Slower action rods with a heavy swing weight are not much fun to cast and as youll see the performance figures for this rod are dismal. No better at mid-range. We have several reels rigged with the various line sizes, and leaders, all ready to go. Also, the Galvan Torque reels are basically maintenance free, using a rulon bushing that requires no lubrication. A big part of the score at short distances is a combination of accuracy and thefeelyou get through the handle which imparts your confidence to put the fly exactly where you want it. Id even go so far as to say the Zephrus Ultralite deserves to be in the conversation for best fly rod on the planet, alongside rods like the Sage X, Orvis Helios 3, Loomis Asquith and NRX-LP, Scott Radian, and Winston Boron IIIx. The epoxy coatings on the wraps were not so good too heavy and about like what we saw on the X. It really sings in the 15-45-foot range, though you won't be disappointed if you have to push your flies a bit further. As I put more line in the air, it tracked beautifully and was just a delightful rod to cast at 40 feet. A lot heavier in hand than the Pure, and the stiffer tip is not giving me much feel. Whats really eye-catching, though, is the reel seat. Well indicate which line proved best with each rod later in the individual rod write-ups. Rods are repaired or replaced. Tracks beautifully with nice tight loops that are giving me great accuracy. ROD HANDLE TYPE: RHW. This 8 foot Pure is somewhat like the Zephrus in acti0n with a fairly strong butt and mid section and then a nice soft flexible tip. The blank itself is a deep burgundy color, with dark gray wraps. Performance at 60 feet: 9.5 points out of 10. You know it has power when the rod almost effortlessly shoots line. The rings should be easy to grip and tighten. Starting at under $700 and offered in weights 2-5, the Zephrus Ultralite provides performance equal to or exceeding other rods priced much closer to the $1,000-mark. Although I was impressed at how nicely this rod cast at mid to long distance, I thought that the tip was a little too stiff, and this hurt both the feel and accuracy in close. Perhaps the best example is the nickel-silver uplocking seat with a gorgeous birdseye maple insert, found on the Winston Pure. The Recon is a very pleasant rod to cast wonderfully light in hand, and responsive. Better now, with more line in the air, but the G series was still a little better in both feel and accuracy. Rods are repaired, not replaced. The cork is a stack of thin rings, and the quality of the cork is excellent. It would be so much better with a WF-5-F. The overall weight is good, but the swing weight is greater than all the other top ten rods. Ive fished with Howard here, on our Montana Spring Creeks, and better understand how and why he came up with these designs. The Asquith tracks beautifully and is giving me nice accurate tight loops. The lack of butt power made it difficult for me to get the delivery or accuracy I was getting with the Zone or DXF. Francis Comments:Its the Hardy Zephrus for the win! Now I can really feel the heavy swing weight. The IMX Pro is one of Loomis newest rods and we have liked it in the larger line sizes, like their 5 and 6 weight rods. #16. It is also a soft rod, so it scored very well in light tippet protection. This can be a huge help if you have multiple rods and the sections get mixed up. 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. The single uplocking reel seat is plain anodized gray aluminum with no insert. Both were perfect at 40 feet, and then the Zephrus was better at 60 feet. At 60 feet the Zephrus was still performing extremely well. The 79 TFO Finesse was far better. This 4-weight Q was one of my least favorite rods to cast in our Shootout. item 7 Hardy Ultralite SINTRIX NSX 4WT 8' Fly Rod!! 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. Winston says Pure Feel, Pure Presentation and Pure Fun I cant disagree. The ability of this rod to form and maintain very tight loops helped it give me slightly more accuracy than the Helios 3F or Scott G series at mid-range. Some people might consider high priced rods status symbols. Im having trouble casting off the tip well and this is hurting the accuracy. Nothing beats this rod at 40 feet. backing and fly line. 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. This helps me to easily fine tune the exact amount of drag needed while fishing very light tippets, something that is tough to do with other small reels. #3. This same Expeditor service applies to the Asquith but the fee is $275 for 2ndday air. Weve found that fluctuating temperature and humidity from one day to the next can make a difference of .2-.3 oz. The front half of the reel seat where the reel foot is held in placeis all cork. And thats saying something, given that the past half-decade or so has seen most rod makers touting the light weight of their blanks. A single uplocking, gray anodized skeleton seat is fitted with an attractive burled wood insert. The blank itself is unsanded natural graphite gray, much like the Scott rods, leaving the tape marks visible. Thats the trade-off you make for light weight and insane feel in close and its one Im personally happy to make. The swing weight is light but it cant match the Zephrus or Pure. Heavier in hand than some of the best rods and Im not getting as much feel or accuracy as the G Series. Douglas uses a dark green anodized double ring uplocking seat, with an attractive brown wood burl insert. You must register the new rod within 30 days. Accuracy and feel But confirmation arrived when we were able to cast and compare the Pure with all the other top 4-weight rods. The Pure puts in an impressive performance, especially at the shorter distances, and finishes in 2ndplace in both the overall and performance results. Buy It Now. One of the things I really like is the shape of the full wells cork handle. There