Part of the light swing weight can be attributed to the use of the superb REC nickel/titanium single-foot guides. #15. The epoxy coatings on the wraps are a little heavy, but Ive sure seen worse. Im getting effortless tight loops, and I had complete confidence on where the fly was going on every cast. It also has one of the heaviest swing weights in our Shootout. Performance at 40 feet: 19.7 points out of 20. It is important for any fly line to shoot well, and even clear well, when you have extra line at your feet and a fish is streaking for the horizon. This fast action produced extremely good feel and accuracy, especially at 25 feet. Wow It is super light in hand, and 2. #19. And a look at the deflection chart confirms this. A beautiful birdseye maple insert is used. Im convinced that the key to catching more trout, (and especially larger trout), is casting accuracy. Performance at 40 feet: 19.2 points out of 20. The skeleton reel seat is a gray anodized double uplocking with a dark gray laminated wood insert. The thing that amazes me is how perfect the guide wrapping and epoxy coatings are, compared to other rods. The Helios 3 rods are available in both the D and F Series with the D series more designed for distance and power. Both offer terrific performance at half the price of the best rods in our Shootout. Many of the best rods are built in one factory in Korea. Images: Tim Romano and Jeremy Roberts. This rod has a medium fast action with tons of power in the butt and mid-section, which allowed it to perform pretty well at the longest distance. The double uplocking reel seat is plain anodized aluminum dark gray with silver rings and not nearly as attractive as the better skeleton seats with good-looking wood inserts. Mystic JXP 9 #4 $499.00. The 8 foot Pure had a much stiffer butt and mid-section and a soft tip that is much softer than what we found on the Nimbus. The feel Im getting is not that good either. It had the power to hit 60 feet easily enough but my accuracy was not very good. The stiffness is a bonus at long range. Quality of the cork was excellent with a stack of thinner rings. Well come out with you and give you some help to fine tune your casting stroke, or just help you with the basics. The nice soft tip allows me to cast off the tip of the rod with a flick of my wrist. It is comfortable to cast all day and versatile enough to throw anything from small dries to heavier nymphs or small streamers. By having all the rods set up in an identical manner, it is easy to take a few casts with one rod, at say 40 feet, then pick up another rod and do the same without having to strip the line off one rod and take the time to load up another. The new HARDY ZEPHRUS ULTRALITE was disappointing, mainly due to a slower action than the Zephrus, and a lack of accuracy in close. Certainly the Hardy Zephrus is a bargain as our choice for as the number one 4-weight rod. (tie) R.L. The idea here is to measure the swing weight at the middle of where your palm is likely to sit on the grip. Nothing Ive cast yet is better in terms of feel and accuracy from in close right out to 40 feet. If I remember correctly, the 864 also won YA's 4wt shootout, adding to its popularity. Distance GUIDE TYPE: FUJI TITANIUM REC RECOIL. The components are not in the same class as the Helios 3F, but that is to be expected considering the price. For $699.95 you can get the 9 5wt Zephrus Ultralite with Hardys lifetime warranty, superior build quality, and all the incredible performance attributes mentioned above. The craftsmanship is second to none and it earns a perfect score along with the Winston Pure and T&T Avantt. It comes in very close to our mid-price winner, the Hardy Shadow. Short to mid-range seem to be the best distances for the DXF. If you look at the best performing rods in general, they have stiffer butt and midsections and softer tips. I love the feel of this rod it is nice and light in hand, and the action is fast and seems about right. Sometimes the whole rod is replaced. The Ultralite is a very attractive rod. We like the lower price, and you cant expect the same kind of performance as the $845 Avantt which uses a more expensive, higher modulus graphite. Below the final results charts we give you the exact repair charges for each manufacturer. This was the best distance for me with the Zone. The medium fast action seems just right and Im getting both good feel and good accuracy at the shorter distances. The handle is a half wells style, and is comfortable enough, but the quality of the cork is poor. $35 handling fee. Smooth, light in hand, excellent accuracy and feel. A lot of this can be attributed to the nice action good butt and mid section power combined with a lighter, softer tip, much like the Zephrus. You must register the new rod within 30 days. Performance at 40 feet: 18.5 points out of 20. 