Short to mid-range seem to be the best distances for the DXF. The Scott G series was definitely better. LINE RATING: 4WT. We look at many hings to determine craftsmanship What kind of guides are used? For guides, there is a hook keeper followed by a single SiC stripping guide, then hard chrome snake guides. The stiffness hurt, and it was hard for me to cast off the tip of the rod. It has a larger swell than most rods, and the swell is set closer to the top of the grip, than most rods well forward of the center of the grip. With the inexpensive warranties that most manufacturers offer, your new rod is one that will last you for many years. Cheaper rods often utilize pre-formed grips that use a lot of filler in the cork that will chunk out or erode with hard use. The uplocking black anodized skeleton reel seat utilizes a single ring that is easy to grip and lock down. Hardy ZEPHRUS 8'6" #4 $679.00 It's the Hardy Zephrus for the win! I know highly skilled anglers that prefer the 8'0" and 8'6" 4wt Jet over the higher priced Zephrus due to the slightly slower action and more of a mid-flex feel. If a rod looks like a million bucks and casts like it too, fly fishermen are going to lust for it. This makes it easier to justify buying the best performing rod. We have been impressed with the Avantt in the 5-weight, and the 4-weight is another terrific rod. The Ultralite did get perfect scores for overall weight, swing weight and light tippet protection and these all helped to boost its final scores in both the overall and performance results. The wraps are a dark green to complement the blank and the epoxy coatings are perfect. Performance at 25 feet 20 points available. The guides start with a hook keeper, and then one relatively small silver SiC stripping guide, followed with hard chrome single-foot guides. This and the Pure were the only two rods I scored a perfect 20 out of 20 at 45 feet. The cosmetics and components of this rod are similar to its shorter brother. The cork grip is soft, supple, and smoothand that cork continues into the reel seat. The accuracy is only fair. The serial number of the rod is inscribed on the ferrule of each section a nice touch. Part of the light swing weight can be attributed to the use of the superb REC nickel/titanium single-foot guides. This is a very pleasant rod to cast, with a medium fast action. The two locking rings are large and easy to grip and tighten. Usually takes 2-4 weeks. Like the Orvis 3F, there is no hook keeper. Aesthetically it wasnt my favorite, but I appreciated the high quality components, guides and finish work. Nothing to write home about. #26. The craftsmanship of the K2 was very good. With more line in the air Im getting nice loops and good accuracy. Usually takes 1-2 weeks. This is still a very good casting rod overall, but it just doesnt come close to matching the scores turned in by the top rods in this Shootout. The skeleton uplocking seat is one of the most unusual Ive seen. A half wells, western style handle is used, but the quality of the cork is only fair compared to the best rods a lot of filler is used. The best rods certainly need to handle this distance easily, but most anglers are buying a 4-weight rod for fishing at closer distances, which puts the emphasis on 25 to 40 foot casts. We have awarded scores emphasizing the lowest repair charges and the quickest repair turn around. This is a fast action rod, a tiny bit stiffer and a tad slower in action than the Helios 3F, but still a very good casting rod. For guides, there is a hook keeper, (The 3F has none), a single SiC stripping guide is used followed with hard chrome snake guides. Hardy has built one very light rod! Its perhaps a little heavy in swing weight, and this as well as its stiffness, hurt its score at 25 feet. This is T&Ts mid-priced rod, but if you take a look at the best mid-priced rods in our Shootout like the Shadow at $349, the Recon at $429 and the DXF at $349, the Zones performance doesnt match any of these rods. Id gladly pay another few dollars to have one. Since most anglers fish at shorter distances with a 4-weight rod, we decided to put less emphasis on the longest distance, decreasing the points available to 10 points. For $699.95 you can get the 9' 5wt Zephrus Ultralite with Hardy's lifetime warranty, superior build quality, and all the incredible performance attributes mentioned above. Hell, I landed a 20-inch whitefish on the 99 2wt and even on that light tackle I got the fish to hand in a reasonable amount of time. Performance at 40 feet: 18.0 points out of 20. w/ Hardy Reel + Rio Backing & Line Hardy Ultralite SINTRIX NSX 4WT 8' Fly Rod!! It is trimmed top and bottom with contrasting, composite cork rings. The new Zephrus have a softer tip than the Zeniths which is a good thing for dry fly and short distance accuracy guys. However at long range, it had no guts, and was one of the worst in our Shootout. But is that high priced rod really $400-$600 better? A real let down after the terrific performance I was getting with the Pure. Connect with him on Twitter/Instagram, @Spencer_Durrant. TheOrvis RECON, at $429 wasnt far behind! Performance at 25 feet: 19.2 points out of 20. $60 handling fee. 