9ft 5wt's

[Andy_B]

I picked up a copy of Fish&flyand they had a huge (34 rod's/14 companys tested) spread on 9ft 5wt 4pc rods.

Six people with over 100 years experience tested them all with 5wt Cortland 444 Rocket Taper weight-forward line and STH Cassette reels. With one extra line option (Double Taper Cortland) just to play with after the test was completed .

They used 10inch targets @ 20',30',40',50' and 60' to score for accuracy based on a 0 to 100 rating. They also scored the finish and feel of the rods on the same scale. They were tested form Seattle to Key west to SLC to Chicago.

Ok here it is...

Brand/Model Cost 20/30/40/50/60feet Finish Feel Total.
Bold denotes top score for each field
Premium Rods.


G. Loomis GLX $580 80/89/90/92/83 58 93 84


G. Loomis StreamDance GLX Presentation $620 87/87/83/73/66 63 87 78


Scott G2 $615 82/83/75/61/58/ 90 88 77


G. Loomis StreamDance GLX High Line Speed $625 82/82/75/65/54 63 81 72


Hardy Marksman $595 71/76/76/70/56 75 74 71


G. Loomis StreamDance GLX Max Line Speed $625 60/68/73/69/70 68 79 70


Thomas & Thomas Helix $620 66/69/69/70/77/ 85 55 70

L.L Bean Orion $340 58/64/67/62/47 55 67 80


Thomas and Thomas Horizon ll $620 23/44/65/66/61 83 54 57



St Croix Legend Ultra $340 35/43/53/64/68 63 51 54



Orvis Zero Gravity Tip Felx $655 30/49/58/64/61 79 17 51



Scott S3 $625 38/47/58/64/61 79 17 51



Redington SS Super Sport $449 28/28/33/57/62 48 42 43


Now for the sub 3hundies....



Echo2 590fw-4x $269 74/78/80/69/65 67 71 72



Wright & McGill WME 954 $199 69/73/70/71/63 72 73 70



TFO Lefty Kreh Pro $139 61/73/76/69/65 61 71 68



Cabela's LST $175 63/68/70/66/65 57 67 65


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L.L Bean Quest ll $69 67/67/65/62/66 36 59 60



Scott V2 $195 55/64/67/61/52 50 60 58


TFO Lefty Kehr TiCr X $225 47/50/53/70/69 60 56 58



Redington CPS $299 32/32/45/77/85 55 58 55




Diamondback
Americana $189 48/63/68/57/34 39 58 52


I'll finish up next week with rest of the rods and the some tester coments on each rod.

[schwerty]

I saw that spread also. They choose any interesting array of sticks and companys. I thought it was a bit strange to omit Winston, Sage and T&T. Maybe those stick makers didn' have tester rods available at the time of testing. ???
Got a chance to wave around a few of the rods in there though and the testers seemed to be fairly accurate in their comments...at least rom I could tell.

Thanks for posting this.

[mnflyfish]

This looks like some good info. Then again, what one person really likes another hates. Unlike a lot of products, fly rods are very personal. I'm a St. Croix guy and my buddy is a Sage guy. I personally don't like the feel of a Sage, and he only casts a St. Croix when I'm peein in the woods and my fly has been catching fish. The list is a good starting point but the final purch decision needs to be made after casting a few and seeing which one feels the best for the buyer.

Jay

[pechelman]

ugh
forgive me for beign a jong or just really skeptical

but what the hell does a rod have to do with casting accuracy?
even though there were 6 different testers, I still just dont see what the rod has to do with anything so long as you are casting within its intended range.
theyre also using the same line on each rod which isnt totally right in my opinion.

like skis, every rod has a different feel, but has very little to do with your presentation, so long as you're using the right tool for the right job.

ie if youre casting a slow rod, its going to be super accurate for presenting heavy flies with lots of terminal tackle in the 15-30ft range. Conversely, you wouldnt want to use an extra fast 10ft rod to do the same thing.

[Lonnie]

I got to cast an Echo2 a few weeks back and if I was in the market for a rod, that would be the one. It outcast rods that cost twice as much. I've thrown, Winstons, sage, scott and others. The Echo classic, which is a bit slower and sub $150 also was very smooth.

L