9 ft, 6 weight tip appears to have been re-wrapped- Thanks for looking at my auction. Good butt power also helps me land fish in a minimal amount of time. To improve on the previous Zenith, which won our original 4-weight Shootout, Howard gave the Zephrus a slightly stronger butt and mid section as well as a softer tip. Im getting effortless tight loops, and I had complete confidence on where the fly was going on every cast. hardy zane. I found the alignment dots handy. We have found that the Asquith rods are terrific rods in the heavier line sizes from 6-weight right up through 12-weight. In order to do this, we set each rod up with the same reel, line, amount of backing and leader, length of tippet and the same size yarn indicator. Usually takes 1-2 weeks. The swell in the middle of the grip is a little more forward than most. Moreover, if you want to fish with a 4-weight we consider to be the optimal choice, you dont have to spend $850, $900, or $1000, but only $679 for the Hardy Zephrus. Performance at 40 feet: 18.0 points out of 20. The guides start out with a small hook keeper, then a single SiC stripper, followed with black, hard chrome single-foot guides. The quality of the cork in the handles varies enormously among fly rods. Ive fished with Howard here, on our Montana Spring Creeks, and better understand how and why he came up with these designs. And the Fenwick Aetos, that finished at 11th, higher than the middle of the pack, is only $179.95! Incredibly accurate and capable of delivering the fly exactly where it needs to go, even when dealing with a moderate breeze. The rest of the guides are hard chrome snake guides with nice, small diameter wire snake guides on the upper two sections. However at long range, it had no guts, and was one of the worst in our Shootout. For guides, there is a hook keeper, then a single SiC stripping guide, followed with hard chrome snake guides that are nice and thin on the tip sections. I liked the medium fast action, and this was a pleasantly smooth rod to cast, especially at the longer distances. There is no reason they wouldn't sell out fast once they started getting discounted. Are you comfortable showing up with a $200 rod when everyone else has one of those hotshot $750 to $1000 rods in their hands? Where some rods separate themselves from others is in their ability to handle above-average wind. A 3-weight fly rod can be great fun on windless days, but those days seem to be rare. However, the 8-foot Aetos turned in much higher scores in several categories, including performance at 25 feet, swing weight and light tippet protection. And once youve picked out the perfect rod, stay and enjoy a few days on the water with one of our top guides. Im confident that we can come up with the perfect rod or outfit that best fits your needs. But this also means they have a heavy swing weight. Price is always a major factor when buying a rod and as you will see in this Shootout, the best rod was not the most expensive. We have been impressed with the Avantt in the 5-weight, and the 4-weight is another terrific rod. Rods are repaired or sections replaced. Equal to the IMX Pro but thats about it. I like a lot of things about this rod. The X is an attractive rod with the same fine craftsmanship that we have come to expect from Sage. Standard corks are used and the quality is excellent. Performance at 60 feet: 8.5 points out of 10. Little feel, and the slower action kills any accuracy. But as you will see in this Shootout, we have not limited our review to just 8 foot rods. hardy zephrus 4wt. Not so good in close. Performance at 60 feet: 6.5 points out of 10. It performed better than any of the sub $300 rods, including the Orvis Clearwater. Performance at 60 feet: 8.8 points out of 10. For some reason they dont use a hook keeper on this rod, maybe another way to cut the cost? I still had to give the edge to the Zephrus and Pure. Rods with heavier swing weights or ones with stiffer tips dont fare nearly as well.Ive often had a fish grab a halfway submerged fly in the surface film, when I havent been watching closely enough, and bolt off before I could react, snapping my 6x tippet. WinstonLifetime warranty to original owner. Why? I could hit this distance easily enough, but I had much better feel and accuracy with the faster, lighter rods. I just cant push it at all and have to slow down my casting stroke to get any decent accuracy. The blank is graphite gray and follows Scotts practice of sanding the blank only lightly and allowing the tape marks to remain. No loss of accuracy, power or feel here. Torsional stability affects tracking, which affects swing weight, which affects the action and feel of the rod itself. I found the rings harder to grip than most and without any nylon spacer they will likely loosen up more easily than other rings with them. Hardy ZEPHRUS ULTRALITE 89 #4 $679.95. But superior craftsmanship commands a much higher price! But even with the lighter line, the accuracy was not very good. Performance at 60 feet: 9.7 points out of 10. The Avantt tied the Pure for the only perfect scores in Craftsmanship. The double size uplocking ring was easy to grip and tighten. Shipping isfrom their US warehouse, usually takes 2 weeks. Nothing beats this rod at 40 feet. Expensive rods do have that wow factor that will impress your buddies. Like the K2, no hook keeper is used, which I miss on a 4-weight. This is a classy reel seat, which is much better looking than some of the anodized aluminum insert seats. So if you like what we are doing, the best way to thank us is to buy a rod, reel, or outfit from the Yellowstone Angler. Better now, with more line in the air, but the G series was still a little better in both feel and accuracy. Non-original owner $150 per section. It also sits dead last in our Fun to Fish category. This is a light rod in swing weight almost as good as the Zephrus. Howard is a great angler