About three weeks into testing fly rods for this summer鈥檚 Buyer鈥檚 Guide, I realized I had a problem: there were too many good rods. I could only pick one to go into the printed guide (the oh-so-smooth ), but there were three others that I loved to fish with. Part of this has to do with the state of the industry鈥攜ou can walk into a fly shop, pick a rod at random, and walk out with a well-designed, effective one. But part of it has to do with several new offerings being suited to short, precise casts emphasizing presentation and feel. That describes 90 percent of the fishing done by myself and most other anglers I know. When was the last time you needed to make a 60-foot cast? More often聽you sneak around the corner, spot a fish sipping BWOs off the seam of an eddy, and know that you鈥檙e gonna get one cast to catch him. When that happens, you want one of these rods in your hand.
Sage Dart ($700)
Sage鈥檚 Konnetic Technology debuted in 2011 with the introduction of the One rod. The material all but eliminated side-to-side movement of the rod during casting, focusing all the energy into the back-and-forth motion that enhances line speed, accuracy, and distance. The result was an ultrapowerful, ultra-accurate rod that had other companies scrambling to catch up. (Though most of them have聽at this point.)
The company has refined the material over the years (it鈥檚 now been updated to KonneticHD), putting it in everything from ultrafast to medium-action rods. This year, Sage聽finally put it into a small-water package. At seven feet six inches, 聽is small enough to squeeze under the endless willows that swallow my favorite New Mexico streams. (There鈥檚 even a six-foot six-inch聽three-weight, if you want to get into really tight quarters.) The KonneticHD material means that the little rod is still fast, allowing you to get tight loops under branches or whatever else may be overhead. And unlike the One, which needed a fair bit of line for the rod to flex, the Dart excels at the short cast.
Winston Pure ($850)
Winston makes rods with progressive action. What does that mean? It means they have enough power in the butt end to lay out a bunch of line聽but enough flex in the tip to delicately present flies. It鈥檚 less like holding a bazooka, more like wielding a sniper rifle. For a while, the industry was so obsessed with fast action that everyone seemed to forget about Winston. Except, of course, everyone out there using one of its聽famous green rods to, you know, actually catch fish instead of talking about how much line they could shoot.
The company could make ultrafast rods鈥攖he boron fibers it uses in its green rods are faster to snap back into place than graphite and could make one helluva fast rod鈥攊t鈥檚 just that it聽didn鈥檛 want to. And thank God, because 聽is one of the most fun rods I鈥檝e fished with in a long time. When the hatch is on and fish are boiling to the surface, this rod excels. I once put a dry-dropper rig on, but this rod almost begs to fish single dries to rising fish. It鈥檚 made specifically for lighter lines鈥攊t鈥檚聽only offered in a five-weight and under鈥攁nd comes in a range of lengths from six feet up to nine. Testing these rods is necessarily subjective, and I鈥檓 happy to admit my bias for fiberglass rods聽(hence the selection of the Scott F Series.) But if fiberglass wasn鈥檛 experiencing a golden era, this would be my go-to rod.
Redington Butter Stick ($250)
Speaking of fiberglass, this is not the first time I鈥檝e suggested the Redington Butter Stick. But it is the first time I鈥檝e recommended . The original was bright yellow and cast like a noodle鈥攁nd I mean that in the best way possible. I could feel every inch of the rod load with line, whether I was making a 15-foot cast or a 40-foot cast. Sure, it couldn鈥檛 handle a dry-dropper rig, streamers, or even the biggest of my salmonfly imitations. But it also made even a six-inch fish feel like it had some fight to it.
The new Butter Stick has a more Instagram-friendly finish聽and is designed聽with what Redington is calling T-Glass, which has made the updated version a bit stronger and more accurate. That doesn鈥檛 mean it has聽messed with that beautiful soft action. It just means that it can throw those big hoppers or salmonflies without me feeling like I鈥檓 trying to throw a bucket on the end of a rope.