Where would Blue Ribbon land on the chart? Casting Notes: The Helios 3F is built for feel. Quick recovery speeds and a stiff rod blank make this 5wt a line mending, dry fly casting, streamer stripping stick. The final change in our performance categories is putting a lower value of 10 points on the longest distance 60 feet. #23. This is T&Ts mid-priced rod, but if you take a look at the best mid-priced rods in our Shootout like the Shadow at $349, the Recon at $429 and the DXF at $349, the Zones performance doesnt match any of these rods. Messages 29 Reaction score 6 Location . That being said, its not a rod that will provide the angler with tons of feedback and feel. The epoxy coatings on the wraps are a little heavy, but Ive sure seen worse. Nothing beats this rod at 40 feet. Rating: 91%. Power: 8/10 - Loomis built a ton of power into this rod so you can feel confident throwing streamers, nymph rigs, and dry flies at long distances. The quality of the standard size cork rings was excellent. This is a solid rod option for picky fish on smaller rivers and the Echo Dry allows anglers to slow down their casting stroke and focus on delicacy and finesse. Annette McLean, Winstons long time rod designer did a great job with the Pure, giving us a rod that is Pure fun to cast and fish. This year, as is the norm in the industry, all of the rods tested are 4 piece rods. Its powerful and efficient. 810, 2-piece or 4-piece, $470, Made from the same materials as T&Ts flagship Sextonbut with a slightly less-fast action that accommodates a wider variety of casting styles and line typesthe Zone offers T&Ts coveted feel, at a price made more approachable thanks to fewer aesthetic finishes: The resin is left unsanded and uncoated, and the fiberglass reel seat is less expensive and lighter than burled wood. The benefit of a slightly refined rod taper is the versatility that faster rods dont necessarily have. The shorter rod is nice and light, and faster in action than its longer brother. Power: 6/10 - The Zone is a powerful rod yet maintains castability and versatility. It is especially interesting to see how the rods compare in stiffness, and how much the tip section bends. Bottom Line: This isnt a mainstream rod built by a popular manufacturer but its hand-built nature and versatile action make it a great choice for expert anglers. In all, one of the best guide set ups weve seen. Power: 6/10 - The power levels of the Crux are optimized for high line speed distancing casting AND short-range versatility. At long range no rod has more power. Both offer terrific performance at half the price of the best rods in our Shootout. Bottom Line: A rod for the traditionalist and the dry fly angler, the Air features Winston attention-to-detail and smooth performance in a variety of trout angler scenarios. Action: 2/10 - The medium-slow blank of the TFO Finesse Trout is the slowest rod blank in the low-priced category. Of these rods built in Korea, the Hardy rods are designed in England, the Douglas rods are designed here in the U.S., the Loop rods are designed in Sweden. 5. Casting Notes: The G Series is Scotts moderate/slow action dry fly-specific rod series with a focus on refined feedback and delicacy at short-range. The wraps are all in blue, and the epoxy coatings are all extremely well done. Pick any rod here that we rated a 9.5 or better and you have a winner! The tips on the faster rods bend more. The epoxy coatings were excellent. #2. The feel Im getting is not that good either. Thomas & Thomas Zone - $499 Casting Notes: The Zone is a versatile freshwater 5wt with the ability to throw a variety of flies from nymphs to dries to small streamers. Sage could improve the MODs swing weight by using the more expensive nickel/titanium guides instead. Line Recommendation: RIO Gold Elite Fly Line. Performance at 60 feet: 9.3 points out of 10. Only one way to find out cast and compare them all. Craftsmanship is second to none, and is what we have now come to expect from T&T. Does the tip of the rod load well enough in close to give you the feel and accuracy you need with little line or only the leader out of the guides? Like many of the other 9-foot rods in our Shootout, it was at a disadvantage in weight to the shorter 8 and 8 foot rods. I liked the full wells cork handle better than the odd grip on the Reaper X. Power: 7.2/10 - More refined than other high-powered 5wts, the Radian has enough power for larger rivers but is a little more versatile than technical rods like the 3D. Why? Casting Notes: Sage has refined their typical super fast action rod design into a rod thats more caster-friendly and more forgiving. Some people might consider high priced rods status symbols. Surprisingly, this is often true. Bottom Line: If youre looking for a rod design thats optimized for distance casting, versatility, and chucking double nymph rigs, the Crux is one of the best in its price range. We should have probably dropped this longer Finesse from our Shootout as the shorter 79 Finesse performed so much better. Feels good in my hand, and Im able to cast well off the tip. As in our past Shootouts, it is important to keep everything apples to apples in an effort to eliminate the variables that will have an effect on the scores. This rod is nice and light in hand, and performed well in close, where I was getting pretty good feel and decent accuracy. Get this rod out in the sunlight and it really lights up. Orvis definitely . This year SA has come up with an impressive new line series called the Amplitude Smooth. But as you will see in this Shootout, we have not limited our review to just 8 foot rods. When I put this rod in my hand it feels more like a 5-weight than a 4-weight! Even better than the Helios 3F. Bottom Line: If you want a high-end rod with a beautiful fit and finish that performs well in the trout game, this is a solid option, a great choice for a variety of freshwater species. $998.00. A beautiful birdseye maple insert is used. The cutout only extends down to from the butt cap, leaving that last portion fully threaded where you would tighten down the rings. One thing I like is that there is a serial number on each rod section. Usually takes 2-4 weeks. In Livingston we usually have plenty of wind, so we had to wait until we got some fairly calm days, to do the casting. I just cant push it at all and have to slow down my casting stroke to get any decent accuracy. An attractive X-pattern graphite wrap is used behind the logo, just above the cork handle. (tie) Waterworks-Lamson SS 9 #4 $399.99. $75 on recent rods within 10 years, $125 on classic olderrods. The casting scores were only fair to good, and in