and knew just what he wanted for the perfect 4-weight. Thomas and Thomas $55 repair charges for the original owner, includes shipping. At 60 feet the Zephrus was still performing extremely well. Winston PURE 8 #4 $850.00. In fact the JXP had one of theheaviestswing weights in our Shootout, tied with the IMX Pro and Clearwater. . The reel seat is an unusual, triangular shaped silver anodized seat with no spacer. The H3F rated slightly higher over all, but the Asquith had a lot more butt and mid-section power to blast out long casts. The 8'6" 4wt Zephrus FWS is a fine rod. Performance at 25 feet: 20 points out of 20. The soft tip also earns it one of the best scores in light tippet protection. The ring seems to lock up well. I have the utmost confidence in using this rod with very light tippets to fool large spring creek trout. Performance at 40 feet: 20 points out of 20. and comes complete with the original Orvis tube and bag. The best rods are not always the most expensive ones. 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. Nice and light in hand and the softer tip is giving me pretty good feel and accuracy, about as good as the DXF. This makes for a very comfortable grip that improves casting at longer distances. Then it will cast and perform much better. The 79 model was far better and a lot more fun to cast and fish. Add into the mix the Scott Radian and G-Series, the T&T Avantt, the Sage X, as well as the G. Loomis NRX LP and Asquith, and you have a full array of the best 4-weight rods on the market. Casting against the Scott G series it felt about equal, and better than the Asquith. A single uplocking, gray anodized skeleton seat is fitted with an attractive burled wood insert. A 12-foot leader also gives you a stealthier presentation. You can read about these warranty policies later in our Shootout. For 4-weight rods, when you are fishing at shorter distances, (most of the time), it is particularly important that leaders turn over well. I normally prefer an 8 foot rod in a 4-weight but when we cast the two rods heads up, and put them on the deflection board, it was obvious that these rods had two different actions. This is a very pleasant rod to cast, with a medium fast action. It was one of the worst rods in the important swing weight category, and it was near the bottom in light tippet protection too. No other rod maker does this better. Pick any rod here that we rated a 9.5 or better and you have a winner! Effortless, delightful, accurate, and FUN. It is a very smooth rod to cast and was excellent at short and mid-distances, but at the longest distance the Radian, Helios 3F, and Avantt were much better. It is also a stiff rod almost as stiff as the SKY and IMX Pro. Now I can really feel the heavy swing weight. At short and medium distances, it has great feel, but was lacking in accuracy. Surprisingly, this is often true. The result is often that the cheap outfit is mothballed, sold on e-bay or handed down to one of the kids. Tracks beautifully with nice tight loops that are giving me great accuracy. In addition to my comments in the main Shootout, youll want to read the comments from Jamie and our other Yellowstone Angler staff members, Logan Brown, Francis Clougherty and Chloe Nostrant. For most of my fishing with a 4-weight rod in critical conditions Im using one of our 12-foot leaders down to a 5X or 6X tippet, but in the Shootout we stick with 4X Rio Powerflex as a tippet in order to minimize breaking off the yarn indicator. I loved the punch and power I was getting with the Shadow and only at long range did it suffer. These are very light, and will flex but never break. Id gladly pay another few dollars to have one. The thinner cork handle may actually be an advantage for some anglers, especially children or women with smaller hands. Good, just not great. Same day or next day shipping if they have the parts in stock, if not, usually takes 2 weeks. The cork handle is Winstons cigar grip, like the Pure, with the center swell a little forward of the center of the grip and a flare on the bottom end. It was even a little sloppy on the tip sections. I was getting decent feel in close but accuracy was not that great. The black anodized double unlocking skeleton seat has two larger rings that are very easy to grip and tighten. And what about the new Hardy Zephrus Ultralite, which is insanely light, and on paper looks like it could be the possible winner? Part of the light swing weight can be attributed to the use of the superb REC nickel/titanium single-foot guides. I do like the 8 foot rods over the 9 footers as they are lighter and the shorter length allows me to strike more quickly, and they often provide better light tippet protection than the longer rods. It would be so much better with a WF-5-F. Very tricky and very attractive. A little better here but the DXF still puts it to shame. Scott uses a stack of thinner cork rings on this handle and the quality was excellent. The other reason is that this 9 #4 SKY is just too stiff for a 4-weight. Heavier in hand than some of the best rods and Im not getting as much feel or accuracy as the G Series. The Hardy Zephrus series of fly rods features our award winning Sintrix . The locking ring is a little harder to grip and tighten than others. A black anodized double uplocking seat is used with an attractive wood burl insert. Hes also the Managing Editor