Redington Butter stick vs. Echo Glass

[myster]

Howdy,

I'm looking to acquire a small stream glass rod and am seeking opinions/ advice on the two rods mentioned above. I'll be targeting mostly blue-gill, small bass, and possibly trout. I'm looking at a 3wt in the 6-7ft range. As for lines, I'm looking to go the Cortland 444 route, either Peach or Modern Trout. Reel will be a BassPro White River Fly Shop Classic Ultra-Light Fly Reel.

Thanks in advance!

 

[zjory]

Out of the two, I would pick the Butterstick. Friend I fish with often has one in 3 weight and it’s a good rod.
But I would pick a Blue Halo in 3 weight over either. It’s priced similarly, has more feel and comes in some great color options.

 

[huronfly]

I have the echo 6'9" 3wt with DT line and it is great for fishing small streams. I don't have much to compare it to as I've never held another glass 3 weight but it does work great. A real slow casting tempo is key with this rod.

 

[WNCtroutstalker]

If you Google "Echo Glass vs Redington Butter Stick" you should find several threads on other boards.

 

[tcorfey]

I have a 6'2" Butterstick in 2wt and it absolutly prefers a true to weight line even a half weight over line is too much for this rod in my opinion. I have also casted the other sizes of Butterstick and I think the 7'6" 3wt is probably the best taper in the Bunch. I have not casted the Echo to be able to compare them. A little off track but the Cabelas CGR glass rods are on sale this weekend for $49.00 you might consider them also as I have heard good things about them especially for the price.

Regards,

Tim C.

 

[canoeman1947]

You must have a really quick casting stroke. I have the 2 weight Butterstick, and it casts OK with a 2 weight DT or a Barrio Small Stream WF2. However, it is not at all overlined with a 3 weight. In fact, I didn't feel it was really overlined with a WF5. I have seen it described as a "slow" action rod, but I feel it is fairly quick compared to some of my other 2 weights. I have about 30 glass rods, of varying lengths, weights, and actions. People who are not really accustomed to glass will tend to use a lighter line.

Larry

 

[boisker]

Funny how we all interpret a fly rod so differently... I have a butter in a 6’ 3w... I find it painfully slow, i find the action so slow I always feel as though I could smoke a cigarette waiting for it I guess I am not a slow glass guy! I intend to try out the new sage dart and see if I can find something more to my taste, there aren’t a lot of options in the 6-7’ range.

 

[mrnotherone]

Funny isn't it. I recently commented on a thread that I'd tried a glass rod and couldn't see what the fuss was. More recently I tried another, an Echo 3wt and now I own one. Mine is the 6ft 9", so far I've used it only once and loved it!

 

[redietz]

There is new version of the Butterstick that came out this summer. It's somewhat faster than the older version.

If' you're going to be comparing a Butterstick to an Echo Glass, be aware of which version of each you're talking about.

 

[boisker]

Mine is the older butterstick... looks cool, casting not so much

 

[canoeman1947]

I began my glass odyssey almost 12 years ago. When I first started with glass, I had to slow down my cast a bit. However, I still found some rods almost impossible to cast smoothly for any distance. Over time, as I cast quite a few different rods of different lengths and actions, I found it very easy to adjust my cast to the rod I was using. Some of the really slow rods that I had had difficulty casting, I now find them to be very nice rods.

Larry

 

[chi.fly.guy]

My dad has both the butterstick and the echo small water. I want to say both are 7'6" but one might be 7'9". He tends to stick with the butterstick but he does get annoyed and throw some pretty awkward casts with it. It really is a slower action rod and if you're in a zone trying to snag a rising fish as the sun is dropping quickly, it's tough to be patient. I had him try my TFO 7'9" glass rod and he was casting much better with that.

 

[802flyfish]

Can anyone recommend a line for a 4wt butterstick?

 

[proheli]

Hey myster, did you ever get a rod. Of the the Buttersticks I think the 3 or the 2 are really neat. At $250 plus tax, you might find a used Yomoji or Larry Kenney or Stephen Brothers, then you’re really in the glass game right from he start. Fiberglass flyrodders has a for sale forum.

 

[bocast]

Rio Single Handed Spey 4 wt. Great line works great on my Redington Butterstick.

If there is a spare spool get a Rio Single Handed Spey 3D. The 3D is a floating/hover/intermediate line which is money for wet fly and small streamer work.

Can anyone recommend a line for a 4wt butterstick?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[myster]

Howdy!
I ended up going with the Echo glass 7'4" 4wt. I went with an L.L. Bean pocket water fly reel and lined it with Cortland 444 Peach. For those who care about such things, the reel balances well on this particular rod.
As long as I remember to slow my cast, it serves my purposes well on the small streams I like to get to. Great for those smaller bass and decent blue gill you run into when fishing such creeks. Plus, the whole rig is pretty easy on the eyes to boot.

