Looking for something special for someone special this Chistmas? Let me suggest this awesome fly rod from our friends at Douglas Outdoors.
The first thing I noticed about this rod was the weight. It’s light, coming in at 2.7 oz. in a 5-weight. That’s not a lot different than plenty of other 5-weights, but you notice it right off. You also notice the action. It’s definitely a fast-action rod. When I rigged it and did a few practice casts with it, it became pretty obvious that this was a rod with some power. But how it loads and how fast it is and all the rest of the technical details were just details for me. I needed to know how it fishes.
The first day I fished it was brutal. The wind was howling at about 30 mph, and the fish were after medium sized leech patterns weighted heavy. It was a chuck-and-duck kind of day. It took me a few casts to get my timing down, but the power — oh, the power — was impressive. This rod can handle big, weighted flies in big wind with no trouble. And once I got used to how deeply into the blank it loads, I found I could make long casts without double-hauling. It is a very powerful rod.
The next time I fished it was completely different. It was warm, and the water was glassy — a rare occurrence in our part of the world. There was a baetis hatch coming off, but the fish were more or less ignoring it, so I rigged a small midge dropper off of the dry fly. Bingo. Again, I found that the SKY G would cast a much lighter rig a long way, but what was more impressive was how tight the loop was and how it helped even a sloppy dry fly caster like me land my fly gently and with precision. Again, I was impressed.
This is a very good rod that can compete with rods that cost more and generate a ton more hype. Again: I. Like. This. Rod. A Lot. Please note that Douglas does not sell direct to customers, so we suggest you check one of their rods out at your local TU Business Member fly shop.
$795, douglasoutdoors.com