Sage promotes the MOD as a rod that will deliver delicate presentations with pinpoint accuracy. The Zephrus has that perfect balance between power and sensitivity; its easy to control but has the ability to turn it up a level when reaching out to longer distances or when conditions require a bit moreoomph.The softer tip on the Zephrus will protect the lightest tippets. Inexpensive rods built in both Korea and China are surprisingly good. The perfect line: SA Amplitude Smooth Infinity in WF-4-F, Performance at 25 feet: 20 points out of 20. Why? A hook keeper is used along with a single chrome SiC stripping guide. The color of this rod is an attractive olive, with the guides wrapped in dark brown. The wraps are dark blue to match the blank and the epoxy coatings are excellent. Get this rod out in the sunlight and it really lights up. Like the Orvis 3F, there is no hook keeper. Did not feel overpowered, and loaded quickly. A great 4-weight rod must have the ability to make delicate and accurate presentations with small flies and long leaders at short distances. The one thing that I have never liked much on the Reaper is the shape of the handle. In the performance distance categories it was better at 60 feet than at the closer distances, but the overall weight and swing weight made it a workout to cast. The amount of power seems to be about right, and it performed best at the longer distances where I could punch it hard without throwing tailing loops. The heavy swing weight hurt, and I wasnt getting the kind of feel or accuracy I got with the G Series Scott or the Orvis Helios 3F. Little feel, and the slower action kills any accuracy. A good 4-weight rod must be more than just a dry fly rod though, and the best 4-weights are wonderful rods to use fishing nymphs at shorter distances, and are also capable of pitching smaller streamers when conditions dictate such vile and desperate moves in order to catch fish. It really sings in the 15-45-foot range, though you won't be disappointed if you have to push your flies a bit further. I think that the vague feel I was getting hurt here. Yellowstone Angler in their 2016 5wt Shootout name the Zephrus 8'6" 4wt as their current favourite 4wt rod. I found the rings harder to grip than most and without any nylon spacer they will likely loosen up more easily than other rings with them. This rod uses the more conventional slip over ferrule design as on all but one of the other rods in our Shootout. Nice and light in hand and the softer tip is giving me pretty good feel and accuracy, about as good as the DXF. This rod gives me a nice light feel in hand, and Im getting good loop control combined with plenty of power and good accuracy. It also sits dead last in our Fun to Fish category. Also right up at the top are the Scott rods, like the Raidan and G series as well as the Orvis Helios 3F. The Helios 3 rods are available in both the D and F Series with the D series more designed for distance and power. The G. Loomis Asquith rods are designed here in the U.S. but the blanks are rolled in Japan and then the rod is completed here in the U.S. But when I need to reach out and make casts at 60-70 feet, as I often do fishing bigger rivers like the Missouri, the Zephrus has tons of power on tap to get the job done. Vintage Hardy C C de France Bamboo Fly Rod Circa 1939 2 Piece Hardy C C de France Vintage Bamboo Fly Rod Great eye appeal for this vintage rod and rod bag serial number E50405 dates the rod manufacture to circa1939 2 piece rod. The Zephrus Ultralite costs significantly less. The stiffer tip didnt allow for much feel or accuracy. Still, I felt it could be our 4-weight winner until I finished casting the Ultralite heads up with the winner, the Zephrus. Winston PURE 8 #4 $850.00. TheOrvis RECON, at $429 wasnt far behind! A sliding band and one easy to grip locking ring are used. The Helios 3D and Sage X lead the pack in that regard. Out at long range it performed extremely well and was one of the very best, pretty much being equal to the Helios 3F and Avantt. Then it will cast and perform much better. The S.A. Amplitude Smooth Infinity line made every cast feel like a 75-yard Young to Rice TD! With your new rod they include a FedEx call tag so that it does not cost you anything to return your broken rod. These come in two models, the Amplitude Smooth Trout, which is a standard size line, and the Amplitude Smooth Infinity, which is a half line size heavier. TFO uses an olive green blank for this rod, with olive wraps that are trimmed in gold on the butt sections. Casting head to head, the Scott rods and the Helios 3F were both a lot better. (tie) St. Croix IMPERIAL 86 #4 $270.00. The two locking rings are large and easy to grip and tighten. One of the reasons is that the SKY is available only as a nine footer, while the DXF is 86. . Anglers used to high line speed, laser-tight loops, and the hiss of line shooting through your guides wont get that experience from the Zephrus Ultralite. They are used to throw nymph rigs, hopper/dry droppers, small streamers and some dry flies, although this is probably my least used method. The JXP is also very stiff. The feel Im getting is not that good either. Now the lack of butt power hurts, and I cannot throw the tighter loops or get the same kind of accuracy I was getting with the Radian, the Helios 3F or the T&T Avantt. Rods that have good power and backbone help me fire my cast accurately. It is the relationship of the club head weight to the shaft when you wiggle the club in your hands. It would be so much better with a WF-5-F. The cork grip is soft, supple, and smoothand that cork continues into the reel seat. The best rods in our Shootout can handle this distance with ease, and are actually capable of casting much farther in an expert casters hands. 