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. Scott feels that this gives the rod a smoother one-piece type action, and I agree as this is a very smooth casting rod that gives me a lot of feel at short to mid distances. This is a very smooth rod to cast and Im getting nice tight loops and good accuracy. Only you can make that decision. The 8 foot Pure had a much heavier swing weight, and would not be as much fun to false cast all day as this 8 footer. Reel seats should lock up easily and hold firmly, without having any tendency to come loose. The H3F rated slightly higher over all, but the Asquith had a lot more butt and mid-section power to blast out long casts. Our hand tied leaders, using stiffer clear Maxima for the butt and midsections, turn over better and more accurately than any of the knotless leaders on the market. The reel seat is a simple gray anodized double uplocking, solid aluminum seat with sliding band. Im sorry if we offend some people or manufacturers. $595.00. It was a little heavier than the best rods in both overall weight and swing weight but part of this can be attributed to it being a 9 foot rod, while most other rods in our 4-weight Shootout are 6 inches to a foot shorter. #16. The spacer is not fancy burl or birdseye maple, but laminated wood as often seen on inexpensive rods. The tips on the faster rods bend more. . The idea here is to measure the swing weight at the middle of where your palm is likely to sit on the grip. We actually cast two #4 line Pure rods- the 8 footer you see here and its 86 brother. This is one fantastic looking rod one of the very best in our Shootout. The Radian is both stiffer and faster in action. The handle is a western style grip, without much of a swell in the middle but a flare on the lower end to accommodate the uplocking reel seat. For the price, it cant be beat. Some anglers may not be, though. R.L. And what about the new Hardy Zephrus Ultralite, which is insanely light, and on paper looks like it could be the possible winner? The 79 model was far better and a lot more fun to cast and fish. As I have grown older, I derive a lot of pleasure from stalking and catching rising fish, where the keys to success are casting accuracy and making delicate presentations. But even with the lighter line, the accuracy was not very good. The quality of the cork is not so hot though, and a lot of filler is present. Sage uses lime green wraps that complement the color of the rod. Even with the Livingston wind, the Zephrus outdid itself at this distance. Unbeatable performance, this rod deserves the win. It was hard for me to get any feel or accuracy with such a stiff rod and a light line. The casting scores were only fair to good, and in my notes I say that I am getting very little feel or accuracy in close compared to the best rods. The wide single ring was easy to grip and tighten. The Clearwater is heavy in overall weight andvery heavyin swing weight, making it a chore to cast. Casting head to head, the Zephrus, Pure and Helios 3D are all a lot better. Hardy Aydon Single Handed Fly Rod. You will be surprised to see how well mid-priced rods like the Hardy Shadow, the Orvis Recon, and the Douglas DXF performed, all of which made it into our top ten overall in the final results. New rods must be registered at time of purchase. From streamers to small dries to my standard dry-dropper rig, the Zephrus Ultralite put my flies where I needed them. Every high-end rod (which I classify as $650+) handles average wind just fine. 4. 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. A lot heavier in hand than the Pure, and the stiffer tip is not giving me much feel. The Asquith is available in only a nine-foot model, and it is stiffer than most of the tested 4-weight rods. With the Ultralite at hand, your shoulder will be thanking you after a long day on the water. These stiffer 4-weight rods require lines that are slightly heavier than a standard AFTMA 4-weight line. The clear winner in this years Shootout, the Zephrus brought power, feel, and accuracy to the table and left no detail untouched. The stiffness hurt in close but this is one of the very best performing rods at long range. Buy It Now. When you pick up this rod, youll first notice how light it is in swing weight. The uplocking skeleton reel seat is silver anodized aluminum, with one good-sized locking ring and sliding band, similar to the Avantt. At 60 feet the Zephrus was still performing extremely well. And while each rod has its own personality, two things remained consistent throughout the new Ultralite family: unfair accuracy and strikingly smooth casting. The best rods in this category are almost always the lightest in swing weight, especially if you are doing a lot of false casting when fishing dry flies. I like a lot of things about this rod. 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. Feels good in my hand, and Im able to cast well off the tip. Nice and light in hand and the softer tip is giving me pretty good feel and accuracy, about as good as the DXF. The matte gray blank does look nice, and the guide wraps are a dark gray, trimmed in black on the butt section. At that price there may not be a better rod on the market. I realized last week just how spoiled I am to have the South Fork of the Snake River in my backyard. There is a lot to like about the SKY though, and foremost is its appearance. The quality of cork is pretty good, but not in the same class as Avantt. In this years 4-weight Shootout, we found that most manufacturers are building more powerful 4-weight rods than in the past. Distance Step back into long-distance 4 wt territory, and the Ultralite maintains castability and responsiveness. I was getting decent feel in close but accuracy was not that great. Wow It is hard to believe that this mid-priced Hardy finished up with the top rods! The craftsmanship is second to none and it earns a perfect score along with the Winston Pure and T&T Avantt. The epoxy coatings were excellent. Where some rods separate themselves from others is in their ability to handle above-average wind. From 25 to the 40-foot mark, these lines were just magical, and stretching the distance out to 60 feet was easier than with a standard belly line. $75 on recent rods within 10 years, $125 on classic olderrods. 9 ft, 6 weight tip appears to have been re-wrapped- Thanks for looking at my auction. This had a negative effect on its scores, trying to compete with the best 8 foot and 86 rods. A beautiful birdseye maple insert is used. This is a soft rod, with a slower action than the Pure. Still very doable excellent in fact! hardy fly rod. This fast action deflection blueprint, along with Hardys high-modulus graphite and Sintrix Nano resins allow the Zephrus to perform well and feel great at all distances. The cork handle is a Steve Rajeff design; a half wells but with the swell slightly larger towards the front of the grip, and smaller back where the heel of your hand rests. 