The craftsmanship is second to none and it earns a perfect score along with the Winston Pure and T&T Avantt. But in looking closely at the Hardy Zephrus, Ultralite, and the Douglas SKY, they are also definitely near the top end of the craftsmanship ladder. Performance at 40 feet: 19.2 points out of 20. Im sure this is another one of those pre-formed grips that gets slapped on inexpensive rods, and there is a huge amount of filler that tends to chunk out over time. Performance at 40 feet: 18.0 points out of 20. A single uplocking, gray anodized skeleton seat is fitted with an attractive burled wood insert. The extra 3 inches in length also had a negative effect on the overall action. Hes also the Managing Editor of The Modern Trout Bum. The thing that killed this for me was the cheap looking reel seat. #16. The big reason it didnt do better than middle of the pack was the action. $495.00 - $595.00. If you have something about the right size and color, you can often force-feed a selective fish by making repeated accurate and delicate presentations that are right in the fishs window. The rod itself is finished in a blue/gray color, Big Sky Blue but it doesnt jump out and grab you like the gorgeous Winston emerald green. The stiffer clear Maxima butt sections on our leaders achieve this. But that nice soft tip produces great feel and exceptional accuracy. Hardy uses their Sintrix 220 in this rod, a lower modulus graphite than the Sintrix 440 used in the Zephrus, but it provides easy loading yet a sharp recovery. The rings should be easy to grip and tighten. Every high-end rod (which I classify as $650+) handles average wind just fine. The heavy swing weight is perhaps the biggest reason the SKY didnt perform so well. (Click here to see more deflection charts). Hardy Ultralite NSX DH Fly Rod. The Helios 3 rods are available in both the D and F Series with the D series more designed for distance and power. Opinions on 8'6" 4wt | The North American Fly Fishing Forum - sponsored The softer tip is giving me a good amount of feel and the accuracy was better than the Zone or Nimbus. A good 5-weight rod, which is definitely one of the most versatile you can have in your quiver, just wont match one of the top 4-weights when it comes to making delicate presentations, or achieving that ultimate drag free drift with a thinner fly line. One SiC stripping guide is used and the rest are the best nickel/titanium and flexible snake guides in a gray color which complement the blank. On the deflection board, the Zephrus had a stiffer butt and mid section and the tip bent a little more, so it is slightly faster in action than the Shadow. Hardy is using their best Sintrix 440 graphite in this rod, also used in the Zephrus. The Zephrus is giving me great presentations at 25 feet. Even with the Livingston wind, the Zephrus outdid itself at this distance. Guides start with a hook keeper, then two SiC stripping guides followed with fairly large diameter hard chrome snake guides. We make a note of which was the best line with the write up on each rod. R.L. I found the Zephrus to be a really versatile, do-it-all 4-weight! Performance at 25 feet: 18.8 points out of 20. I think that this can be attributed to the slower action of this rod compared to the Zephrus. If I remember correctly, the 864 also won YA's 4wt shootout, adding to its popularity. It often takes a little time for the rod to settle down from all this movement so we do this procedure 4-6 times and then take the average weight we are getting from the scale. The quality of epoxy coatings on the guide wraps was excellent and almost the equal of the T&T rods. My favorite length for a 4-weight rod is 8 feet. We have several reels rigged with the various line sizes, and leaders, all ready to go. Now the good butt power helps and Im getting very nice loops, good control and excellent accuracy equal to the Avantt and even better than the Zephrus. We should have probably dropped this longer Finesse from our Shootout as the shorter 79 Finesse performed so much better. Guides start with a hook keeper and then one SiC stripper, followed with fairly thin diameter black hard chrome snake guides. The reel seat is an uplocking black anodized skeleton seat with a dark gray graphite insert, (pretty plain looking but it works well). The clear winner in this years Shootout, the Zephrus brought power, feel, and accuracy to the table and left no detail untouched. The Scott G series was definitely better. Add into the mix the Scott Radian and G-Series, the T&T Avantt, the Sage X, as well as the G. Loomis NRX LP and Asquith, and you have a full array of the best 4-weight rods on the market. I realized last week just how spoiled I am to have the South Fork of the Snake River in my backyard. Rods that have good power and backbone help me fire my cast accurately. Hardy announces new SINTRIX-based Zephrus fly rod series The 8'6 4wt Sky G is accurate at all the important trout distances. Now were talking! The 79 model was far better and a lot more fun to cast and fish. Will they make you a better angler? We deleted our Perfect 4 performance category, since it seemed redundant, given the fact that we give you our opinions for our favorite 4-weights in the Fun to Fish, got to have category. Formed nice loops and was consistently accurate. Very nice feel with excellent accuracy at short distances. Effortless, delightful, accurate, and FUN. Howard is a great angler and knew just what he wanted for the perfect 4-weight. WinstonLifetime