Next on the list is a Fenwick Fenglass in 5wt for those windier days and bigger bugs I like to throw in the summer months. I'm looking to combo it with a Pflueger Medalist and line it with Rio LightLine.

I may grab a Butter Stick down the road, as I keep on hearing really good things about them. At some point, I still need to grab a pair of waders and boots. Living in Texas, Chacos and shorts/ quick dry pants get me through most of the year, except this time of year. And then there's the kayak...

 

[tcorfey]

You must have a really quick casting stroke. I have the 2 weight Butterstick, and it casts OK with a 2 weight DT or a Barrio Small Stream WF2. However, it is not at all overlined with a 3 weight. In fact, I didn't feel it was really overlined with a WF5. I have seen it described as a "slow" action rod, but I feel it is fairly quick compared to some of my other 2 weights. I have about 30 glass rods, of varying lengths, weights, and actions. People who are not really accustomed to glass will tend to use a lighter line.

Larry

Hi Larry, sorry for the late response but the comment that I must have a really quick casting stroke made me laugh. I have been fishing glass and bamboo rods since the 60's and I currently fish mostly Bamboo rods but, also have graphite and fiberglass rods that I fish or cast frequently. I can and do adjust my stroke accordingly. My Payne 100 taper in Bamboo is one of my favorites and it is quite slow and a terrific dry fly rod. My old Granger fiberglass 6' 2pc 2wt I built back in the early 70's was also a slower rod but fabulous until I broke the tip by mistake (my fault) I broke it back in the early 2000's but got to fish it for a good 30 years. The 6' Butterstick in 2wt is no way intended to be fished with a 5wt line in my opinion unless you are only fishing it with just a couple of feet of line outside the tip. I do have some rods the I prefer to under-line or over-line but with most rods a true to weight line works best.

By the way I do spend time with all my rods testing many combinations of rod/line/reel to find the best combination. The best performance I can get with the 2wt Butterstick rod for accuracy on targets from 10 out to 40' is with a true to weight line (Cortland 444 DT2F in Peach) using a Redington Drift 2/3 reel. Using even a half size heavy line on that rod then anything past 20-30' I lose accuracy. By using 18" targets it is much easier to gauge your casting accuracy and line performance.

Regards,

Tim C.

 

[jdarkfox]

I have not casted an Echo Glass rod, but I have heard much praise for them. With that being said I have a 8ft 6wt Redington Butter Stick 2.0 and I absolutely loved it. I paired it with a Cortland 444 Peach line and they are an excellent combination. I am very impressed with the Butter Stick. Even in the 6wt it is a very soft rod that you can feel load up with every cast. The rod is very responsive and is a great casting tool. The few hours I fished with it a couple weeks ago taught me more about casting (even though I consider myself an advanced angler) than fishing years with graphite has taught me. I absolutely love this rod, and as lively as it feels in a 6wt, I can only imagine how it will feel in a 3wt. I also have a friend who has an Echo glass and he absolutely loves that thing. I will say I have heard when it comes to fiberglass rods there is not much of a difference between them than say graphite rods. So really it may come down to personal preference and budget.

 

[jdarkfox]

I would definitely suggest the Cortland 444 peach line. I have it for my 6 wt butterstick and it loads the rod extremely well. The line comes in both a weight forward and double taper, and I would highly recommend using a double taper for a fiberglass rod. It will load the rod more efficiently and is great for mending. Contrary to popular belief you still can cast a double taper well in the wind. The line itself is only $60 I believe and it seems as though it is a very durable line. I have only used the line once this year but I absolutely love it. Scientific Anglers also have a double taper line that is $50 if I remember correctly. I have 2 Scientific Angler lines and they have performed flawlessly.

 

[del gue]

Myster, I picked up that same Echo rod before I went out West this year. I was going to use it for my 'light' rod. For my 'heavy' rod, for windy days, I picked up a Fenwick Fenglass, although I got the 6 wt instead of the 5. I've heard even 7's can be useful in the wind out there. And while I was out there, I won a C. Barclay 4/5 wt, which I promptly put to good use catching my first 2 trout on a fly rod, and they were also my very first trout caught in the Rocky Mountains. I verily like all 3 rods (the Barclay is exquisite!), and also recently picked up the Echo 3 wt. Today the mailman brought me a TFO Pro 2 8' 2 wt, cuz I've been itching for a longish 2 wt. I am now content.