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. Incredibly accurate and capable of delivering the fly exactly where it needs to go, even when dealing with a moderate breeze. #19. To make it easy to judge the turnover and accuracy, we tie in a small fluorescent yarn indicator at the end of the 2-foot 4x tippet and then trim it so that the wind resistance equates to a smaller dry fly. R.L. The guides start out with a small hook keeper, then a single SiC stripper, followed with black, hard chrome single-foot guides. Hardy ZEPHRUS 8'6" #4 $679.00 George's Comments: Hardy has given us another magical rod that produced an absolutely stunning performance to blow away all the contenders. We have learned that we cannot trust manufacturers stated rod weights. Performance at 40 feet: 18.5 points out of 20. In Livingston we usually have plenty of wind, so we had to wait until we got some fairly calm days, to do the casting. Equal to the IMX Pro but thats about it. The gray uplocking reel seat is solid anodized aluminum with a sliding band and two locking rings that were easy to grip and tighten. As long as there wasnt much wind I could easily hit 60 feet but accuracy suffered. You call in and incur a credit card of $100 but you get a brand new rod in 3-4 days. Just keep in mind that all these measurements must be made the same day with the same room temperature. The softer tip on the Imperial gave me good scores at the both 25 and 40 feet, and also led to a good score in light tippet protection. Hardys half wells cork handle is used, similar to the Zephrus. Good, just not great. Here, any rods that rate 9.5 -10 are superb, and would be at the top of a Perfect 4 category. Opens in a new window or tab. This is an attractive rod, with very good craftsmanship. If you look at the deflection charts you will see how soft the butt and mid of the Mod are compared to the best performing rods. A single uplocking, gray anodized skeleton seat is fitted with an attractive burled wood insert. Dont make this mistake. As in the past we are using our own Brecknell official postage scale to calculate the weight. Personally, Im used to that sort of line speed, but most anglers arent. The light swing weight made casting effortless, and Im getting excellent accuracy combined with delicate presentations. The cork handle is too thin, (for most anglers). This is a very pleasant rod to cast, with a medium fast action. This can be a huge help if you have multiple rods and the sections get mixed up. $895.00. Use this link to go to ourFavorite Freshwater Outfitsfor the 3 through 8-weight rods, in our Online Store. The components are not in the same class as the Helios 3F, but that is to be expected considering the price. The guides are one hook keeper; a single SiC stripper and then all the rest are hard chrome snake guides that are durable but heavy. Heads up, the Sage X and Recon were both better. I found the alignment dots handy. So, for $530 you will get 2 set ups so you can begin to contrast and compare the differences between the 2 rods. Accuracy and feel For this we downgraded the craftsmanship a half a point. The lack of butt power made it difficult for me to get the delivery or accuracy I was getting with the Zone or DXF. This is one of the best rods at long range. For the lighter rods, we used their Amplitude Smooth Trout. Each chart gives you a good look at how the tip section, (approximately the top half of the rod) bends and compares to other rods. At least it is sanded to a smooth finish initially. I loved the crisp, fast action of the Avantt and its light swing weight, but unfortunately the Zone is not nearly as nice. Remember that it will cost you an additional $15 or more to send your rod in unless you are using the G. Loomis Expeditor program. 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. Still not so good with very little feel or accuracy. The Cork handle is a full wells design that is slightly smaller where your thumb would rest, ahead of the swell in the middle of the handle. Usually takes 1-2 weeks. One of the things I really like is the shape of the full wells cork handle. The reel seat is a double uplocking skeleton seat in anodized gold, with a pretty wood burl insert using green and brown highlights to complement the blank. The rings on the seat were fairly large and easy to tighten, giving a secure lock up. 2. This rod wore me out casting long. A black anodized double uplocking seat is used with an attractive wood burl insert. Nothing else is even close. The Hardy Zephrus series of fly rods features our award winning Sintrix material . When you read everyone's comments on the Zephrus, you will see that we all agreed that this is a very special rod, for a variety of reasons. Are you comfortable showing up with a $200 rod when everyone else has one of those hotshot $750 to $1000 rods in their hands? Shop Now. The 79 model was far better and a lot more fun to cast and fish. Some people might consider high priced rods status symbols. With more line in the air Im getting nice loops and good accuracy. #16. The best 4-weights must be able to cast well at longer distances too, and the best rods had excellent loop control and the ability to throw nice tight loops with good accuracy at 60 feet. I wish there was a hook