FLY FISHING ROD - 6'6".LW3, 3 SEC WITH SPARE TIP

Rod & Fly 3 weight rod
Dave Anderson gets some cheap twiggy thrills.

Let’s start with this rod’s most obvious feature—$189.95 with spare tip and hard tube. At that price I wasn’t expecting much in the way of action or feel from this 6'6" Rod & Fly 3-weight. In fact, like a few other cheap twigs out there, I was expecting the rod to be a complete dog. If it had barked on every back cast, sniffed at my crotch and fetched the paper it wouldn’t have been any surprise.

To test the rod I put a weight forward #3 XPS line on it, headed to an overgrown and tight little creek I know, and because I’m a complete rod snob and was afraid to try it, let a friend who’s very new to fly fishing use it for the day.

Right away he was making nice casts into tight spots and catching fish. By the end of the day he looked like an old pro (who occasionally hooked trees), such is the forgiving and lovely nature of this rod. Intrigued, I thought I had better try it myself.

My own test over grass only furthered my admiration for it. The blank is fairly fast for such a light rod, but still manages to have a lot of feel in the tip and will throw very short lines with no problem. Adding a quick 50 feet to the cast is also no problem, tight loops and all. It will cast further, but starts to get a bit sloppy.

The blank itself is made from IM10 graphite. It’s very thin, with a classy matt black finish and black wraps. And the build quality is good for such a cheap rod. So surely it’s too good to be true. What’s the catch?

Well, if I have any complaints about the rod, it’s the reel seat. It would look fine on a 5-weight and might even balance up, but on the little 3-weight it adds too much weight to the butt of the rod, unless your reel is very light. I’m sure having the same reel seat for a lot of rods keeps the price down, but I would be willing to pay more for this blank with a classy little all-cork sliding-band number on the end (now on the 2009/10 model)

It is a minor complaint given the quality of the blank and the low, low price, and I suspect that on the water all would be forgiven after the first couple of casts.