#Orvis superfine touch review series#

The rod is effortless to cast, light in the hand and handles light tippet very nicely.

The loop control and accuracy are dead nuts. The shorter length really brings the short game to life in this rod. The Air has some serious punch and delivers the best distance, not that that matters in this case, highest line speed and accuracy of any Winston rod. Groovy in the mid section but not wimpy in the tip.

#Orvis superfine touch review series#

Lighter weight than the B series rods with a faster recovery rate. Its a classic medium action trout rod and has all the look and feel of great Winston fly rods of the past, but is more current in it’s design. I have liked the Winston Air since it was introduced. If you bump into me on a small stream this season, I will likely have one of these rods in my hand. What I am going to do is tell you about 3 of my favorites. I encourage you to list them in the comments. There may be rods you love that I don’t talk about. There are a lot of short 4 weight fly rods on the market, and this is not going to be a shootout style review. This is helpful for putting the fly in tight spots under vegetation and also for keeping your backcast out of the trees. It’s also easy to make a tight loop with a shorter rod, as the tip tends to stay on a straighter path. A shorter rod, in the 7 1/2-8 1/2 foot range, is easier to get through the brush. The 4 weight is light enough to make a really soft presentation with a dry fly, but should still have the backbone to fish heavier nymph setups when needed.

Depending on the stream, I’ll fish rods as light as a 2 weight on tiny creeks and will often break out a bamboo rod for the occasion, but if I had to pick one rod for all of my small stream fishing, it would be a short 4 weight. Sure, you can get the job done with your 9 foot 5 weight most of the time, but if you are going to do a lot of small stream fishing it makes sense to have a rod thats built for the job. This time of year a little hiking can put you on some great fishing but small streams require a different approach and maybe a different fly rod. That’s ok, I’ll always take the rain and, while the bigger rivers are all blown out, the small headwater streams are fishing their best.

It’s been a really wet winter here in the Southeast and it shows no sign of drying up any time soon. By Louis Cahill Spring is right around the corner and that means trout fishing on small streams, but what’s the best fly rod for the job?