warranty to original owner. The color of this rod is an attractive olive, with the guides wrapped in dark brown. This is especially important for 3 and 4-weight rods, when you are often using very light 5X, 6x and 7X tippets while fishing small dries, emergers and spinners. It is important for any fly line to shoot well, and even clear well, when you have extra line at your feet and a fish is streaking for the horizon. Sure, the best rods are generally in the higher price bracket, and are usually worth spending the extra dough, even if you have to save up to buy the one you really want. The ability of this rod to form and maintain very tight loops helped it give me slightly more accuracy than the Helios 3F or Scott G series at mid-range. #22. There are lots of ways to break a fish off on light tippet, but the rods that score high in this category are going to give you a far better chance of landing a big fish. Winston NIMBUS 86 #4 $650.00. Scott claims that this gives their rods better strength and we cannot argue with this as we see very few Scott rods broken. The stiff tip and heavy swing weight both contributed to a lack of feel and accuracy in close. Since this is a softer rod than the Zephrus, we settled on using the lighter Trout line but this rod had the power to handle the heavier Infinity nearly as well. I love the light swing weight. It also lost a huge number of points in the price and warranty categories that it couldnt pick up in the casting distance performance categories. This is a sharp looking rod. This 8 foot Pure is somewhat like the Zephrus in acti0n with a fairly strong butt and mid section and then a nice soft flexible tip. The handle is a comfortable full wells design, and the quality of the cork was very good. This one is simple The least expensive rods get the highest points. Performance at 40 feet: 19.7 points out of 20. The guides start with a hook keeper, and then one relatively small silver SiC stripping guide, followed with hard chrome single-foot guides. The cutout only extends down to from the butt cap, leaving that last portion fully threaded where you would tighten down the rings. The Hardy Ultralite is a slimmed down version of the Zephrus made for small water fishing and delicate presentations. Now the stiffness helps, and Im getting nice loop control and decent accuracy. To improve on the previous Zenith, which won our original 4-weight Shootout, Howard gave the Zephrus a slightly stronger butt and mid section as well as a softer tip. One of the things I like the most is that they have a large drag knob and a very wide range of drag adjustment. $25 handling fee. To my credit, I didnt throw a tailing loop, but my first cast wasnt exactly pretty. Like the Zephrus, casting off the tip of the rod was easy and fun and I was getting very delicate, precise presentations. I think a hook keeper is very useful on trout rods. However, the 8-foot Aetos turned in much higher scores in several categories, including performance at 25 feet, swing weight and light tippet protection. The serial number of the rod is inscribed on the ferrule of each section a nice touch. The Helios 3D and Sage X lead the pack in that regard. Here youll find our recommendations in three price ranges: The Ultimate Outfit, Mid Priced Outfit and Best Buy Outfit. It is also a lot heavier in overall weight and swing weight, mainly due to the fact that Loop is using a much lower modulus graphite than in their more expensive K2. Connect with him on Twitter/Instagram, @Spencer_Durrant. This is one fantastic looking rod one of the very best in our Shootout. Here is a brand new rod from Loop that we liked better than their stiffer, more expensive Cross rods. Our reasoning in this Shootout was to pick what we felt were theBEST4-weight rods, regardless of length, and there no question in our minds that the 8 foot Pure is Winstons best 4-weight rod. The stiffness and slower action hurt its scores in a lot of categories. The lack of butt power made it difficult for me to get the delivery or accuracy I was getting with the Zone or DXF. In looking at our deflection chart, the SKY is nearly as stiff as the Loomis Asquith one of the stiffest rods in our Shootout and a lot closer to a 5-weight than a 4-weight. At $650 I expected it to do better. Gear Review: Douglas Sky G 8'6" 4wt | MidCurrent Call us at 406-222-7130, or e-mail us at [emailprotected] and we can discuss your needs and wants. A little better here but the DXF still puts it to shame. Howard Croston, Hardys rod design genius in England, has given us another outstanding rod that performs extremely well at all distances. Like many of the other 9-foot rods in our Shootout, it was at a disadvantage in weight to the shorter 8 and 8 foot rods. Nice and light in hand with very good feel and accuracy in close. The Douglas Sky was both heavier and stiffer, and didnt perform as well, except out long at 60 feet. However, if all rods are measured on the same day, the relative numbers will be consistent. The action of the Zone is much slower than the Avantt (and also a lot slower than the Recon or Shadow). The Asquith tracks beautifully and is giving me nice accurate tight loops. Fenwick-Lifetime warranty. Category changes that improve the accuracy of the results in our latest 4-weight Shootout. The blank is an attractive dark blue, with a matte non-glare finish. Below the final results charts we give you the exact repair charges for each manufacturer.
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