FLY RODS


Fly rods

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A TOP PERFORMANCE FLYROD THAT YOU COULD CAST?

It's quite possible that you've bought a "high performance" fly rod in the past and been disappointed that it hasn't lived up to your expectations, this may explain the cupboard full of rods that you never use! We can promise you one thing: the HT fly rod will never live in your cupboard, furthermore it will take a very great deal of effort to prise it out your hand! For every one of our customers the Hot Torpedo has become their "go-to" rod. In fact we're so sure that you will love it, we give you a 7-day no-quibble full-refund guarantee.

A curious trend has happened in fly fishing, to make "high-performance" mean "very stiff", consequently fly lines are often heavier than the line ratings standard, no doubt to compensate for the effort and skill it takes to work the rod effectively! That is NOT the approach we take when designing your rod. Hot Torpedo rods are designed for the actual line weight. High Performance - yes, absolutely. Too stiff - not at all.

While a lot of true casting experts absolutely love our rods, you don't have to be an expert caster to be able to use one - although it might help you become one...


A FLY ROD SHOULD GIVE A DECADE OR MORE OF SERVICE

Anyone new to fly fishing would believe that rod manufacturers are making massive technological advancements every few years. Quite frankly if you haven't worked this out yet, it's called marketing. Sure, we would all like to be in the midsts of a technological revolution! That would be fantastic, but the truth is the distinction between fly rods has to do with design, types of graphites used, components and build quality. What really sets apart the Hot Torpedo rod series all of these. I'm bringing 35 years of full-time fly fishing obsession, 20 years of international flycasting instruction, demonstration and competing and 18 years of Sexyloops flycasting knowledge into rod design. I work very closely with highly experienced Spanish rod designer, and a great caster in his own right, Alejandro Viñuales. It takes on average eight prototypes to produce one finished blank. It's a long, time-consuming process of consultation, tweaking, casting, fishing, all involving a very highly experienced team - and this goes around and around until I'm completely satisfied.

In order to understand the Hot Torpedo rod design this is what you need to know! For the light line models it's important that the tip is flexible enough to handle the lightest leaders that you might use. For example with the 4-weight Hot Torpedo, you might chose to fish very fine .10mm/.004" tippet, so you'll need a relatively forgiving tip to fish effectively. In the case of heavier line models the tip only needs be flexible enough for short line accurate casts. The butt in each case however, should be stiff enough for long powerful into-the-wind casts - there is no reason to make this part soft - yet it should still have enough flexibility to feel the rod load and unload, this helps give us that all important "feel". The bend should smoothly progress from tip to butt so that you don't have to think too hard about your casting! The rod tip should be completely stable - the HT tips don't vibrate after the loop has formed and it's the only fly rod we know of that's been tweaked to perfection in this regard. And finally, the overall feel should be light and crisp. I liken the HT feel to be a "Cannon with Finesse". There is a misconception that "fly casting" and "fly fishing" have different rod requirements. I don't believe this to be true. Competition fly casters sometimes require specialist rods, but fly casting and fly fishing are wholly interrelated for me.


TOUGH, DURABLE, LONG LASTING

Your fly rod also needs to be reliable. Prototype HTs are taken to fishing shows, put through literally hundreds of angler's hands, of all abilities, prototype rods are cast in Sexyloops distance competitions and of course they are all used to catch loads of fish - all prior to final production. Some flaws only appear after extensive testing. This process is so we can both live in the safe knowledge, that your fly rod will not explode when you take it fishing!

Hot Torpedo blanks are finished in England using the finest components with our fantastic in-house rod builder. We use the absolute best Portuguese cork grips and either H&H rings or REC recoils - the best. The reel spacer is our own, machined and black anodised in the UK. We use REC reel seat fittings and Titanium stripping guides. At no point in the process do we cut corners. Every whipping has at least two coats of epoxy, usually three and occasionally four! Because we focus purely on the top end, we ultimately create a higher quality product for you.


WARRANTY

For tragic events we ask 70 GBP plus shipping for the replacement of any broken or damaged sections. If the break is in the tip then we can send out a replacement immediately - we hold a number of spare tips in stock for this purpose. You can order a spare at any time for additional security - it does appear to be anglers' favourite section to destroy! For the other sections you'll need to return the rod to our blank manufacturer in Spain for perfect fitting, who will build you a new section. This is then forwarded to the UK where we complete the process. Turnaround from start to finish is generally 2 weeks.


MAKE YOUR OWN UNIQUE ROD FOR NO EXTRA COST!

We also custom build Hot Torpedos. You can change just about everything you want, from your favourite thread colour, to rings, to grip shape, to reel fittings, to having your name on the rod! There is no additional cost for this service apart from any difference in the wholesale price of components. In addition, we sell rod blanks to rod builders for half the price of the finished rod.

Don't just take our word on how good these rods are... read our testimonials!

Paul Arden
Sexyloops Manager

For enquiries or any questions whatsoever please email me at paul@sexyloops.com 
Fishing takes me regularly to places without Internet coverage, but I always answer as soon as I can.