Observations and
Notes from the Denver Fly Fishing Retailer Show
Rods
While there were a number of new and wonderful rods announced, only a few things passed my BTB off-the-beaten-path criteria:
One such product is Temple Fork Outfitter’s “Mini-Magnum” rod. Introduced in mid-Summer 2008, this 8’ 300-400 grain rod is an interesting counter-point to the Sage Bass series of short rods. Whereas the Sage rods are designed for precision casting with floating lines and bass bugs (which steers the design towards a bit softer butt section), the Mini-magnum is designed to give the angler a lot of lifting power in the lower section of the rod. It looks and feels a lot like their Baby Bluewater rod, but is a foot shorter, and does not have a foregrip. We’ve been testing one in our coastal and offshore environment, and like it a lot. The 8’ length requires a few minor adjustments in timing, but otherwise fishes like a longer rod.
G.Loomis introduced an 11-weight version of their Crosscurrent Pro-1 rod. If you are unfamiliar with this product line, the Pro-1 Crosscurrents are 1-piece rods designed for people who keep their sticks in the boat between trips. Even though the Crosscurrent Pro-1s have been out for a while, there were a couple of things that got our attention in the 2009 lineup:
- The original Pro-1 rods measured 9’, but the new Pro-1s now measure 8’ 10”. Why the unusual length? To conform to FedEx shipping restrictions (they no longer accept articles longer than 9’).
- The Pro-1s series now features all Recoil® wire guides, which are very tough from a frame standpoint. I’m sure you’ve seen the ads…bend them flat, they pop back up. However, they are an all-wire guide (no ceramic rings), so I was a bit surprised to see them as the primary stripping guide.
How do they stand up to GSP/Spectra backing? According to Chris Hess, Marketing Manager for G. Loomis, they have not encountered any issues with premature guide wear from Spectra. Keep in mind that they are not hard-chromed steel wire, but rather a nickel-titanium alloy which is extremely hard, and does not require any plating for corrosion resistance.
I had an opportunity to cast both the 11 weight and the 8 weight Pro-1s, and I like them. Booming out a long (close to a full fly line length) cast with the 11-weight with a floating line was no problem, and the 8-weight was pretty close behind. They should be great distance rods with a sinking shooting head.
If you are looking at building a BTB rod, the commitment by G. Loomis to the Recoil technology would indicate that you ought to seriously consider using them in place of traditional guides, especially if weight is a concern.
Hatch Outdoors 9-Plus
(Courtesy Hatch Outdoors)
Reels
Hatch Outdoors’ offices are literally a stone’s throw from our home in Vista, but we’d never had a chance to take a close look at their reels before. All in all, very impressive products.
Hatch Outdoors reels have a number of interesting features:
- Just about all the parts are machined, even down to the reel handles (which have self-lubricating bearings).
- The reel foot is machined as part of the reel frame, so there are no screws to come loose, or joints where crevice corrosion could occur. The stem coming up from the frame to the foot is hollowed out, which lightens the reel a bit, but is actually put in to act as a hook keeper.
- They also did a very interesting thing with the drag. Conventional reels often contain multiple soft washers with alternating metal washers. This is to get as much surface area for the drag as possible in a small space. Most big-game fly reels, on the other hand, feature a single large drag disk, usually mounted to the frame, or to a platter on the spindle. This is due in part to the layout of a traditional regular-arbor fly reel, which lends itself to a single washer mounted on the frame.
Hatch Outdoors' reels take advantage of the empty space in the center of a large-arbor fly reel spool by putting a multi-disk drag system in a casing around the spool hub. This allows them to achieve very large drag washer areas in a minimal space.
It’s a good use of the space afforded by the large arbor design, and one that you'll see in a number of newer large-arbor fly reels. Sage’s latest high-end LA reels, for example, also uses a multi-disk drag system. We’ll take a closer look at the factors that might make a multi-washer drag design better (or not) than the traditional single washer design in a future article.
Hatch Outdoors' drag washers
(Courtesy Hatch Outdoors)
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