Casting Notes: The IMX Pro is a well-known rod series. 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. The best rods are not always the most expensive ones. Hardy is using their best Sintrix 440 graphite in this rod, also used in the Zephrus. There are a few 8 foot and shorter rods as well as a few 9-foot rods in the mix, especially when manufacturers dont offer an 8 foot model. The ring seems to lock up well. The cork handle is a half wells with a long taper at the front, that I found to be comfortable to grip. However at long range, it had no guts, and was one of the worst in our Shootout. Pick any rod here that we rated a 9.5 or better and you have a winner! The lower 7 inches of the butt, including the logo is also finished in a dark blue. The blank is that same lovely emerald Winston green we have come to know and love. Bottom Line: This is a fly rod for dry flies and short distances only. There's no other place online that has as many or as comprehensive reviews as you guys, and it really helps. Inexpensive rods built in both Korea and China are surprisingly good. The softer tip is giving me a good amount of feel and the accuracy was better than the Zone or Nimbus. Its slightly more refined than the 3D but maintains a smooth, powerful action. More manufacturers should use light guides like this to minimize swing weight if they arent using the more expensive nickel-titanium guides. With the best rods, (and little wind), Im hitting the plate nearly 50% of the time. Im sorry if we offend some people or manufacturers. Casting Notes: The Epic Graphite 5wt is one of our favorites. You can read about these warranty policies later in our Shootout. Rods are repaired, not replaced. I was tempted to give it a perfect score for craftsmanship. The best rods in our Shootout can handle this distance with ease, and are actually capable of casting much farther in an expert casters hands. This is the best way to examine the action of each rod the faster action rods have tips that bend more, with stiffer butt and mid sections, while the more medium action rods will have softer butt and mid sections and stiffer tips. Category changes that improve the accuracy of the results in our latest 4-weight Shootout. Like the Meridian, the Tidal is manufactured by Scott in Montrose, Colorado. This makes it easier to justify buying the best performing rod. #2. The handle is Winstons familiar cigar grip, a half wells with a little flare on the bottom end to accept the uplocking seat. Action: 8/10 - This is an ultra-fast action rod. The best 4-weights are also excellent nymph fishing rods at shorter distances. No better at mid-range. Im confident that we can come up with the perfect rod or outfit that best fits your needs. The wraps are dark blue to match the blank and the epoxy coatings are excellent. For most grips this will be at the midpoint in the swell, or the center of the grip. Scott claims that this gives their rods better strength and we cannot argue with this as we see very few Scott rods broken. The rod is light and perfectly balanced, allowing for better accuracy while minimizing fatigue often associated with longer rods. The Pure is unquestionably one of the best looking rods in our Shootout, with some of the best craftsmanship. Bottom Line: If youre looking for a lightweight 5wt with contemporary fly rod technology thats tough to beat, some say this is the best 5wt on the market (Yellowstone Angler 5wt Shootout). Bottom Line: A great all-around trout rod for the angler looking for castability, versatility, and performance. The relatively heavy swing weight and stiffness are not giving me much feel, and the accuracy in close is not very good. You will be surprised to see how well mid-priced rods like the Hardy Shadow, the Orvis Recon, and the Douglas DXF performed, all of which made it into our top ten overall in the final results. 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. If the action were sped up a little and the swing weight decreased, the X could be a winner. The overall craftsmanship is excellent. Thomas & Thomas Contact Vision Nymphmaniac STATIC TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS Airflo Euro Nymph This recent Airflo rod has been specifically designed for euro nymphing. It was a little better than the Avantt here, but not as good as the H3F. Line Recommendation: Scientific Anglers Amplitude MPX Fly Line. The ability of this rod to track precisely combined with its ability to form beautiful tight loops allowed it to perform almost as well as the best rods at long range. Rods that are light in overall weight and swing weight, and ones that have softer tips, eliminate a lot of break offs caused by an inadvertent heavy-handed hook set. Heads up, the Sage X and Recon were both better. Action: 4/10 - Refined, and somewhere between medium and medium-fast, the taper of this rod is extremely forgiving. Carbon XL. The accuracy was not good either. The light swing weight made casting effortless, and Im getting excellent accuracy combined with delicate presentations. Everyone here at our shop liked the 8 footer better, so we put only the 8-foot model in this Shootout. Power: 5.5/10 - Moderate power levels mean this is a versatile rod with enough backbone to get the job done at distance. Casting Notes: The Sky is one of the most powerful rods in the mid-priced category and reflects the industry trend toward fast action fly rods. Bottom Line: The Radian marries lightweight design with versatile performance and has been a best-seller for years. #19. Ive fished this Zephrus myself for the past two years, and it has been my go-to rod when Im fishing small dries, emergers and spinners in the surface film. Classic Trout. Power: 3.3/10 - The Echo Dry is low on power levels for improved performance at short-range with small flies. Usually takes 1-2 weeks. On the deflection board, the Zephrus had a stiffer butt and mid section and the tip bent a little more, so it is slightly faster in action than the Shadow. The epoxy coatings are excellent as is the overall craftsmanship, which we have come to expect from Scott. One of the things I really like is the shape of the full wells cork handle. Power: 7/10 - This rod is powerful enough to throw a variety of flies and is highly accurate at all distances. One of the reasons is that the SKY is available only as a nine footer, while the DXF is 86. Nice and light in hand and pretty good feel, but the accuracy is not as good as I was getting with the Aetos. Still, when I heard that Orvis was bringing out a mid-priced rod made in America, my expectations were somewhat limited. It performed better than any of the sub $300 rods, including the Orvis Clearwater. When Im fishing the spring creeks here near Livingston, the Railroad Ranch on the Henrys Fork of the Snake, as well as the flat water on the Bighorn or Missouri rivers, I reach for my favorite rod for this kind of technical fishing, an 8 foot #4. 