Sector vs Meridian vs Igniter - 9ft 6weights

[slinginbugs]

Came over this video today. Thought i'd post this review/comparison for those interested in the rods mentioned in the title.

YouTube

 

[ryc72]

Thanks. That was fun to watch.

 

[justahack]

That guy is genuine. Thanks for posting.

 

[osseous]

He is a lot of fun, isn't he?

I have said before- the 6wt Igniter is DEMANDING, but it pays off with efficiency. I have to question his choice of a short head flyline- which further shortens its sweet spot. Had he chosen a standard weight line with a longer head- he could temper that sensation and gotten a different sense from that rod. The Sector may have felt like it was becoming overwhelmed at the longer casts had he used a line like that- as a few reviewers have reported. It is significantly softer...particularly in the salt segment.

However- I have also speculated here about a revolution in rod design, centered around FEEL over outright distance and power. Perhaps Sector is the first of these efforts?.....

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[justahack]

Honestly, I don’t go fishing to work. The last thing I want is an inanimate object to demand something from me, and I’m not sure why I’d choose a line that would overwhelm a rod I was fishing. I don’t need my line to do Eval Knieval stuff in the air. The fishiest guys I know don’t cast much. They fish.

 

[justahack]

Didn’t quite finish my thought. That guy threw the full line on all three rods. And he did it with just 2-3 false casts. His stated applications were mainly for surf. My application for big sticks is mostly lakes, similar deal. Not sure how a different line would yield longer casts.

 

[osseous]

A longer head would allow casts as long as the ones he is making- even longer, actually- with added accuracy. This is a 6wt- ultimate distance is not its mission for most anglers.

I don't find much use for short headed floating lines- too little control. To me, that line is meant to help a weaker caster achieve more distance. Or to quick shot, repeatedly- like streamers right against the bank from a drift boat. If all I am doing is booming long, blind casts, that's going to be done with a heavy sink tip- not a floater- and it's gonna be at least a 7wt

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[ryc72]

The casting is definitely impressive tho. Makes me want to get a shooting style head line for my single hand 6wt now. Listening to his specs it sounds like the line has a 27ft 262 grain head. Guessing it’s similar to a rio obs 7wt. sounds awfully heavy. But definitely works for him. Was thinking earlier this summer how nice a 6wt meridian felt with a 6wt sa mpx line on it. Ha!

 

[justahack]

Yeah. I use a fast sinking sinking shooting head with an 8wt to bomb out casts meant to retrieve streamers, boobies, etc. Accuracy isn’t needed. It’s blind casting.

I just thought that guy was having lots of fun and that he liked all three rods, noting that his eval was just an hour on a lawn. His choosing one rod was as much in jest as anything. Think he said he’s after the quick shot in the surf.

 

[sweetandsalt]

As we often express here, habitat and technique are the tackle decision making priorities. Our fun loving, expressive Danish shop owner clearly has his casting chops down with great timing and power aplenty. He is also frank as to his quick distance sea trout fishing preferences.

Like osseous, most of my fishing in freshwater and salt flats is with close to true weight long head, long rear tapper floaters...with loop stability enhanced presentation being my priority. However, last week I fished from a boat off the East End of Long Island targeting fish busting on the surface among thick shoals if bay anchovies with birds wheeling and diving from above...chase the birds and cast far and fast before the bass go down. I fished a fast and powerful Taylor Truth #10 with a 350 grain clear intermediate/floating head...like an 11.5 weight line. This was not a line to hold in the air or hover, it was lift 30' into the back cast haul and shoot and bang, all your slack shot off the deck and came tight to the reel. The same methodology our reviewer above was demonstrating.

Truth #10's Flex Profile



I don't ask one rod to do it all. I preferer multiple specialized rods idealized in concert with their lines for specific environments. And 6-weights are a core size in my trout kit mostly for dry fly fishing on big rivers where distance and or wind are part of the deal. Personally, in the salt the lightest rod I fish is a #7.

Watching the video above, I noted that his casting technique was very consistent with all three rods but his line speed and the force with which his slack banged tight to his reel varied with Igniter being fastest followed by new Sector and the Meridian visually having the least taught line and potency. Fine, they all got the job done and he did talk about the ever subjective "feel and intuitiveness".

I know what he is talking about and so do most of you regarding a rod being "demanding" of timing and rate of acceleration. For years I have used this term when describing the virtues of Sage's technical series; TCR, TCX, Method even including ONE. Such rods tend toward complexity and do require familiarity, a learning curve to extract their substantial merits. Which they posses in abundance. They are not for every angling situation nor everyangler but when the precision of each cast counts from presenting long to a bank feeder on the Fork or Delaware or dropping a crab fly in front of a permit that has just come up tailing...this is when these rods have few equals. Nothing with a hint of imprecise softness in its tip will do.