my notes I say that I am getting very little feel or accuracy in close compared to the best rods. With comments by the Yellowstone Angler staff. New Echo Shadow II, w next level being new Echo Shadow X. Cortland Competition. If you've done any fly fishing reading online you've probably seen the words 'shootout', 'buyer's guide', and 'review' a lot. Fun to Fish/Got to Have 10 points available. $279.99. Still, when I heard that Orvis was bringing out a mid-priced rod made in America, my expectations were somewhat limited. Id like to see Howard Croston re-design this rod with a softer tip. In addition it will cost you $15 or more to ship your rod in for repair or have your local dealer do it for you. We also kept on hand, and compared, what we felt was the very best rod the Hardy Zephrus. The rod is stout yet smooth for refined performance at short range and enough power to propel large terrestrials through the wind. It often takes a little time for the rod to settle down from all this movement so we do this procedure 4-6 times and then take the average weight we are getting from the scale. Add to Cart. Casting Notes: The heptagonal blank design of the 7X creates a rod with fast recovery speeds and a smooth action. #16. Most of the rest score 9s, which was a $60-$75 fee for repair or replacement. A little wiggle helps you to feel this. It is the relationship of the club head weight to the shaft when you wiggle the club in your hands. Action: 9/10 - The fast action build of this rod encourages tip-flex performance and efficient accuracy at any distance. Bottom Line: This is a fly rod for dry flies and short distances only. Use this link to go to ourFavorite Freshwater Outfitsfor the 3 through 8-weight rods, in our Online Store. I really expected to see this new G Series 4-weight challenge the best rods. New rods must be registered at time of purchase. A 3-weight fly rod can be great fun on windless days, but those days seem to be rare. If you want to economize, look carefully at both the Hardy Shadow at $349.95 and the Orvis Recon at $429.00. Only out long did I feel at a disadvantage to the best rods and I think part of this was due to the lighter Trout line. The 8-weight Asquith won our recent 2018, 8-weight Shootout, putting in a marvelous performance. Sage MOD. Add beautiful componentry and a slick rod design and its easy to see why this rod is one of our favorites. is hung from the tip-top of the rod. If you own a money tree and enough real estate to warehouse dozens of situation-specific fly rods, stop reading now. Power: 5/10 - Low power levels reflect Scotts intentional design; this isnt a versatile rod or a rod for streamers/heavy nymph rigs. The cork handle is a half wells western style grip, with a contrasting darker composite cork at the bottom end, over the flare for the reel seat. Guides start with a hook keeper and then one SiC stripper, followed with fairly thin diameter black hard chrome snake guides. Light in hand but the stiffness in the tip is not giving me as much feel in close as the Zephrus, and the accuracy is not as good as the best rods. My son, Jamie is also a fanatical fly fisherman and a great caster. R.L. A great 4-weight rod is the best tool Ive found to meet these demands. Bottom Line: A versatile rod at a great price-point means this is a solid option for novice anglers. But even with the lighter line, the accuracy was not very good. First we try to determine what we felt were the best performing rods. Equal to the Orvis Recon, but head to head the Avantt and Helios 3F were far better. Action: 7/10 - A fast action rod design means the Pulse does everything a high-performance 5wt should with efficiency and ease. The Orvis H-3 is clearly one of the best fly rods to ever leave the Orvis shop, but it's not all about the long cast. The locking ring is a little harder to grip and tighten than others. I was hitting the plate almost every time. . 2. If you buy this rod, you need to put a WF-5-F line on it. #8. Bottom Line: Winston has been making moderate-action dry fly rods for years and this is the culmination of years of R&D. The top three rods were a lot better. Sport Fishing Magazine may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site. The single uplocking seat is gray anodized aluminum, and doesnt use a spacer, but does have some trick looking cutouts on each side. This is especially important for 3 and 4-weight rods, when you are often using very light 5X, 6x and 7X tippets while fishing small dries, emergers and spinners. Moreover, if you want to fish with a 4-weight we consider to be the optimal choice, you dont have to spend $850, $900, or $1000, but only $679 for the Hardy Zephrus. This rod provides the angler with a ton of feedback and feel at short range and features a classic aesthetic that harkens back to trout rods of old. The medium fast action seems just right and Im getting both good feel and good accuracy at the shorter distances. Performance at 60 feet: 8.0 points out of 10. It also has one of the heaviest swing weights in our Shootout. My advice has always been if you can afford it, buy the best performing rod you can find. Short to mid-range seem to be the best distances for the DXF. Performance at 60 feet: 7.5 points out of 10. This rod is absolutely the winner for our Best Buy (best inexpensive) 4-weight Rod. However at long range, it had no guts, and was one of the worst in our Shootout. This isnt a rod for beginners or anglers who are looking for a lot of feedback, feel, forgiveness. First, it is very light in swing weight and the fast action is a lot like the Zephrus in that it has a stronger butt and much softer tip than most of the other rods. Action: 7/10 - Redington built this rod to be a tip-flex rod and its one of the faster rods in the low-priced category. With a blazing light swing weight and a forgiving action, this 5wt is one of the best all-around rods on the market. Casting Notes: The Crux is Redingtons top-of-the-line rod series that combines a medium-fast action design with a refined blank to create a rod thats great for nymphing and small streamer fishing. For ex I was looking at the Scott Flex, and on their website they label it's flex profile as "fast." $50 handing fee. Those rods are both a lot lighter in swing weight and faster in action. If the rod is broken because of a defect, or while fishing, replacement is free. Its perhaps a little heavy in swing weight, and this as well as its stiffness, hurt its score at 25 feet. So if you like what we are doing, the best way to thank us is to buy a rod, reel, or outfit from the Yellowstone Angler. 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