St. Croix’s SOLE earns Best of Show in Fly Category
Park Falls, WI (August 2, 2016) – Each year, in the sweltering core of summer, fishing industry insiders gather at ICAST – an international trade show and exposition that highlights the products and the people that help anglers find and catch more fish. An integral component of ICAST is the New Product Showcase, where innovative products representing 24 different categories compete for the hearts and minds of voters. Capping a spectacular introduction in front of record-setting crowds at ICAST 2016, St. Croix Rod emerged victorious in the Fly Rod Category with SOLE.
SOLE fly rods are completely unique in design and provide a new path to one-piece performance. SOLE is based on a single, slim ferrule concept with its location 28″ from the tip – previously unheard of. This design provides true one-piece performance while removing much of the difficulty transporting a 9′, one-piece rod. In addition, St. Croix has reimagined and re-engineered the ferrule, making tip replacement on the SOLE quick and easy. And not to be forgotten is that SOLE actually comes with a precisely matched replacement tip.
Jesse Simpkins, St. Croix Rod Marketing Director, offers, “SOLE is a two-piece rod that feels and performs like a one-piece. The fly rod stands as a shining illustration of design and technology coming together to deliver an outstanding rod to the angler. It will only take one cast to learn that this truly is a rod with SOLE.”
Fly rod aficionado, Brooks Montgomery, continues, “The SOLE is built on St. Croix’s IPC mandrels (essentially the template of the ferrule); it uses super-high modulus SCIV and ART graphite, and St. Croix’s exclusive fortified super resin (FRS) makes for the strongest blanks available.
“The SOLE’s carbon fiber patterns are cut by a computer program which communicates with a cutting table for perfect cuts every time. Multiple laser stations check blank wall diameters, straightness, and alignment along the manufacturing process. SOLE performs so well, you will have to get used to the sound of the backing knot ticking out of your guides on long-distance casts.”
St. Croix pro Chad LaChance, host of Fishful Thinker TV, filed this report: “When I first picked up St Croix’s new SOLE fly rod my first thought was how much difference could refining a ferrule really make? And then I cast it…and cast it, and cast it again. The power and control is fantastic, while the smoothness lulls you into casting more and more. Long casts or short, tight loops or lazy rolls, SOLE just begs you to keep casting.”
Simpkins closes with this unalienable truth: “Despite all of the modern technology used to design and manufacture SOLE, ultimately, it’s the handcrafting that puts the heart, soul and fishing performance in SOLE.”
Key Sole features include:
Integrated Poly Curve® (IPC®) tooling technology.
Advanced Reinforcing Technology™ (ART™).
High-modulus / high-stain SCIV graphite with FRS for unparalleled strength and durability.