I feel differently about Igniter. My familiarity is only with the 9'/#5 I have fished for two seasons now. Yes, like its predecessors it feature substantial power but differs significantly by being more progressive, more akin to NRX. Progressive tapers are generally more naturally intuitive to adapt to and come in various flavors from moderate to fast. As long as their tips are not too soft, think BIIIx but finely controlled in their flex like Zenith or NRX they can be fully as capable in all but the most technical situation as the continuously variable flex profile of the Method/ONE class rods. I believe Igniter and possibly, I have yet to even see one, NRX+ are aiming to split the difference, progressive and intuitive yet crisply firm flex in the tip progressing to ample potency down into the supportive mid and maintaining their traditional reserves in the lower taper, the best of both taper designs.

To return to the actual subject of this tread; I look forward to sampling Sector, the IFTD award winner for saltwater rod which I am confident will improve upon Meridian in both feel and performance, Igniter is definitely a top tier candidate and I will add 9'/#6's NRX+, Taylor Truth (soon), Douglas SKY and Stickman T6 too to round out the Performance 6-Weight category.

 

[okaloosa]

As we often express here, habitat and technique are the tackle decision making priorities. Our fun loving, expressive Danish shop owner clearly has his casting chops down with great timing and power aplenty. He is also frank as to his quick distance sea trout fishing preferences.

Like osseous, most of my fishing in freshwater and salt flats is with close to true weight long head, long rear tapper floaters...with loop stability enhanced presentation being my priority. However, last week I fished from a boat off the East End of Long Island targeting fish busting on the surface among thick shoals if bay anchovies with birds wheeling and diving from above...chase the birds and cast far and fast before the bass go down. I fished a fast and powerful Taylor Truth #10 with a 350 grain clear intermediate/floating head...like an 11.5 weight line. This was not a line to hold in the air or hover, it was lift 30' into the back cast haul and shoot and bang, all your slack shot off the deck and came tight to the reel. The same methodology our reviewer above was demonstrating.

Truth #10's Flex Profile
View attachment 19519


I don't ask one rod to do it all. I preferer multiple specialized rods idealized in concert with their lines for specific environments. And 6-weights are a core size in my trout kit mostly for dry fly fishing on big rivers where distance and or wind are part of the deal. Personally, in the salt the lightest rod I fish is a #7.

Watching the video above, I noted that his casting technique was very consistent with all three rods but his line speed and the force with which his slack banged tight to his reel varied with Igniter being fastest followed by new Sector and the Meridian visually having the least taught line and potency. Fine, they all got the job done and he did talk about the ever subjective "feel and intuitiveness".

I know what he is talking about and so do most of you regarding a rod being "demanding" of timing and rate of acceleration. For years I have used this term when describing the virtues of Sage's technical series; TCR, TCX, Method even including ONE. Such rods tend toward complexity and do require familiarity, a learning curve to extract their substantial merits. Which they posses in abundance. They are not for every angling situation nor everyangler but when the precision of each cast counts from presenting long to a bank feeder on the Fork or Delaware or dropping a crab fly in front of a permit that has just come up tailing...this is when these rods have few equals. Nothing with a hint of imprecise softness in its tip will do.

I feel differently about Igniter. My familiarity is only with the 9'/#5 I have fished for two seasons now. Yes, like its predecessors it feature substantial power but differs significantly by being more progressive, more akin to NRX. Progressive tapers are generally more naturally intuitive to adapt to and come in various flavors from moderate to fast. As long as their tips are not too soft, think BIIIx but finely controlled in their flex like Zenith or NRX they can be fully as capable in all but the most technical situation as the continuously variable flex profile of the Method/ONE class rods. I believe Igniter and possibly, I have yet to even see one, NRX+ are aiming to split the difference, progressive and intuitive yet crisply firm flex in the tip progressing to ample potency down into the supportive mid and maintaining their traditional reserves in the lower taper, the best of both taper designs.

To return to the actual subject of this tread; I look forward to sampling Sector, the IFTD award winner for saltwater rod which I am confident will improve upon Meridian in both feel and performance, Igniter is definitely a top tier candidate and I will add 9'/#6's NRX+, Taylor Truth (soon), Douglas SKY and Stickman T6 too to round out the Performance 6-Weight category.

Why the Douglas Sky and not the DXF? and could you please give your impression of how the DXF in 5wt or 6wt (9ft) would compare to Ignitor , X and One?
BTW, looks like you had some calm seas and one helluva high gunnel comfy boat there for Montauk. Would love to see what you caught there. I think some of our strictly freshwater friends dont realize how important distance casting is in that type of fishing, hence being willing to put up with a more demanding rod if you can squeak out an extra 5 or 10 feet because that seems to be exactly how far out of range those fast moving schools of stripers, blues, and false tunny always seem to be....

