Tag: fly rods

Fly Rod Review: On the Water with Sage ESN

The more I dabble with European nymph fishing techniques, the more of a believer I am in their effectiveness. I recently had an opportunity to fish a 10-foot, 4-weight version of Sage's just-introduced ESN (for European Style Nymphing) fly rods, and I'm also becoming more of a believer in the "special rods for specific techniques" school of thought as a...

Fly Fishing Jazz: Bonding with the Ax

I DON'T KNOW why more fly fishers don’t fall in love with a single rod and stick with it forever. My tackle retailer and manufacturer friends will hate me for saying that, but I think it’s an interesting and worthwhile question to consider. It seems to me that fly fishers are swept up in the marketing hype—the faster, further, stronger...

Retro Rod Review: Four Graphite Models that Changed the Fly Fishing World

In marketing-speak, we’ve been through so much “next generation” graphite hype in the last 20 years that, if you actually buy the hyperbole, you might just think a rod made in the mid-1990s is virtually unfishable. That is, of course, utter hogwash. No matter what anyone tells you, fly rods have not, in fact, evolved at the same techno-pace as things...

Long-Term Rod Review: Scott S4S 906/4

I've pulled off a few half-fast rod reviews in the past, only to find some quirk down the road that made me dislike the stick. And go looking for something new. Hence, this review is long term, as I've owned the Scott S4S 906/4 for better than eighteen months now. As rods go, I've pared down my quiver considerably in the past few years. The goal: update my...