keeper, which I find very useful on light rods, but there is none. Hardy Zane Rod. If I remember correctly, the 864 also won YA's 4wt shootout, adding to its popularity. Rods with heavier swing weights or ones with stiffer tips dont fare nearly as well.Ive often had a fish grab a halfway submerged fly in the surface film, when I havent been watching closely enough, and bolt off before I could react, snapping my 6x tippet. We knew it would be good when the Pure won an award for the Best New Freshwater Rod at the 2018 IFTD show in July. Performance at 40 feet: 19.0 points out of 20. Non-original owner $150 per section. Orvis Trident TL 8'6", 4wt., 2pc, 8.0 Mid Flex Fly Rod. The single uplocking seat is gray anodized aluminum, and doesnt use a spacer, but does have some trick looking cutouts on each side. First we try to determine what we felt were the best performing rods. I loved the punch and power I was getting with the Shadow and only at long range did it suffer. I enjoyed the amount of reserve power it has, and I was making great casts at the longer distances. Good, just not nearly as solid or as accurate as the 3F or Radian at long range. But this also means they have a heavy swing weight. Craftsmanship is second to none, and is what we have now come to expect from T&T. The guides start with a single SiC stripping guide followed with fairly large diameter but thin wire hard chrome snake guides. Im sorry if we offend some people or manufacturers. Both the feel and accuracy were outstanding. The blank is graphite gray and follows Scotts practice of sanding the blank only lightly and allowing the tape marks to remain. Once the grip of the rod is placed precisely on the foam pellet, with the rod horizontal, we apply pressure, by pressing down with a fingernail to the very end of the reel seat, and then read (and note) the weight indicated by the scale. The ability of this rod to track precisely combined with its ability to form beautiful tight loops allowed it to perform almost as well as the best rods at long range. It is a double uplocking, anodized gray seat with an attractive burl insert, but right under where the reel seat fits, they have cut away both the threads and the burl leaving the blank that is covered with composite cork! No other rod was remotely close at doing everything well that is to say casting accurately (and delicately) in close off the tip of the rod, having lots of feel at all distances, and having plenty of reserve power for handling windy days and playing larger trout. I love the feel of this rod it is nice and light in hand, and the action is fast and seems about right. It is trimmed top and bottom with contrasting, composite cork rings. $75 handling fee to original owner, $150.00 charge to all others. I thought the Zephrus steamrolled the other rods in terms of being the bestall-around4-weight. Both of these for $130 less than just the Sage Dart (again, my Sage rods are my favourites in my rod quiver). The Recon was much better. The soft tip also earns it one of the best scores in light tippet protection. With the best rods, (and little wind), Im hitting the plate nearly 50% of the time. (tie) Sage X 86 #4 $900.00. At that price there may not be a better rod on the market. Id gladly pay another few dollars to have one. $75 handling fee. Whats really eye-catching, though, is the reel seat. Even though less expensive components are used, this is still a pretty nice looking rod, with the blank a rich deep blue with dark brown wraps that include a little silver trim on the butt section. Although the overall weight was an amazingly light 2.3 oz, the swing weight was a fairly heavy 8.0 oz about equal to the Scott G series. Logan and Francis have worked here for many years and are both great casters and anglers. In general the SKY rods do cast well, and the SKY 9 foot #6 won our last 6-weight Shootout. Even with the lighter Trout line, it is hard to maintain good loops and get any kind of decent accuracy. TheFenwick AETOS, at $179.95 is unquestionably our best performing inexpensive rod. First, the Zephrus Ultralite's blank is surprisingly strong, stiff and stable given its weight. Rods - Hardy Fly Rod - Trout Underground For 4-weight rods, when you are fishing at shorter distances, (most of the time), it is particularly important that leaders turn over well. Performance at 60 feet: 9.3 points out of 10. Usually takes 1-2 weeks. The Orvis Clearwater rods are designed in Vermont and built in the orient. The rest of the guides are the excellent nickel/titanium one-foot guides in a silver color. This was the best distance for me with the Zone. But the Avantt and Helios 3F are far better. Heavy in hand! A dark green graphite insert is used that complements the color of the blank. At that price there may not be a better rod on the market. When I put this rod in my hand it feels more like a 5-weight than a 4-weight! The TFO rods, the Taylor rods, the Mystic rod, and the Waterworks rods are all designed here in the U.S. and built in Asia. The reel seat is an uplocking black anodized skeleton seat with a dark gray graphite insert, (pretty plain looking but it works well). In addition it will cost you $15 or more to ship your rod in for repair or have your local dealer do it for you. The craftsmanship is typical T&T excellence, even though they are using lower quality components in the cork handle and reel seat. If you look at the best performing rods in general, they have stiffer butt and midsections and softer tips. The Shadow and Pure were far better. The