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. Heads up the Recon and Shadow were far better. Standard corks are used and the quality is excellent. The tracking isnt as tight as something like the Sage X or Orvis Helios 3, but its pretty damned close. 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 reel seat is an uplocking black anodized skeleton seat with a dark gray graphite insert, (pretty plain looking but it works well). 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. Here, the softer rods, ones with softer tips and rods with lighter swing weights post the highest scores. If you look at the performance scores, youll see that the Aetos finished in 11thplace here also. Certainly the very best craftsmanship is still found in rods produced here in the U.S. We gave perfect scores to the R.L Winston Pure, the Thomas and Thomas Avantt, and the Loomis Asquith. It is also a soft rod, so it scored very well in light tippet protection. If you buy this rod, you need to put a WF-5-F line on it. For sure, one of the worst in our Shootout. The guide wraps are in blue with some silver trim on the butt. Nothing Ive cast yet is better in terms of feel and accuracy from in close right out to 40 feet. We didnt award any points for this category but we know that for many people this is a factor in a decision to purchase a rod, so we wanted to list this in our Objective Observations table and also in our Final Results table. (tie) St. Croix IMPERIAL 86 #4 $270.00. Click on any of the charts above to see more charts. 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 best rods in our Shootout can handle this distance with ease, and are actually capable of casting much farther in an expert casters hands. For reels, we again decided to use one of our all-time favorites, the Galvan Torque (T-4), loaded with 100 yards of 20 lb. He has been a very important and integral part of our Shootouts and tackle comparisons over the years. The wraps are darker green and the epoxy coatings were nicely done. 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. A 12-foot leader also gives you a stealthier presentation. But there are a lot of good reasons. Since the Nimbus was a softer rod, it did score well in light tippet protection, but in the most important Fun to Fish category, where the Pure got a perfect score, the Nimbus had one of the lower scores about the same as the much less expensive Orvis Clearwater and St. Croix Imperial. Performance at 60 feet: 8.0 points out of 10. Sage MOD 86 #4 $850.00. With your new rod they include a FedEx call tag so that it does not cost you anything to return your broken rod. The Zephrus Ultralite just doesnt live up to that level of wind-beating performance. For broken rods that are not registered to the original owners, most companies are going to charge you $150 or more for repairs. 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. Both offer terrific performance at half the price of the best rods in our Shootout. I have the utmost confidence in using this rod with very light tippets to fool large spring creek trout. At short distances like 25 feet, you dont have much line out of the tip of the rod, so the best leaders must flex like an extension of your fly line. Take a look at the deflection board if you want a hint of the secret to Hardys success. Incredibly accurate and capable of delivering the fly exactly where it needs to go, even when dealing with a moderate breeze. In this Shootout, we again used the Scientific Anglers lines, which we have found to cast better and last longer than other brands. This 4-weight Q was one of my least favorite rods to cast in our Shootout. Guides start with a hook keeper, then one SiC stripping guide followed with hard chrome snake guides. The color of this rod is an attractive olive, with the guides wrapped in dark brown. The wraps are a slightly lighter blue, trimmed with white on the butt section. The X is an attractive rod with the same fine craftsmanship that we have come to expect from Sage. The wraps are also black, nicely trimmed in light gray on the butt sections. The DXF and both Scott rods were better, while the Zephrus and Pure were in a totally different league. For this 4-weight Shootout, we decided to make the short distance 25 feet, the mid-distance 40 feet, and the longest distance 60 feet. This is the best way to examine the action of each rod the faster action rods have tips that bend more, with stiffer butt and mid sections, while the more medium action rods will have softer butt and mid sections and stiffer tips. For this Shootout, we were able to do the casting here on our lawn at the shop. These single foot guides are finished in a dark color to complement the blank. Better as I get more line in the air, but still not nearly as good as the NRX LP or the DXF. Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) Lifetime warranty to original owner. The Asquith tracks beautifully and is giving me nice accurate tight loops. The Loomis NRX LP gets a perfect score of 10 for their excellent Expeditor repair program which costs $100, but returns the angler a brand new rod, not a repaired one, in just a few days! Ive helped many manufacturers like G. Loomis, Sage, Winston, Loop, Douglas, and Scott with their rod design process. Certainly the Aetos wins points in the price category, but the biggest reason is its performance. 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. The epoxy coatings are painstakingly done and close to perfect. Equal to the IMX Pro but thats about it. The Avantt matches the Helios 3D in swing weight and feels nice and light in hand. Shop Now. It was a little better than the Avantt here, but not as good as the H3F. If you look at the deflection chart, youll see that the Zehprus has one of the stiffest butt and midsections, yet then it progresses to a nice soft tip. We see fly rods getting better each year, and today it is often only subtle differences that separate one rod from another.

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