As many know, I can be found chasing many species of fish with my Spey rods, when not guiding. I just PLAIN enjoy casting and fishing these rods. With the introduction of lighter line weighted Light Spey / Switch rods, trouting and river bass fishing have entered the world of “two handed fly rod fishing”. Of late, Sage and Redington have the latest in 4 weight Light Spey / Switch rods and Rio has introduced the 275 grain Skagit and Scandi heads to match these magic wands. WOW, how cool can this get!?!

Sage 4116-4 ONE: I matched up my floating Light MOW Tip to the 275 grain Skagit Short Head and began casting on the Brandywine River. Once I got over the fact it wasn’t my 7 or 8 weight rod(s), I started casting short, then longer, then long. I threw Ska-Oppers and streamers with 10-12 foot leaders. After a few minutes I got lost in this rod, WOW! It pitched line like my heavier rods, even with some wind. Of course when I kicked my 1st mend, the whole line flew upstream, because it was so light. When I switched over to some T-8 MOW tips, I figured the challenges would begin; NOT to be! This rod JACKS line, that’s all there is to it. Did I mention that this rod is handsome, not that this is very important to me. I can’t wait to get my first shad, smallie and trout on the end of this stick. GREAT rod, awesome job, Sage!!!

Redington 4109-4 Prospector: This is a different animal than the Sage ONE; softer with a different flex point. I matched up the same Floating Light MOW Tip to the 275 Skagit Short Head. Once again, I needed to erase my 7 & 8 weights from my mind. I threw the same Ska-Oppers and streamers. After settling down a LOT, I just let the rod do all of the work and casts began to head for the horizon. If I punched too hard, casts piled up, but when I let it “all ride”, line disappeared from my fingers. The rod was easy in my hand, light and very “caster friendly”. Distance came up a bit shorter and casting heavier MOW tips didn’t come as easy as the ONE. The 275 Grain head felt a bit “chunky” on this rod for me. I need to put some lighter grain lines on this one to see where it falls in my arsenal. The Prospector definitely has game!

  On Tuesday this week our G Loomis rep, Dick Kondak, stopped by the shop to show us all of the new Loomis gear. Now, anyone who has met Dick knows you will be laughing from the time he gets there until the time he leaves. He is a class act, the kind of person we need more of in this industry. In between jokes, stories, and laughs we actually got some work done. The first thing he showed us was the fantastic line of clothes the crew at Loomis has put together this year. Everything from tropical shirts, soft shell jackets, light rain gear, foul weather gear, hats and bags are first rate. I personally really liked the the lined and un-lined hoodie and the Soft Shell jacket. Terry seemed to like the deep, roomy pockets in the Soft Shell, Native Run and the Max 3 jacket. The Bonded Fleece jacket was a favorite of both of ours. All quality stuff and all with the un-mistakable G Loomis logo throughout. I believe Loomis will do well with the new clothing line.  

 The highlight of any of these meetings is always when the new rods come out and Tuesday was no exception. We got to see all of the new Loomis rods and all I can say is DAMN! We spent most of the time with the new LP series of NRX rods. The LP Stands for Light Presentation. These rods are extremely slim, especially at the tip, and feather light. They load with a deep bend, but have plenty of reserve power. Loomis has done a exceptional job of creating a series of rods that are deep loading, but don't feel "whippy". We cast the 9' 3 weight, the 9' 4 weight and the 7 and a half foot 3 weight. All were cast with S/A GPX lines and these lines preformed well. If I am to own one of these in the future I would like to try one of the longer "trout" taper lines such as the RIO Trout LT. I must say my favorite was the 7.5 foot 3 weight, I have the perfect spot for that rod in my arsenal...it is always fun to dream! 

  Definitely not the first choice for throwing an indicator nymph rig, but that is not what the series are designed for. If you are a native brookie "guy" or a guy that loves the subtle sip of a Midge and the dimple in the water that follows  these rods should should get serious consideration if you are in the market for something new.

  The most fun part of the night was when we rigged up the new 13 foot 460 grain NRX Spey rod.  

   This is a true big boy spey rod with a price to match. The first thing I noticed was how light in the hand the rod felt even though it was 13 feet long. We were throwing the Air Flo Scandi compact head and a .032 running line. Because we were in the grass and not on the water we were limited as to what we could do with the traditional underhanded casting. We did throw a couple of C spey and Perry Poke casts. The rod felt great and we REALLY want to get it on the water to see what it can do with a proper load on the rod!  

   Now for the really cool part. As we use our 2 handers on the beach more and more the 2 handed overhand cast becomes a very important tool. Typically we would go with a integrated shooting head like the RIO outbound for this type of casting, but the night was getting long and we decided to give it a go with the Scandi compact set up.  I can say it was a pleasure to see the line launch off of the rod and travel through the air. We were booming 100 foot plus casts with very little effort. I am confident Terry went WELL over 100 feet with a few of his casts. It is truly a pleasure to watch a technically sound caster do his thing. 

We would like to thank Dick for coming out and letting us see all the new stuff. Please feel free to stop in or give a call if you have any questions. 

                                                                                                                                                  Tight lines...
                                                                                                                                                                 Tim 

The new Sage Circa rods were delivered to the shop on Thursday. As soon as I saw the deep yellow rod tube I could tell it was something different. When I assembled the rod for the first time I knew it was something different. The first thing I noticed was the low profile ferrules. According to Sage the advancement of the Konnetic technology has allowed them to lighten the ferrules buy 70% without a loss of strength. this also allows for an overall lighter rod and much better aerodynamics while moving through the casting stroke. These rods are so incredibly slim and light weight...the 8' 9" 4 weight only weighs 2 3/8 ounces! The blank is a deep green color and the thread wraps are olive with grey accents. The rod has a half wells cork handle, Vera wood reel seat, Fuji stripper guides, and hard chrome snakes and tip top. The overall appearance of the rod can be summed up with only one phrase, "work of art".

 Enough of that stuff, let’s get to the meat and potatoes, how does it preform? Well, I took the 8' 9" 4 weight out and gave it a go. The load point of this rod is deep in the butt section. I used 2 different lines and feel a longer taper like the Trout LT to be a good choice, I didn't have one to try, but I actually want to try the old double taper on this rod. I think that will perform equally well. As mentioned the load point is deep, but the rod is not what I would consider "soft" it actually is quite crisp and VERY accurate. I had no trouble hitting targets from as close as 15 feet to an estimated 40 or so feet. Ultra-light in the hand and silky smooth you could cast this rod all day and never get tired. A wide loop is a byproduct of the slower action and I did notice wind to be an issue on a few casts. Probably not the best choice if you are throwing a tandem nymph rig with an indicator and shot, but if small flies and delicate presentations are your game put this one on your list of "must try" rods.

 Available in 2 thru 5 weights and lengths of 7' 9" or 8' 9" there is a weight and a length to suit the needs of most anglers. Please feel free to stop in and give one of these rods a try, You will be glad you did.

                                                                                                                                                     Tim