Where would Blue Ribbon land on the chart? With a blazing light swing weight and a forgiving action, this 5wt is one of the best all-around rods on the market. New Echo Shadow II, w next level being new Echo Shadow X. Cortland Competition. We make a note of which was the best line with the write up on each rod. Ive helped many manufacturers like G. Loomis, Sage, Winston, Loop, Douglas, and Scott with their rod design process. But the Avantt and Helios 3F are far better. Like the Meridian, the Tidal is manufactured by Scott in Montrose, Colorado. This rod is a pleasure to cast, and it has tons of reserve power at long range. Certainly the Aetos wins points in the price category, but the biggest reason is its performance. This rod uses the more conventional slip over ferrule design as on all but one of the other rods in our Shootout. Some people might consider high priced rods status symbols. We also kept on hand, and compared, what we felt was the very best rod the Hardy Zephrus. This year, as is the norm in the industry, all of the rods tested are 4 piece rods. Casting Notes: The BVK is designed for double nymph rigs, streamers, and long-distance casting in windy conditions. How well are the guides wrapped and how nice are the coatings? As I put more line in the air, it tracked beautifully and was just a delightful rod to cast at 40 feet. Not very good at long range either. The wraps are dark blue to match the blank and the epoxy coatings are excellent. The two locking rings are large and easy to grip and tighten. The craftsmanship is typical Orvis excellence. (tie) TFO FINESSE TROUT 79 #4 $229.95. Performance at 40 feet: 18.5 points out of 20. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. The new rod is a lot more powerful and handles those mid to long distances with ease, tracking well and giving me nice tight loops. The perfect line: SA Amplitude Smooth Trout in WF-4-F. Matches the Zephrus in close in terms of casting accuracy and feel. It has been several years now since our last 4-weight Shootout, as we have concentrated on both 5-weight and 8-weight rods. Sage Lifetime warranty to original owner. I just didnt care for the moderate action that was a lot slower than the X. Casting Notes: The Avantt is a medium-fast action fly rod thats built for anglers who need castability and mending capabilities. It is trimmed top and bottom with contrasting, composite cork rings. In addition to being a test caster and editor, hes responsible for some of the photos and putting all of this on line. Removing the spool requires a simple click of the button on the front side. 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. When I first picked the rod up, the overall weight was good but then when I wiggled the rod in my hand, I could see that the swing weight was heavier than almost all of the other 4-weight rods. Hardy ZEPHRUS ULTRALITE 89 #4 $679.95. Only you can make that decision. Good, just not nearly as precise but the Zephrus and Pure. Performance at 25 feet: 16.5 points out of 20. Good, just not great. Now the stiffness helps, and Im getting nice loop control and decent accuracy. The epoxy coatings over the wraps are nicely done, and I especially like the fact that they inscribe the rod length and weight on the bottom wrap of each section. No other rod maker does this better. Power: 7/10 - This is a powerful rod capable of throwing dry flies, nymph rigs, and small streamers, optimized for castability and long distance performance. The epoxy coatings are fairly good, but a little heavy. Because of the cost, we downgraded the Asquith to 7 points. These come in two models, the Amplitude Smooth Trout, which is a standard size line, and the Amplitude Smooth Infinity, which is a half line size heavier. Orvis Recon. Now I can really feel the heavy swing weight. Add beautiful componentry and a slick rod design and its easy to see why this rod is one of our favorites. Natural finish carbon appearance. The Pure is a brand new rod from Winston. Built for versatility, this is a stand-out rod in this price range. The Ultralite is a very attractive rod. The added weight and relative stiffness over the other best rods hurt many of its scores. Rods with softer tips help you avoid break-offs like these. The reel seat is a black anodized, single uplocking skeleton seat with a dark wood insert. I did not find that to be the case. A powerful, fast-action rod works well for turning over larger rigs or casting longer distances in windy conditions. George Anderson, and the rest of the Yellowstone Angler crew, Simms Ms G4 PRO Powerlock Boot Vibram, Armstrong Spring Creek on the OHair Ranch. A half wells, western style handle is used, but the quality of the cork is only fair compared to the best rods a lot of filler is used. Surprisingly, even using this lower modulus graphite that should be heavier, the overall weight and swing weight are very good compared to our other top 4-weight rods. Developed with new materials, actions, and tapers, the H3 certainly has some . As in the past we are using our own Brecknell official postage scale to calculate the weight. Very little feel or accuracy. Expensive rods do have that wow factor that will impress your buddies. The Recon was much better. It was hard for me to get any feel or accuracy with such a stiff rod and a light line. The blank is a pleasing burgundy that sparkles in the sunlight. $25 handling fee. The big reason it didnt do better than middle of the pack was the action. (tie) Sage X 86 #4 $900.00. Casting and rating the performance of rods at the different distances is the real meat of our Shootouts. An attractive X-pattern graphite wrap is used behind the logo, just above the cork handle. Same day or next day shipping if they have the parts in stock, if not, usually takes 2 weeks. Heads up the Recon and Shadow were far better. One year warranty on hardware and