of The Modern Trout Bum. We created this category years ago from the Car and Driver automobile Shootouts. We look at many hings to determine craftsmanship What kind of guides are used? $25 handling fee. Douglas Lifetime warranty. The guides start with a hook keeper on the butt, then a single SiC stripping guide, followed with hard chrome single foot guides that seem sturdy enough, but are not nearly as good (or as light) as the nickel/titanium single foot guides used on the NRX LP. #16. The stiffness and slower action hurt its scores in a lot of categories. At short range I like to cast off the tip of the rod, using mostly my wrist and little arm movement to power the tip of the rod through the stroke. $759.00 0 bids 6d 8h +$19.99 shipping. The ability of this rod to track precisely combined with its ability to form beautiful tight loops allowed it to perform almost as well as the best rods at long range. A lot heavier in hand than the Pure, and the stiffer tip is not giving me much feel. That might be the answer, but then it would likely be more of a 3-weight rod than a 4-weight. The stiffness hurt, and it was hard for me to cast off the tip of the rod. This one is simple The least expensive rods get the highest points. (tie) Loop OPTI K2 9 #4 $549.00. Remember that it will cost you an additional $15 or more to send your rod in unless you are using the G. Loomis Expeditor program. The Zephrus has an even stiffer butt and midsection with a softer tip than the Zenith. How well are the guides wrapped and how nice are the coatings? Guides start with a hook keeper, and then one SiC stripping guide, followed with black hard chrome snake guides. Once again we give you a Performance Only chart, which zeros in on the very best performing rods, which is the real meat of our Shootout. The guide wraps are in blue with some silver trim on the butt. The butt and mid-section are among the stiffest in the test, yet the tip is one of the fastest, (softest) tips. Fly selection is far less important. Now that we have dropped our Perfect 4 category, this category gives you our opinions on the best rods and how they stack up. In our opinion, this upgrade makes the Zephrus an even better all-around 4-weight rod than the Zenith. The single uplocking seat is gray anodized aluminum, and doesnt use a spacer, but does have some trick looking cutouts on each side. The first time I went to cast one of these rods, my local Hardy rep said hed bet $20 Id throw a tailing loop. Orvis CLEARWATER 86 #4 $198.00. Epoxy coatings on the wraps were a bit too heavy, adding unnecessary weight. Overall the craftsmanship was ok but not nearly as good as the best mid-priced rods like the DXF or the Recon. Better than the Radian and Helios 3F in close. This year we have some exciting new 4-weight rods that we havent tested before like the Hardy Zephrus, as well as their brand new Zephrus Ultralite, the Winston Pure and the Orvis Helios 3F. The blank itself is a deep burgundy color, with dark gray wraps. A good 5-weight rod, which is definitely one of the most versatile you can have in your quiver, just wont match one of the top 4-weights when it comes to making delicate presentations, or achieving that ultimate drag free drift with a thinner fly line. The wraps are a slightly lighter blue, trimmed with white on the butt section. The cork handle is what Sage calls a snub nose half-wells. Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) Lifetime warranty to original owner. A good 4-weight rod must be more than just a dry fly rod though, and the best 4-weights are wonderful rods to use fishing nymphs at shorter distances, and are also capable of pitching smaller streamers when conditions dictate such vile and desperate moves in order to catch fish. But there are a lot of good reasons. Whats really eye-catching, though, is the reel seat. 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. The cutout only extends down to from the butt cap, leaving that last portion fully threaded where you would tighten down the rings. This rod is insanely lightweight and maneuverable; in fact, it has the lightest swing weight of any rod we've tested here at Trident. The two locking rings are large and easy to grip and tighten. Performance at 25 feet: 18.0 points out of 20. The Asquith tracks beautifully and is giving me nice accurate tight loops. At least it is sanded to a smooth finish initially. In general the SKY rods do cast well, and the SKY 9 foot #6 won our last 6-weight Shootout. Ive always liked the smooth lines, as they dont make so much noise running through the guides. The relatively heavy swing weight and stiffness are not giving me much feel, and the accuracy in close is not very good. An attractive X-pattern graphite wrap is used on the butt, behind the logo. I dont have the feel I can place the fly just where I want it, as I can with the Zephrus. The reel seat is a gray anodized double uplocking skeleton seat with sliding band and darker wood insert. The single uplocking reel seat is plain anodized gray aluminum with no insert. Wind The new Zephrus have a softer tip than the Zeniths which is a good thing for dry fly and short distance accuracy guys. #22. The Sage X is light in overall weight, butfarheavier the most in swing weight. I really expected to see this new G Series 4-weight challenge the best rods.
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