French_Nympher
09-25-2010, 06:48 PM
I had the great pleasure today of visiting Hardy Demonstration day at Housatonic River Outfitters. The Hardy representative, Crosby Beane, kindly let me cast several of their new hi-tech offerings. I will give a brief summary here, but for more detailed questions, please don’t ask me (I don’t know), but please visit your local fly shop that sells Hardy/Greys products. Some of my product nomenclature may be slightly off as this is all from memory and I didn’t take notes! Yes, I prefer to buy American when I can, but Hardy seems to be leading the way in new rod releases. I don’t work for Hardy, but I do have several of their rods.
I tested four rods:
(1) The Zenith Sintrix 9ft 5wt
(2) The one-piece fly rod 8ft 8in in an 8-weight (I don’t remember the specific name)
(3) Streamflex XF2 in 11ft 3wt
(4) “Convertible” Streamflex XF2 Plus rod in a 9.5ft or 10ft 5weight
I believe all these rods have wonderful alignment dots and lines, a nice touch. Howard Croston and his design team at Hardy have obviously been hard at work.
The Sintrix is a remarkable joy to cast. It felt a lot like a high end rod like a Winston BIIX, but felt a little slower, but could still cast a whole line with ease. The rod seems to load perfectly at all distances. It weighs less than 3oz. It is marketed as an extremely tough (less breakable rod). The most common models are coming out first, but later, more niche rods will appear (like the 10ft 4wt). Crosby said that a more complete line will appear in a few years, and that they may take the place of the Marksman. My friend Dave was commenting that this would be an ideal steelhead rod, and indeed, it is coming out in 6 and 7 models soon. I believe the 9-5 will price in the mid $600s.
The one-piece rod felt different than anything else I have ever casted. You could feel the flexure along the length of the rod. It was extremely light for an 8-weight and cast with incredible ease. It felt a lot like casting a premium striper rod, that could do double duty casting bushy hopper patterns for trout. Obviously, it is not meant for travel, but I believe 4-piece versions are coming too.
The 11-3 Streamflex reminds me a lot of my 11-3 Loop Opti Peak. It is quite light in the hand and well-made. Retail at $329. Has an action that should excel at casting dropper rigs for European nymphing using light flies, and then leading them through the drift. It is a great value at half the cost of the Loop and with far better warranty service options. If I was buying only one Euro nymphing rod, I would still lean towards a 10-4 instead, but if you want to specialize in the light stuff (like I do), consider this rod. Comes with a nice fighting butt. The Streamflex reel seats have been upgraded across the board to one with better metal and more porting. The new reel seats are similar to what you see on other high-end rods and definitely durable, practical, and quality.
The convertible rod is interesting. It is a rod that comes in 5 pieces; four traditional sections and a 6in long spacer without guides. The novelty here is that the spacer actually stores in the rod grip (under the cork) when not in use. You unscrew the fighting butt to store the spacer! Without the spacer, you have a 9.5ft rod suitable for dry flies and with a faster action feel. You add the spacer without unstringing the rod (so you can re-use the same leader system) and it goes just above the rod’s butt section. With the extension added, the rod slows down noticeably, making it perfect for nymphing applications. You get two rods for the price of one, and both rods are practical, good-looking and well-designed.
I tested four rods:
(1) The Zenith Sintrix 9ft 5wt
(2) The one-piece fly rod 8ft 8in in an 8-weight (I don’t remember the specific name)
(3) Streamflex XF2 in 11ft 3wt
(4) “Convertible” Streamflex XF2 Plus rod in a 9.5ft or 10ft 5weight
I believe all these rods have wonderful alignment dots and lines, a nice touch. Howard Croston and his design team at Hardy have obviously been hard at work.
The Sintrix is a remarkable joy to cast. It felt a lot like a high end rod like a Winston BIIX, but felt a little slower, but could still cast a whole line with ease. The rod seems to load perfectly at all distances. It weighs less than 3oz. It is marketed as an extremely tough (less breakable rod). The most common models are coming out first, but later, more niche rods will appear (like the 10ft 4wt). Crosby said that a more complete line will appear in a few years, and that they may take the place of the Marksman. My friend Dave was commenting that this would be an ideal steelhead rod, and indeed, it is coming out in 6 and 7 models soon. I believe the 9-5 will price in the mid $600s.
The one-piece rod felt different than anything else I have ever casted. You could feel the flexure along the length of the rod. It was extremely light for an 8-weight and cast with incredible ease. It felt a lot like casting a premium striper rod, that could do double duty casting bushy hopper patterns for trout. Obviously, it is not meant for travel, but I believe 4-piece versions are coming too.
The 11-3 Streamflex reminds me a lot of my 11-3 Loop Opti Peak. It is quite light in the hand and well-made. Retail at $329. Has an action that should excel at casting dropper rigs for European nymphing using light flies, and then leading them through the drift. It is a great value at half the cost of the Loop and with far better warranty service options. If I was buying only one Euro nymphing rod, I would still lean towards a 10-4 instead, but if you want to specialize in the light stuff (like I do), consider this rod. Comes with a nice fighting butt. The Streamflex reel seats have been upgraded across the board to one with better metal and more porting. The new reel seats are similar to what you see on other high-end rods and definitely durable, practical, and quality.
The convertible rod is interesting. It is a rod that comes in 5 pieces; four traditional sections and a 6in long spacer without guides. The novelty here is that the spacer actually stores in the rod grip (under the cork) when not in use. You unscrew the fighting butt to store the spacer! Without the spacer, you have a 9.5ft rod suitable for dry flies and with a faster action feel. You add the spacer without unstringing the rod (so you can re-use the same leader system) and it goes just above the rod’s butt section. With the extension added, the rod slows down noticeably, making it perfect for nymphing applications. You get two rods for the price of one, and both rods are practical, good-looking and well-designed.