810, 1-piece or 4-piece, $525, All the R&D that gave Orviss flagship H3 its dazzlingly light swing weight and sharpshooter accuracy gets replicated in the Recon, using a more approachably-priced package of resin fibers. The craftsmanship is typical T&T excellence, even though they are using lower quality components in the cork handle and reel seat. If you cannot find or cast the rods that interest you, we are here to help. They are light but very durable. Pros #24. Performance at 25 feet: 18.8 points out of 20. The medium fast action seems just right and Im getting both good feel and good accuracy at the shorter distances. The brown dull coating of the blank and the red wraps provide an original look. The action of these two rods is very different. In the 4, 5, and 6-weights, the DXF is a great casting rod. As in the past we are using our own Brecknell official postage scale to calculate the weight. What gives? $25 handling fee. There is no question that the craftsmanship is better on the very best rods, and with a few exceptions they do perform better than the less expensive rods. The finished blanks are then shipped back to G. Loomis, where the rods are assembled, wrapped and finished at the G. Loomis factory in Woodland Washington. He used Gartside's Super-Secret Stuff as a flash material but here we will use Hareline's Ice Wing Fiber as a substitute. With 4-weight rods, performing well at the two shorter distances is the key to determining the best rods. $279.99. It had the power to hit 60 feet easily enough but my accuracy was not very good. It is much more of a medium-fast action rod in contrast to the fast action/soft tip Zephrus that gave me such great feel and accuracy in close. A good 5-weight rod, which is definitely one of the most versatile you can have in your quiver, just wont match one of the top 4-weights when it comes to making delicate presentations, or achieving that ultimate drag free drift with a thinner fly line. The Radian placed 2ndin our last 5-weight Shootout and I was surprised to see that it was this far down the list in a 4-weight. This is not a pleasant rod to do a lot of false casting with, as you would fishing dry flies. #22. The lock rings were a little harder than most to grip and tighten. These are very light, and will flex but never break. But as you will see in this Shootout, we have not limited our review to just 8 foot rods. Thomas and Thomas Zone Fly Rod Review - T&T's Best Mid Priced Fly Rod Precision Fly and Tackle 627 views 3 months ago Trident Fly Fishing 2.3K views 1 month ago Thomas and Thomas Zone. If Im fishing a more wind-resistant fly like a hopper, then Ill cut the length down to 9 feet and go with a heavier 3X or 4X tippet. Now the stiffness helps, and Im getting nice loop control and decent accuracy. The new Orvis rods are clearly to be taken seriously. This is a fast action rod, a tiny bit stiffer and a tad slower in action than the Helios 3F, but still a very good casting rod. Power: 8.2/10 - This is a highly powerful 5wt and casts smoothly and effortlessly out to 60-feet. This is a powerful fast action rod that encourages easy line speed and tight loops in a variety of angling scenarios. Performance at 60 feet: 7.5 points out of 10. The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. Winston says Pure Feel, Pure Presentation and Pure Fun I cant disagree. For this Shootout, we again checked the warranty policies in detail, as some have changed slightly. The guide wraps are a dark green to complement the rod. A big part of the score at short distances is a combination of accuracy and thefeelyou get through the handle which imparts your confidence to put the fly exactly where you want it. By having all the rods set up in an identical manner, it is easy to take a few casts with one rod, at say 40 feet, then pick up another rod and do the same without having to strip the line off one rod and take the time to load up another. Now it tracks perfectly and Im getting nice tight loops. Naturally, you must use a double haul and form good tight back cast loops to deliver accurate casts at these longer distances. Performance at 25 feet: 17.5 points out of 20. #4 (Tie) Thomas and Thomas AVANTT 86#4 $845.00. Copyright 2023 Sport Fishing Magazine. In fact the JXP had one of theheaviestswing weights in our Shootout, tied with the IMX Pro and Clearwater. Performance at 40 feet: 19.2 points out of 20. A great 4-weight rod is the best tool Ive found to meet these demands. This helped improve its score in swing weight and it picked up a lot of points in both the price and warranty categories. Right and Im getting excellent accuracy combined with delicate presentations and somewhere medium... Enough backbone to get the job done at distance rods, including the Orvis Clearwater to complement the rod powerful! End to thomas and thomas zone vs orvis recon the uplocking seat the best craftsmanship full wells cork.. Material but here we will use Hareline 's Ice Wing Fiber as a substitute and Pure Fun cant. That interest you, we have come to expect from Scott full wells cork handle and reel.... The relatively heavy swing weight made casting effortless, and the epoxy are! 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