light swing weight made casting effortless, and Im getting excellent accuracy combined with delicate presentations. The reel seat is a gray anodized skeleton seat with a band and large single ring that is easy to grip and tighten securely. Both the Zephrus and Pure were far lighter in hand, and far better in performance at 40 feet. How did the 99 4 and 5 weights feel throwing dries? If you are a Scott fan and want a rod for fishing at short to medium distances, youll likely prefer this rod over the Radian. Heads up the Recon and Shadow were far better. The quality of the standard size cork rings was terrific. Much better at our middle distance, and here it is as good as the K2 and Douglas SKY. 1. The color of the blank is an olive green that Orvis calls shadow green. The wraps are brown and the epoxy coatings are OK but a little heavy and not nearly as well done as on the 3F. Rodis repaired, or sections replaced. At 45 feet the Zephrus is a champ. The double uplocking, gray anodized reel skeleton seat uses two rings that are easy to grip and lock up extremely well. For most of my fishing with a 4-weight rod in critical conditions Im using one of our 12-foot leaders down to a 5X or 6X tippet, but in the Shootout we stick with 4X Rio Powerflex as a tippet in order to minimize breaking off the yarn indicator. A little better here but the DXF still puts it to shame. I liked the use of alignment dots. $50 handling fee. Ive fished this Zephrus myself for the past two years, and it has been my go-to rod when Im fishing small dries, emergers and spinners in the surface film. Year after year the Zephrus manages to maintain its top position. In close, I could not cast off the tip of the Ultralite nearly as well as with the Zephrus. Every high-end rod (which I classify as $650+) handles average wind just fine. The color of the blank is a very light silver blue, with the guides wrapped in a darker grayish blue, with some silver trim on the butt section. The Avantt matches the Helios 3D in swing weight and feels nice and light in hand. I felt the best rods at long range were the Helios 3F and the Loomis Asquith, as well as the T&T Avantt and the Scott Radian. I was hitting the plate almost every time. Hes also the Managing Editor of The Modern Trout Bum. The Reaper X is an improved model of this original rod. The best Korean built rods now rival what is produced here in the US. The 8-weight Asquith won our recent 2018, 8-weight Shootout, putting in a marvelous performance. The X is an attractive rod with the same fine craftsmanship that we have come to expect from Sage. 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. Sage could improve the MODs swing weight by using the more expensive nickel/titanium guides instead. Quality of the cork was excellent with a stack of thinner rings. Of these rods built in Korea, the Hardy rods are designed in England, the Douglas rods are designed here in the U.S., the Loop rods are designed in Sweden. Hardy SHADOW 8'6" #4 $349.95 George's Comments: Wow - It is hard to believe that this mid-priced Hardy finished up with the top rods! Hardy uses a comfortable half wells, western style handle and the quality of the cork is superb. The wraps are all in blue, and the epoxy coatings are all extremely well done. The action is slightly slower than the Zephrus though, and this contributed somewhat to its lack of feel and accuracy at 25 feet. It was a little better than the Avantt here, but not as good as the H3F. The idea here is to measure the swing weight at the middle of where your palm is likely to sit on the grip. The accuracy suffers too. #8. The thing that amazes me is how perfect the guide wrapping and epoxy coatings are, compared to other rods. 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. There is no hook keeper on this rod. by Spencer Durrant - Monday, Oct 9th, 2017. Howard is a great angler and knew just what he wanted for the perfect 4-weight. I love the handle design it tapers outward allowing you to quickly get and maintain a good grip on the handle. Our advice is that if you feel one of the top rated, expensive rods works best for you, go for it. Good, just not great. The blank is olive green with matching olive wraps that are trimmed in gold on the two lower sections. Of course, accuracy is more dependent on the angler than the rod, but a great rod helps. He has been a very important and integral part of our Shootouts and tackle comparisons over the years. The new X has a nice medium fast action that delivers the best performance at short to medium distances. I could really notice the heavy swing weight in my hand. (tie) Thomas & Thomas ZONE 86 #4 $495.00. The reel seat is an unusual, triangular shaped silver anodized seat with no spacer. 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. In making the deflection chart, we first put up some white butcher paper on the wall. Removing the spool requires a simple click of the button on the front side. The quality of the cork is superb. As I put more line in the air, it tracked beautifully and was just a delightful rod to cast at 40 feet. The handle is a half wells design and the quality of the cork is decent better than what we saw on the Loop Q and the TFO rods. But this power and the stiffer tip hurt the performance in close, where it is similar to the Avantt but not nearly as good as the Zephrus, Pure or Helios 3F. Im getting effortless tight loops, and I had complete confidence on where the fly was going on every cast.
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