With the boom in interest in European nymphing, we are starting to see more products developed specifically for this technique. One thing that historically has held people up from doing it a lot is that to do it really well, you need a pretty specialized rod, and they aren't always cheap. For a while these rods were sometimes going for between $6-800 and the technology that makes them perform so well in this niche wasn't fully developed in my opinion.
The good news is that things are changing. There are more rods available now and they are more than getting the job done performance-wise. I wanted to do a review on what I would consider the three most affordable decent nymph rods out there right now.
ECHO SHADOW II ROD
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Echo Shadow II w/Competition Kit
Photo from flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk |
So I will start by saying right off the bat that this is by far my favorite rod in the bunch but I will try not to knock on the others, at least too much. This rod was designed by Tim Rajeff and guru Pete Erikson of team USA with the goal of putting out the best nymphing rod while maintaining some versatility.
The rod is matte black and built for stealth, it has single foot guides which are also black, the rod has basically no shine to it other than the reel seat which I believe is aluminum. It also has a cool stonefly logo on the reel seat and the stripping guide is set slightly closer to the grip than you would think, this helps you avoid line droop. It has alignment dots on the ferrules. It comes in a divided black rod sock inside a corder tube and come with the Echo lifetime warranty.
With the basics out of the way one thing to keep in mind with a nymphing rod is that the balance of the rod and reel is incredibly important. It does not matter what your stance is or how you hold it, i.e. arm out or arm in. The bottom line is it needs to balance well when you're nymphing and the Echo shines here. It's very light although I don't know what it weighs exactly. It's a well balanced rod to start with but it goes beyond that by offering a "competition kit" which comes with two 6 inch extensions for the rod and a counterbalance ring kit with a fighting butt that you can add when you put any weight rings on or not. You can add the weight rings below the butt of the rod to add weight to the lower end and help balance out your reel if its not suiting you.
Now for the meat and potatoes, this rod is sensitive, crazy sensitive even. I wish I could describe in words how sensitive it is when balanced but its hard to articulate it. Lets put it this way, when the flies hit or drag something on the bottom, you can tell what type of surface you made contact with. I can tell you I hit gravel, I hit a rock, I hit grass etc. I correlate this to scraping your fingernails on a chalkboard, it has a distinct feel. Well that my friends, is what you feel in your hands, you flat out can tell what your flies are doing at all times. It's important to note that it does not take away from the power. It is tip sensitive as hell but I have never felt under-gunned with it when a fish is on the line. I feel like I detect strikes better with this rod compared to the others.
As for casting, this rod does cast a dry fly pretty good. You can even cast flies on your nymph specific lines. It does'nt cast heavy flies well at a distance but we cant have it all. The only thing I have found with the rod and its casting ability is that my casting distance is more limited than a standard rod but that's to be expected and I have never tested it with a regular line.
All in all I highly recommend this rod to anyone who has nymphing in mind. Its light and sensitive, plenty powerful for most fish and casts pretty damn good. It's nice to be able to lengthen the rod on bigger water, make the butt heavier if needed and its pretty handsome.
It retails for $249.99 and the competition kit goes for $74.99. Tested with the 10'6" 4WT.
CORTLAND COMPETITION NYMPH ROD
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| Cortland Competition Nymph Rod |
The Cortland rod is one that I feel pretty good about but it just has something about it that holds me back from using it over the Shadow. This was the first affordable rod to hit the market during the Euro nymphing craze and a lot of people like it.
The rod is matte black with colorful lettering, they have oversized single foot black guides. The cork handles tapers down small for guys who like to extend their finger onto the blank for enhanced feel. The rods all come with a cork fighting butt and according to Cortland they are purposely designed to be butt heavy and the butt helps with that. They also have a hook keeper. it comes in a corder tube with a built in reel case with dividers.
