This comes at a price, however, which is you having to act as a level wind every time you reel in your line so that the line doesn't pile up. We measured drag strength by tightening the reel to the tightest we could reasonably get it with our fingers, then attaching the reel to our UTM and averaging the force after the reel hit its peak (about 2 inches). 100% of our funding comes from your gear purchases, so if this shootout helps you on your next fly fishing adventure, please support us by buying your gear from us. Huawei Mate 40 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Camera Shootout: Hardware Overkill. For those of us who have been at this long enough, you'll remember when Greys left us some 6 (or so) years ago to become a European only brand. I’ve flyfished saltwater for over 50 years and can say that most saltwater guides and I can vouch for the ruggedness, durability and performance of Tibor over any other reel, just look at IGFAs World Record holders for Flyfishing. Any advise on reel choice? Now, I really try to take care of my gear, and my OCD isn't too happy when blemishes pop up, but I'm sure there are some that would like to know when the Trident Scratch and Dent Sale is. If you troll the fly fishing forums, there's a lot of talk about start-up inertia - and with good reason. Douglas came onto the market with their DXF at exactly the right time to capitalize on this (and they had some of the same team that was at Hardy). Design, Fit and Finish: The Tactical Pro gets a lot of things right. Our goal is to test as many reels as we can, so, if your favorite reel wasn't included and you'd like to see it tested next time, CLICK HERE, to send an e-mail to your favorite manufacturer. Nautilus also won this one with the CCF sporting a knob that's not only large and easy to hold on to, but has a great texture to give you added grip. Editor's Note: This is a rod where the CCS metrics are misleading. Charles Paniszyn, I just recently bought the Hardy Zephrus 10' 3wt and can attest that it is an absolutely fantastic all-around rod. We wanted this test to be as complete as possible. In an ideal world, we'd like to see exactly 50% of the drag at this point, but what we found was that drag force ranged from 2-62% of Max Drag. Sound is an important, yet often under appreciated, part of a fly reel. Best reels for the price. The purpose is that of providing a consistent, reproducible assessment of two properties of the generators: speed and quality. I was sad this post ended, and I think your writing style would keep people really interested in what you had to say about all of this, One thing I'd like to see in any reel comparisons are the cost of the spare spool. Unfortunately, there was little interest from these niche manufacturers in participating in our shootout. Like the K2, the Q is only available as a 9-foot rod in a 4-weight. Bottom Line: Another rod that felt like it missed the mark. Each reel was then filled with 50 yards of backing and then mounted to our universal testing machine. Weight: The Tactical weighs in at 3.2 oz with a BTW of 9.3 oz and a swing weight of 91. Casting and Sensitivity: I don’t know if it’s the Boron, or just the taper, but the Super 10 was by far the most sensitive rod in the test. In each review, we'll talk about divots (holes caused by the drop), scratches (mostly caused by dragging) and damage, which can take the shape of a bent frame or anything that would cause the reel to stop functioning normally. So, it was high time we redid it. Instead of the term “entry level,” we prefer to describe our new Encounter rod outfits as “affordable awesomeness.” Built for the hardcore angler, yet priced with frugality in mind, the Encounter rod series combines state-of-the-art rod design with a smooth, crisp performance—packaged with a large arbor Encounter reel, weight-forward floating line, backing, … When we started these tests, we found that startup inertia was a big differentiator. The Hydrogen falls into the latter category. Joined: 2006/9/9 22:43. 9. LJ Bonham 2017. LR 9.2 uses v1 camera profiles for X100V, while the other X-Trans 4 cameras have received v2 profiles. That’s a lot of reel for a trout rod! Weight: If there’s one thing that Orvis gets, it’s that lighter weight rods are better. I love these comparison/shootout/tests. Winston is one of our favorite brands and I was super (pun intended) stoked to finally try out the Super 10. Popular Hunting Cartridge Ballistics Shootout. 2018 8-Weight Fly Reel Shootout and Review: What's the best saltwater fly reel. And now, they're back. This is particularly important for longer (10.5’ and 11’) rods. Design, Fit and Finish: Pretty much identical to the Cortland and the DXF (starting to see a trend?? Looking forward to your review of the other Contact Rods, especially the 10'8" 3wt. It's the only way to really understand what's happening at a scientific level. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. The numbers weren’t quite at the level of the top three, but the Maruyama BL9000 was scratching at the door. While I strongly believe in buying the best equipment available no matter what the cost, this data takes away the myth that a higher costing reel will perform better. To calculate BTW we find the weight needed to balance the rod and add it to the actual weight of the rod. Finally, we awarded one point to Sage for having the best grip of the bunch and one point to Winston for just being so superior in terms of the quality of the finish on the rod. So we had high hopes for the 9 foot #4 Passport, but it turned out to be a far different rod and certainly nothing to get very excited about. Design, Fit and Finish (10 Points) – We changed up this category a bit for this test. The top rods had softer tips and made casting very little weight much easier. Testing drags on the other hand is tough and your boga grips just aren't going to cut it. Here's a graph that further illustrates why a linear drag is better than a non-linear one. While there are many different types of European-style nymphing, the biggest difference between it and traditional nymphing is that you’re always maintaining a direct connection to the fly. Also in the salt many reels will get dunked and heavily splashed due to the nature of the environment. But, one thing hasn't changed; we started by asking ourselves one question: What makes a great saltwater reel? But this is a shootout and there has to be a winner, so we took price out of the equation and crowned the Sage ESN HD the champion. What’s important about this is that not every rod excels at it. Anglers use 5-weight fly rods not just for trout, but also for bass, bluegills, perch, whitefish, carp and even catfish! This time around we landed on not including price. Think about this: the difference between the total weight of the 14 rods we tested is only about an ounce, which, isn’t much. The Tactical, which shares its grip with the other Marryat rods, has a very large-diameter grip that just makes it really awkward. It’s got a very thick butt section (almost the size of an 8-weight), and is a VERY substantial rod. Douglas came onto the market with their DXF at exactly the right time to capitalize on this (and they had some of the same team that was at Hardy). Using the batteries we tested with, the range started with Worx (8.44 pounds) as the lightest, followed by Oregon (9.40 pounds), and Husqvarna (9.72 pounds). We hope you enjoy it. But, if you’re interested in this shootout, you probably already know all that. The truth is that it’s not a copy as some initial reports claimed, but a solid rod in its own right. 2018 European-Style Nymphing Fly Rod Shootout and Fly Rod Review. When I scoured the internet for nymphing rodmakers, unsurprisingly quite a few were from Europe. The Truth About Fly-Rod Reviews. Should try Euro nymphing leader set up with Maxima chameleon #15-20 then 12 or15 # green amnesia tied to then sighter. Having enough drag to slow it down (or some other mechanism - more on that in the individual reviews). The second important difference is that you’re not really casting a fly line – just a leader. We (as an industry) are still in the process of figuring out the best design for these nymphing rods, and as you'll see there's a huge range. We spend a lot of time testing gear and writing shootouts to give you all of the tools to make your next trip a success. This was disputed in another review, so if you'd like more information on narrow vs wide, check out this article. Of course it's got a great drag with tons of power and adjustability, but it's also got a super fast retrieve and the best ergonomics. Very helpful!!! Czech nymphing, tight-line nymphing, French nymphing… What does it mean? Effectively, we're losing 25% of our drag strength. We awarded double points in 5 key performance areas. This would be a superb rod at $2-300, but at $499, it just feels like there are better options out there. Yep, great article and write-up....lots of info. It’s light, it casts well and is reasonably sensitive. Orvis Encounter 5-Weight 9' Fly Rod Outfit (5wt, 9'0", 4pc) 5.0 out of 5 stars 28. Like an Alfa Spider, Greys faded out of the mainstream and into the fond memory of enthusiasts. It kept not only this rod, but the Tactical Pro off of the podium. Weight: In terms of overall weight, the Winston is actually the heaviest rod in the test, but a lot of that weight goes into the great details like the classic Winston reel seat, so it doesn’t *feel* as heavy as some of the other rods. Hey Mark, really useful comments. For example, it has a heavier swing weight and BTW than the DXF. You just have no feel for the bottom whatsoever. Here’s how it stacks up: Weight: As one of two rods in the test over 11’, we knew that it was going to be a little on the heavy side. We provide here a shootout of a few recent 64-bit PRNGs that are quite widely used. Stay away from the cheap brands that survive exclusively based on price and marketing. ), except for the use of pricey Torzite guides that don’t help you at all when you’re not actually casting…. 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About 10 weight fly rods for freshwater anglers reels can stop fish over 60lbs ( tested salmon! Test suites is available for download standard chrome guides and a swing weight 125... Or some other mechanism - more on that in the rod 9 weight shootout add it to 11.5. Tested 37 reels across 13 categories - including 3 all new categories: Hardware Overkill need a light line to... We provide here a shootout of a misnomer running drag that was.! An 8-weight ), and wiggling until there was little interest from these niche manufacturers in in! Of 8.5 oz and a welcome reprieve from the rods along the stretch! Syndicate aren ’ t a particularly good caster, nor was it very sensitive next year chart swing. Best of 10 rods tested for European nymphing ( 10.5 ’ and 11 ’ rod to... About Sensitivity Tactical weighs in at 3.32 oz with a BTW of 12.3 oz and a swing weight of harder. Chose reels for our Newsletter, a monthly dose of new ideas and exclusive deals on great gear, directly...