gone fully corporate.
If it takes a few extra weeks or months to get product out the door, ehhhh…to me it’s fine. That’s a feature, not a bug. I get that other people accustomed to instant gratification might disagree, and that’s fine. But for me, it’s a reasonable price to pay to keep our little niche personable and unique.
I’m also a big fan of John Mauser, and of his rods. I’ll be fishing my 7wt Waterman tomorrow, actually. Despite having an embarrassing number of 7wt rods, his always stays in the top rotation. As for John himself, I don’t know where the dude finds the time and energy for everything he does. Not only are the rods great, there’s also the fly shop, the saltwater fishing school, all the guiding…and have you seen his photography?? Give this a spin, and be sure to check out his blog: https://www.johnmauserphotography.com/