Does anyone know anything about the St. Croix Reign fly rods or any of the Temple Fork Lefty Kreh Series rods.
Does anyone have any other suggestions for rods in 125- 200 price range
I have a TFO TiCR 7 and 9wt. Great rods for the price range you’re looking at, and you can’t beat the no fault warranty.
I bought the 7wt used, on Ebay, and I broke 2 of the 4 pieces before I ever even put the rod together (left them on the floor while I went to the other room and my wife accidently stepped on them) and they still honored the warranty. Pay to ship the rod to them, and include a check for $25, and you get a new rod.
Stretch has also had 2 very positive experiences with their customer service/warranty department. Heck, he asked them to hurry up so that he wouldn’t miss the next set of flood tides and they got the rod back to him just in time.
I have no experience with the St Croix line of flyrods. What will you be targetting with it?
Pillage and plunder with a 9wt and a fist full of clousers.
I’ve got a TFO Signature Series 8 wt and had a St. Croix Reign 6 wt. I haven’t cast the Reign 8 wt, so I’m not exactly sure if I’m comparing apples to apples, but with my experience with each of the ones I’ve owned, the Reign was far superior. I think they’ve discontinued that model, so you can get them at EXTREMELY reasonable rates right now.
Try and find a Sage Fli. They recently got discontinued to make way for the new Flight series and can be found for around 200(normaylly 330). I have a 9 wt. and like it a lot. You might have to look around a bit, but it’s a great rod if you can find one.
jerms and Stretch are product warranty testers.
I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once, as I ever was.
Toby Keith
I have a Reign 6wt and 7wt and they are outstanding rods… I have been using them every day here in Iraq and they are very easy to cast and are holding up well to a LOT of abuse and a LOT of fish 
“Paddle faster boys… I hear banjo music!”
Charleston Director- SCKayakfishing.com
Tarpon 160os
I would look for a Scott A2 fly rod which I believe have been discontinued to another model but look around for a close out. I bought one of these in the under $200 range a few years ago for bonefish and have used to land good size bones on many different trips 8 wt… I thought I would probably upgrade this rod because money was tight when I got it but have liked the action and had no need to spend a couple hundred more for a minimal difference it has a great medium action and is hand made in the USA. I always thought temple fork rods were to stiff have no experience with st croix but would also say that sage fly rod is a god rod for the money I used to use a 5 wt for trout a few years ago and that is a great rod for the money. 
I have two Temple fork rods TiCr(8wt & 9 wt) they are VERY good for the price. Not the same as an Orvis T3, my other rod, but close.
P Sasser
Founder, GoFishSC.com
I like a loomis IMX $325 but you can get an albright xx $169 or a redingtom CPX $250 that will have the backbone and they are a little less exspensive. Everyone swears by the TFO’s but the albrights and redington have more guts! The Redington is 56 million modulus and the albright about the same which made them easy to break. They are both very fast action rods for large flies and high winds. If you are starting out you might want a softer action to leran on.