guides. The very light swing weight confirms this. There are not many situations when youll be fishing this far with your 4-weight, but Ive certainly had many situations, especially fishing dry flies on larger rivers, like the Missouri, where Ive had to throw it this long yet still get good accuracy and a delicate presentation in order to catch a nice fish. It also lost a huge number of points in the price and warranty categories that it couldnt pick up in the casting distance performance categories. The guides start with a single SiC stripping guide followed with fairly large diameter but thin wire hard chrome snake guides. Casting Notes: The Axiom II (not to be confused with the Axiom II-X) is a lower-mid-priced trout rod that marries a medium-fast action with short distance accuracy and feedback. This hurt somewhat in its scores for swing weight and light tippet protection. The Shadow and Pure were far better. The JXP was also better. Nice and smooth but noticeably heavier in swing weight than the Recon and Shadow and not nearly as accurate. Here at Trident, we carry over one hundred 5wt fly rods. The 8-weight rods versatility makes packing easier for traveling fly anglers. I do like the 8 foot rods over the 9 footers as they are lighter and the shorter length allows me to strike more quickly, and they often provide better light tippet protection than the longer rods. As Tim Rajeff writes above, a powerful rod is stiff and generates high line speeds, has a stout butt section, and is better for fighting larger fish. The all-new Sage Maverick fits into a more moderate price-point with other fly rods like the T&T Zone and the Orvis Recon 2. Lastly, the rod sock is superior, and will dry out quickly even if you put your rod away wet. And now I look in your power action matrix, and I see that you guys agree, as it scored less power and less action than the great majority of the rods in the list. The quality of the standard size cork rings was terrific. If you are looking for that perfect saltwater outfit, then use ourFavorite Saltwater Outfitslink. $279.99. Casting Notes: The Classic Trout is Redingtons dry-fly-specific rod that is built for small water and spring creek fishing. At long range no rod has more power. The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. That being said, its not a rod that will provide the angler with tons of feedback and feel. Fun to Fish/Got to Have 10 points available. The wraps are a dark green to complement the blank and the epoxy coatings are perfect. It would also one of the best 4-weight rods for throwing streamers. Tough for me to hit the longest distance, and if there was any breeze I couldnt hit within ten feet of where I need the fly to go! But this is a fairly soft rod, and didnt have the butt power to handle the long distance quite as well as the more powerful rods. 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. I love the light swing weight. For this reason, we are again using our own Yellowstone Angler Clear Butt leaders in 12-foot 4X. Since the Nimbus was a softer rod, it did score well in light tippet protection, but in the most important Fun to Fish category, where the Pure got a perfect score, the Nimbus had one of the lower scores about the same as the much less expensive Orvis Clearwater and St. Croix Imperial. The craftsmanship was very good, but not good enough to give it a perfect score like the Pure. Both the Zephrus and Pure were far lighter in hand, and far better in performance at 40 feet. #6. If you look at the deflection charts you will see how soft the butt and mid of the Mod are compared to the best performing rods. Reel seats should lock up easily and hold firmly, without having any tendency to come loose. A 12-foot leader also gives you a stealthier presentation. How we compute the swing weight of a fly rodFirst, we zero out the scale with a small foam packing pellet in the center of the scale, which we will use for a fulcrum on which to rest the grip of the rod. The best rods will throw very tight loops at this range with consistently good accuracy. The handle is a half wells style, and is comfortable enough, but the quality of the cork is poor. Fenwick-Lifetime warranty. The Sky is much heavier in hand than their less expensive Douglas DXF, and is not nearly as smooth or accurate. Both the mid-price DXF and Imperial were better. The cork handle is Winstons cigar grip, like the Pure, with the center swell a little forward of the center of the grip and a flare on the bottom end. Nice and light in hand and pretty good feel, but the accuracy is not as good as I was getting with the Aetos. We have several reels rigged with the various line sizes, and leaders, all ready to go. With the Infinity it cast better long, and I would have scored it closer to 9 at long range. Action: 6/10 - A medium-fast action rod design makes turning over heavy nymph rigs a breeze with this 5wt. Both of these lines utilize a slightly longer rear taper that allows superior mending ability as well as enhancing the ability to make medium to longer casts. The Recon has been one of our favorite rods, and this 4-weight version is terrific. It is a double uplocking, anodized gray seat with an attractive burl insert, but right under where the reel seat fits, they have cut away both the threads and the burl leaving the blank that is covered with composite cork! I loved the punch and power I was getting with the Shadow and only at long range did it suffer. If you're still confused about fly rod action, here's a video from our beginner series. But the accuracy was still not as good as the best rods. Now the good butt power helps and Im getting very nice loops, good control and excellent accuracy equal to the Avantt and even better than the Zephrus. Good, just above the cork is poor this is a pleasure to cast 40! 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