St. Croix Designs a Rod Specifically for Nymphing

St. Croix's newest rod, the High Stick Drifter

This week St. Croix offered more details on its new “High Stick Drifter” fly rod, which we first talked about last fall.

Read the full press release below.

St. Croix Rods once again teamed with, Kelly Galloup, leading to three new rods in the High Stick Drifter Series.

“No one, and I mean no one, had ever built a stick made just for nymphing. St. Croix’s changed all that by having me co-design the High Stick Drifter for the way we really fish nymphs – no gimmicks. 100-percent the right rod for the job,” says Galloup, who not only designs mengaging fly rods and flies, but also runs the Slide Inn on the banks of Montana’s Madison River.

The High Stick Drifter, has a lightweight tip made of high modulus/high strain SCV graphite with NSi resin (featuring 3M’s nano Matrix Resin) and a carbon-matte scrim, as well SCVI graphite in lower sections for added power with reduced weight and St. Croix’s proprietary ART™ and IPC® technology.

All three (a 9’6” 4wt, 10’ 4-wt and 10’ 5-wt) are balanced in the hand and have a parabolic flex (head to toe) you can feel when the rod’s loaded with line and being roll-cast. The hook plants firmly because of the rod’s quick tip. Their lengths, too, have been analyzed and devised for keeping your fly line up and out of the current for drag-free drifts. The hook keeper has been scrutinized and is now where it belongs – near the second Fuji® K Series Tangle-Free stripper guide (all with Alconite® rings), instead of right above the handle and in finger’s way.

In short: The High Stick Drifter series has been designed explicitly for fishing nymphs. “The average guy can pick it up, drift a nymph and catch fish. It’s as simple as that,” finishes Galloup.