Fishing season is just around the corner and all the snow is starting to melt slowly. Hopefully we will have open water within next 4-6 weeks. Yesterday I had a chance to get first impressions of few new fly rods. There is a GoExpo fair in Helsinki fair centre this weekend and I was visiting the fair with my fly fishing buddies. I checked couple major fly rod brand rods. Here is a short review of those rods.
Vision SIKS
Vision announced new six piece double hand rod for season 2012. They have two models available; 13’4″ long / #7 line and 15’2″ long / #10 line rods. I’m especially interested in this rod because the rod is 6 piece rod. Six piece salmon rod very handy when travelling because of the lenght of the tube is shorter than other brand rods.
SIKS rods have a powerful and deep action making them great all round rods. Action-wise they are situated somewhere between the highly popular Cult and GT4 Catapult series. With the Cult being more full- and the GT4 Catapult series clearly faster action rods we feel that we have now the Royal flush in our hands when it comes to double hand rods. These 15’2” (#10) and 13’4”(#7) jewels of rods can be argued to be even better than any comparable 3- or 4-piece DH rods in the same action and line class.
Overall look was quite impressive and the rod is clearly made of top quality components. Unfortunately I did not test cast the rod. I was wiggling it around and I tried to have some impression of the action. I’m not used to 15 ft rods so the longer model felt a bit strange to handle. On the other hand the shorter 13’4″ rod was much better but the line weight is #7 which is maybe too light for salmon fishing in my opinion. Overall feeling was very good and the action was quite good for me. I like medium or medium-fast rods because of the smoother feeling. Definitely I will need to test cast the rod during the spring time. Vision SIKS pricing is on the upper section of the usual “budget” and the price is around 645 EUR.
You can find information of the Vision SIKS rod here
Snowbee Diamond Spey
Other interesting rod was Snowbee Diamond Spey rod. Snowbee rods are new to me and I did not have any idea what kind of rods Snowbee has and how they feel. Snowbee has four Diamond Spey rod models available; 12’6″ / #7-8, 13′ / #8-9, 14′ / #9-10 and 15′ / #10-11. All rods are 4 piece rods. I had a chance to test 13′ / #8-9 rod and it felt very good. Action was perfect for my style and the over all feeling was great. I tested the rod with some test fly line and it did not feel the perfect choice for the rod but with proper fly line the rod will be great ! At least in my opinion 🙂 I’m not spey GURU and my casting skills are moderate but who cares. It is just my opinion! 🙂 Pricing seems to be quite reasonable as well, in the Snowbee UK online retail shop pricing is between £229 – £299 depending on the rod wight. Tested rod is £259 which is approx. 300 EUR. Oweall feeling was great and this rod needs some serious testing this spring as well.
Designated with our ‘Optimum Head Weight’ (OHW) in grams, reflecting the ideal loading point of the rod….the sweet spot. For a perfectly balanced outfit, match the Diamond Spey to a specific ‘Head weight’ from our range of Snowbee 3-D ‘Spey’ and ‘ScandinavianÂ
Spey’ lines.Â
- Top grade graphite blanksÂ
- Portuguese cork handlesÂ
- Quality cotton drill rod bagsÂ
- Polyester Oxford rod tubesÂ
- 4-pce blanksÂ
- Snowbee Original Purchaser Lifetime Guarantee
Spring time will be exciting to see which rod I will choose 🙂
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Nordic Angler 