sweetandsalt
Well-known member
I usually enjoy George Anderson’s Shootouts, this newest one somewhat less so. I have met him but don’t really know him and I respect that he is a skilled angler who has won the One Fly, fishes the wonderful streams and rivers of Montana and further afield, even spending his winters in south Florida. It’s long been clear he has a rod preference filter…to be a top contender the rod must have a softer tip and a stouter butt.
His descriptive language use confuses me; how can a rod be too stiff and slow? How can a 9’ rod weighing less than 3 ounces have a “heavy” swing weight or heavy anything? As an angler who enjoys fishing 4-weight rods ranging from 7 ½’ to 9’ for fishing dry flies in diverse habitats, I’m further mystified how he strives to “compare” 8’, 8 ½’ and 9’ rods all under one set of guidelines.
I favor an 8’/#4 when fishing small and canopied streams where short accurate casts are the norm. When fishing my beloved spring and meandering meadow creeks is when I sport a crisp tipped, super accurate 8 ½’/#4. Precision of presentation and line manipulation with a light touch are my priorities. On big technical rivers when the breeze is light is when I select a 9’/#4. This rod requires good butt power reserves for appropriate distance on great rivers like the Henry’s Fork, Missouri and Delaware. For my dry fly technique, soft tipped rods need not apply.
There is plenty I can personally agree with Anderson about. I too have long had a love affair with 8 ½’/#4’s and have many of them spanning the decades. We both appreciate quality cork work biased toward sound ergonomics, flat, neat and non-globular wrap finish and inert, flexible nickel-titanium, decent sized but light weight guide sets. That does not mean I would fault a rod for using light wire, quality stainless guides especially for trout fishing applications.
My principal departure from the Yellowstone Shootouts is twofold. “Feel” in-close or out far is not a function of softer tip flexibility in my casting. Of course, there is a the age old viewpoint that feeling the rod load by virtue of its mass bending is pleasurable, compounded by “needing” tip softness to protect fine tippets and small flies. Conversely, there are many, and I am in this camp, who perceives feel as being an attribute of the rods clarity of communication with the line along with the seamlessness of transitions from one part of the rod’s taper to the next. A scalpel like tip that recovers to straight very quickly with a minimum of counter flex not only forms tighter, cleaner loops but enhances precision of fly placement and attitude adjustment. Further, a precise, quick tip facilities adroit slip-striking the little dun imitation home in the trout’s sipping mouth…no shock absorption other than your fingers required.
Then there is the so frequently focused upon rating system resplendent with Winners and Losers. Interestingly, often I concur with the excellence of Anderson’s favorites, NRX#8, SKY#6, Zenith#5 over the seasons have all been terrific rods. The Zenith 8 ½’/#4 is a rod I know very well and fished it for a number of seasons. I have compared it to Anderson’s top rod, Zephrus, and though the new version is a bit smoother, an improvement, the original was a little more potent and a small but important amount crisper in the tip. Still I’m confident the Zephrus is very good. That it is #1 and “too stiff and swing weight heavy” feather light Sage X is #19 is a laughable indicator of prejudice…this really is Fake News. I have not cast Winston Pure but I have tested the 8’/#4 AIR which is excellent. But to have it a #2 and brilliant 9’/#4 Asquith is #23 and SKY and Truth are #’s 13 and 14 simply means powerful big river 9’/#4’s are somehow not receiving their deserved admiration. So, if a 4-weight rod is not tailored to small stream, short cast use with a soft tip, it does not rate. Preposterous, shedding irrelevance on the whole project.
I have at least test casting familiarity with several rods in this Shootout and own and fish a few or similar versions too. I could happily cherry pick three rods in the three offered lengths out of this Shootout to form a first rate 4-weight kit and even add a couple more as alternative taper styles for diversity. I could not, would not select a #1 Winner and…if forced to, it would emerge from the bottom half of the ratings.
His descriptive language use confuses me; how can a rod be too stiff and slow? How can a 9’ rod weighing less than 3 ounces have a “heavy” swing weight or heavy anything? As an angler who enjoys fishing 4-weight rods ranging from 7 ½’ to 9’ for fishing dry flies in diverse habitats, I’m further mystified how he strives to “compare” 8’, 8 ½’ and 9’ rods all under one set of guidelines.
I favor an 8’/#4 when fishing small and canopied streams where short accurate casts are the norm. When fishing my beloved spring and meandering meadow creeks is when I sport a crisp tipped, super accurate 8 ½’/#4. Precision of presentation and line manipulation with a light touch are my priorities. On big technical rivers when the breeze is light is when I select a 9’/#4. This rod requires good butt power reserves for appropriate distance on great rivers like the Henry’s Fork, Missouri and Delaware. For my dry fly technique, soft tipped rods need not apply.
There is plenty I can personally agree with Anderson about. I too have long had a love affair with 8 ½’/#4’s and have many of them spanning the decades. We both appreciate quality cork work biased toward sound ergonomics, flat, neat and non-globular wrap finish and inert, flexible nickel-titanium, decent sized but light weight guide sets. That does not mean I would fault a rod for using light wire, quality stainless guides especially for trout fishing applications.
My principal departure from the Yellowstone Shootouts is twofold. “Feel” in-close or out far is not a function of softer tip flexibility in my casting. Of course, there is a the age old viewpoint that feeling the rod load by virtue of its mass bending is pleasurable, compounded by “needing” tip softness to protect fine tippets and small flies. Conversely, there are many, and I am in this camp, who perceives feel as being an attribute of the rods clarity of communication with the line along with the seamlessness of transitions from one part of the rod’s taper to the next. A scalpel like tip that recovers to straight very quickly with a minimum of counter flex not only forms tighter, cleaner loops but enhances precision of fly placement and attitude adjustment. Further, a precise, quick tip facilities adroit slip-striking the little dun imitation home in the trout’s sipping mouth…no shock absorption other than your fingers required.
Then there is the so frequently focused upon rating system resplendent with Winners and Losers. Interestingly, often I concur with the excellence of Anderson’s favorites, NRX#8, SKY#6, Zenith#5 over the seasons have all been terrific rods. The Zenith 8 ½’/#4 is a rod I know very well and fished it for a number of seasons. I have compared it to Anderson’s top rod, Zephrus, and though the new version is a bit smoother, an improvement, the original was a little more potent and a small but important amount crisper in the tip. Still I’m confident the Zephrus is very good. That it is #1 and “too stiff and swing weight heavy” feather light Sage X is #19 is a laughable indicator of prejudice…this really is Fake News. I have not cast Winston Pure but I have tested the 8’/#4 AIR which is excellent. But to have it a #2 and brilliant 9’/#4 Asquith is #23 and SKY and Truth are #’s 13 and 14 simply means powerful big river 9’/#4’s are somehow not receiving their deserved admiration. So, if a 4-weight rod is not tailored to small stream, short cast use with a soft tip, it does not rate. Preposterous, shedding irrelevance on the whole project.
I have at least test casting familiarity with several rods in this Shootout and own and fish a few or similar versions too. I could happily cherry pick three rods in the three offered lengths out of this Shootout to form a first rate 4-weight kit and even add a couple more as alternative taper styles for diversity. I could not, would not select a #1 Winner and…if forced to, it would emerge from the bottom half of the ratings.
