Which Czech Nymphing rod to get?

[spencermiles]

Hey guys,

I spent last weekend on a new river in Central Oregon. It was very high and deep, and the first day only got two fish with a thingamabobber, my poorest day of trout fishing in like a year. The next day, I decided to ditch the thingamabobber, and spent the day high sticking. Totally uncharted terrain for me, but managed to get 10 fish. It was a complete "Eureka!" moment for me, and I'm really excited to stay off my bobber addiction and start learning some Euro Nymphing methods.

I found this forum yesterday, and my god, what a wealth of great information!

Anyways, I'm thinking about picking up a Rod for Czech/Euro nymphing, something in the 10-10.5ft range, and I'm looking for suggestions. I as originally looking at the 5100 z-axis and the 5100 Scott S4, until I found this forum, and realized that most people are using 3-4wts. The Winston BIIX 4100 sounds like it could be nice too, and I typically really like the action on Winston rods. The echo Shadow also sounds like a really good bet, but, I have a pretty large store credit with a Fly Shop, and they don't carry echo. In other words, I could get a Sage or Winston for free, but if I get an Echo, I'm gonna have to pony up $330 out of pocket.

What are your suggestions? Typically, I'm not a huge fan of Sage for freshwater, as I find most of them to be overly powerful and fast for trout fishing. Like I said, I'm a big winston fan, so am curious if any of you have tried the new 4100 BIIx.

Or, should I just pony up the $330 and get the Echo? It sounds like a great Rod, and I am a big fan of Echo rods.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Spencer

[AaronJasper]

Here are the rods that I own and can recommend:

SAGE 10 foot 4 weight Z AXIS

Greys Streamflex 10 foot 3 and 4 weights

Shadow PE 3106 10 ft 6" 3 weight

Hardy Marksman 10 foot 4 weight

All above are the rods that I own currently or have owned.

I would also add the LOOP Opti, but at 11 feet it is very specialized.

If I had to narrow the field to three, they would be the following:

Hardy Marksman 10' 4 weight
Greys Streamflex 10' 4 weight
SAGE Z AXIS 10' 4 weight

all of the above rods will also be great for fishing with indicators or wet flies in addition to the EU methods. If you want a rod for this type of fishing only I would add the 10'6" Shadow PE to the list.

I hope this helps you out!

[spencermiles]

Thanks Aaron, that's really helpful!

I think I'm kind of leaning towards the 4100 Z-axis. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like it's probably a bit more versatile than the 3100/3106 Shadow? I'd like to czech nymph as much as possible, but realistically there will be days when I need a bit of extra reach and have to reach for that indicator, or a hatch is going off and I want to fish dries. Sounds like faster tip on the Z will better facilitate the different styles of fishing?

Spencer

[The fly fisher]

[quote author=AaronJasper link=topic=4319.msg34014#msg34014 date=1271177014]
Here are the rods that I own and can recommend:

SAGE 10 foot 4 weight Z AXIS

Greys Streamflex 10 foot 3 and 4 weights

Shadow PE 3106 10 ft 6" 3 weight

Hardy Marksman 10 foot 4 weight

All above are the rods that I own currently or have owned.

I would also add the LOOP Opti, but at 11 feet it is very specialized.

If I had to narrow the field to three, they would be the following:

Hardy Marksman 10' 4 weight
Greys Streamflex 10' 4 weight
SAGE Z AXIS 10' 4 weight


I hope this helps you out!
[/quote]

Holy that is alot of rods.

I have a little three or four weight cortland thats like 50 years old,
and I have a tfo signature series thats a 6 weight.
I need to save up and get a job.

[Loupe]

I'm in the process of getting a Grey's Streamflex 10' 4wt for this exact purpose... an all around river rod for EU, indicator, and occasional dry fishing. Gonna pair it with a black Nautilus FW 5 with an Airflo Ridge Line Supple Tactical Taper DT4.

[frankm205]

I have the Greys 10 ft 4 wt. and I think it is an excellent all around rod. I have been using it for Euro, Indi's and just the other day dry / droppers. It is one rod that does it all. I have it set up with the Litespeed reel and it's pretty well balanced.

Good Luck

[Magnet]

The greys 10 ft 3wt is my personal favorite for euro nymphing as per Aaron's advise. The all around rod which I have is the TFO pro 10 ft 5 wt. It does wets, casts dries, french long line nymphing,. Streamers, chucks an indicator rig a mile and dry dropper. Its 210 bucks. Great life time warranty. My only complaint is I have lost a number of large fish with this rod. I blame it on the rod because it can't be me..When using the Greys streamflex I have not had that problem. Dollar for Dollar it is has no peer in my humble opinion.

[frankm205]

Bob,

What reel do you use with the TFO to balance it out? I'm thinking of adding the same rod to my arsenal. Davy likes it and recommends it for wets also.

[Magnet]

Hey frank,
Davy is partial to that rod because he designed it for TFO. Ofcouurse he's going to like it. Lol. I use a ross evolution #3 (old style) on it

[pete erickson]

Spencer,

Definitely go with the Shadow! ;D