 

[sweetandsalt]

The Douglas DXF series is an excellent price to performance value but SKY, with its more sophisticated tapers and advanced technology including silica nano resin is lighter faster, smoother and more powerful, a premium rod at an upper-mid level price point. SKY is more potent than but has less touch than X...to different to compare as their intent is different. More of an overlap with Igniter but Igniter is more multi-dimensional with broader deeper character, and a bit more power too for sure. Not many rods compare favorably to Igniter. ONE (in trout sizes) is in its own technical presentation class. We did a side-by-side among four of us in camp in Montana last June between 9'/#6 SKY and popular Radian, both with RIO Gold...SKY was the winner going away. The two new #6's I am most intrigued by are the soon to be available NRX+ and Truth.

We were fishing out of a Contender, designed to fish in the lumpy stuff and it was roly poly out off the Point. We were inside the Forks in Gardner's Bay where it was far calmer (good!) and lots on bass were up and breaking, a very few albies too. And you are correct, 30' casts and a line-holder reel don't cut it fishing the inshore sea. Most shot were between 50 and 90' and there is not time to build up rod load with false casts lengthening line; you have to haul hard and shoot with accuracy, max two false casts, often but one.

Years ago we would catch many albies and very big stripped bass, but albies seem to be in decline much like Atlantic bonito before them and the legal cut off for a "keeper" bass is 28" so most are under that size...overharvesting run amok. We really need to suspend or better ban ALL wild fish harvesting and stick to agriculturally reproducible fish and animals. Anyway, here is what a little 28" bass looks like prior to release.

 

[dr d]

hi s+s,


mailed with some us hardcore-experts and now i´ve some doubts more about the new stars

if i read your quick-shooting demands between 50-90f.

sector:intuitive and accurate but not over70-80f,beyond it´s hingy.

loop x 7 :no distance rod but very accurate in close due heptagonal blank.

the 2 bespoken use not bihelix but carbon web - imo not the best carbon-technic…

nrx+:smooth and intuitive(i´m repeating the advertise) but in the high numbers

too stiff butt and tip and from this hingy in the upper mid.a reknowed longtime expert

told it a "not clean taper".the thing may be totally better in the lower numbers #4-6

and perhaps also #7 to #8.


we will see and experience.nice we.


thomas

 

[sweetandsalt]

I too have heard from the IFTD Show floor, that Sector was "softer" than anticipated. As osseous speculated in his post in this thread (pg. 1), he believes some rod makers are dialing back rod tapers to emphasize feedback over max performance. Indeed, right here on our Forum, there are members who prioritize feeling the load/bend of a fly rod. I may be old-fashioned in many ways but not in fly rod design. Sure, in the saltwater example above it is imperative that a rod have more to offer than most of us will illicit lest the most capable caster/angler run out of horsepower when it is most needed. My guide friend cast the Truth a good 10'+ further than I could and easily. But in a trout rod too "feel" to me means maximum transparent communication between what I am striving to accomplish and what my line/leader/fly are doing. Anything soft, worse hingey, plus unnecessary mass in my rod is dulling and subtractive from the fine sensations of the line's exact movements I'm striving to manipulate. Regardless of the taper design and flex depth of the rod, the tip must be crisply engaged and the lower taper supportive of line speed. Even in my most moderate current rod, Scott's 8'4"/#4 GS, the tip does not collapse and the butt has just enough stand-up in it.

 

[Peled]

hi s+s,

loop x 7 :no distance rod but very accurate in close due heptagonal blank.

thomas

Hm, now I'm curious as one chap said that line leaves X7 as bullet the rifle

 

[dr d]

hi,


due to trident test may be in close-middle but not in the distance.btw it´s an 30 year

old hat:bruce+walker hex or daiwa hex...they "will not have to align the spine more…".

the british and the scandinavian forum are both not pleasantly imo.also with the price.

we´ll see + hear in future more.

nice we.


thomas


p.s.i fear ny - times is right with the "hipster-story"... pleasant toy´s for child´s of rich parent´s>>>


not my world.

 

[axelscholli777]

Thanks for posting.

 

[hvenegaard]

Regarding the video, Daniel also made a Danish version where he was intriegued if he could throw the whole line with the Sector using only one back cast.
As it turned out he could .... YouTube

 

[hvenegaard]

I forgot.... go to 06:40

 

[justahack]

Regarding the video, Daniel also made a Danish version where he was intriegued if he could throw the whole line with the Sector using only one back cast.
As it turned out he could .... YouTube

Thanks for posting. I’ll repeat my earlier comment: that guy is genuine. His laughing and obvious joy encapsulates what fly fishing means to me. He’s also got skills. Love it.