A new 5 weight rod overview, this time from Yellow Dog Flyfishing. The testers being John Juracek and Whitney Gould isn't a bad thing. In this overview Sage rods (generally too stiff) doesn't fare well. Although the R8 and the Classic R8 does end up in the top 5 once for a specific application. Orvis doesn't look good either.
Among the $1000+ (!) rods, Winston seems to be doing the best. However the big surprise is that the Redington Classic Trout, a rod model that has been around for 10+(?) years, at just over $150(!) is the overall winner. Yay for medium action rods!… Both Sage and Redington being owned by the same private equity company makes it a bit awkward.
It's really odd that generally all rod brands still prefer to make only fast/stiff rods. These rods give very little to no feel when casting distances up to 20-25 feet. Not everyone fishes from a drift boat casting 40+ feet.
What I really liked is the remark that most factory built rods have too long/large grips and too long reel seats. Not only do they look aesthetically bad, too long seats will result in your line getting wrapped around it. Totally agree! Take a look at Japanese rods, both factory as well as custom built rods. The length of the grips as well as the length of reel seats are proportionally perfect.
Here's a (rather long) video of the top contenders
3 comments:
Yellow Dog made some very good changes with this shoot out by being more fishing centric and using outside testers. You know, the long reel seat issue could be resolved by bringing back down locking reel seats. It was a good shoot out!
Mike, to be honest it's insane how many rod compaies there are now. And every 4-6 years introucing a new series of models too? So much for a sustainable sport
I agree…
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