is no question that the craftsmanship is better on the very best rods, and with a few exceptions they do perform better than the less expensive rods. I found the Zephrus to be a really versatile, do-it-all 4-weight! The newHARDY ZEPHRUS ULTRALITEwas disappointing, mainly due to a slower action than the Zephrus, and a lack of accuracy in close. The H3F rated slightly higher over all, but the Asquith had a lot more butt and mid-section power to blast out long casts. Not much feel with all that swing weight, and the accuracy was pretty crappy too. Performance at 40 feet: 20 points out of 20. #21. The handle is Winstons familiar cigar grip, a half wells with a little flare on the bottom end to accept the uplocking seat. Performance at 40 feet: 19.5 points out of 20. You can read about these warranty policies later in our Shootout. The action of the Zone is much slower than the Avantt (and also a lot slower than the Recon or Shadow). To read each staff members casting notes and performance finishing order, please click on their photo above. Ive always liked the smooth lines, as they dont make so much noise running through the guides. Removing the spool requires a simple click of the button on the front side. About as good as the Imperial, but the Recon and Shadow were noticeably better. Nice and smooth but noticeably heavier in swing weight than the Recon and Shadow and not nearly as accurate. Nice tight loops and good control. Why? This is one fantastic looking rod one of the very best in our Shootout. These come in two models, the Amplitude Smooth Trout, which is a standard size line, and the Amplitude Smooth Infinity, which is a half line size heavier. With more line in the air Im getting nice loops and good accuracy. Given that this is a 4wt, though, it's as accurate as you could hope for. 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. Unfortunately like a few other rods, it is only available in a 9-foot model as a 4-weight, and this hurt its performance scores a bit. The Sage X is light in overall weight, butfarheavier the most in swing weight. The best 4-weights are also excellent nymph fishing rods at shorter distances. Then we progressed to the mid-priced rods and finally the least expensive rods. It is especially interesting to see how the rods compare in stiffness, and how much the tip section bends. Awesome! There is not much swell in the middle of the grip and it tapers just slightly forward. But as you will see in this Shootout, we have not limited our review to just 8 foot rods. The guide wraps are a dark green to complement the rod. Nothing beats this rod at 40 feet. For the lighter rods, we used their Amplitude Smooth Trout. 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. This rod wore me out casting long. Very nice feel with excellent accuracy at short distances. The NRX LP has proven to be an outstanding rod as a 5-weight, winning our 5-weight Shootout several times. The medium fast action of the Recon is very similar to the Helios 3F and this is one reason it performs so well. The single uplocking seat is gray anodized aluminum, and doesnt use a spacer, but does have some trick looking cutouts on each side. This rod is absolutely the winner for our Best Buy (best inexpensive) 4-weight Rod. Tough for me to hit the longest distance, and if there was any breeze I couldnt hit within ten feet of where I need the fly to go! It is also a stiff rod almost as stiff as the SKY and IMX Pro. Often novices entering the sport of fly-fishing opt for one of the least expensive rods, but weve found that it makes more sense to spend the money on one of the better performing rods, at least one in that mid-price range, that will allow an angler to develop his or her casting skills much more rapidly. The wraps are done in a dark brown with some silver trim on the butt section as well as in the center of each guide foot wrap, that look nice. Guides start with a hook keeper, then a single titanium SiC stripping guide, followed with our favorite nickel/titanium snake guides that are flexible but unbreakable. Hardy Zephrus Double Handed DH Sintrix AWS Fly Rod 13'6'' #8/9 4 Piece +Warranty. Formed nice loops and was consistently accurate. 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. Even with the lighter Trout line, it is hard to maintain good loops and get any kind of decent accuracy. Nothing else is even close. Performance at 60 feet: 8.0 points out of 10. Brand New. A few casts later Id slowed my stroke down and found the rod loading and unloading line with a firm, predictable cadence. 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. Heres a mid-priced rod that put in a good performance across the board. The wraps are brown with some amber trim. Wind Distance Step back into long-distance 4 wt territory, and the Ultralite maintains castability and responsiveness. The craftsmanship was excellent and it performed very well for me, especially at 40 feet, where I was getting beautiful tight loops and very good accuracy. A gray graphite insert is used that goes well with the blank. #25. Tell us what you think - opens in new window or tab. Rods are repaired, not replaced, except for broken sections. We have experimented with the ways to measure this in past Shootouts but we still prefer our tried and true approach using the postal scale since it provides believable and meaningful results. Guides start with a hook keeper, then two SiC stripping guides followed with fairly large diameter hard chrome snake guides. The matte gray blank does look nice, and the guide wraps are a dark gray, trimmed in black on the butt section. Single-foot guides, a unique reel seat, and the companys proprietary Sintrix 440 resin combine to create a 95wt rod thats a paltry 2.5oz, while the 99 5wt tips the scales at whopping 2.8oz. Performance at 25 feet: 16.5 points out of 20. Take a look at the deflection board if you want a hint of the secret to Hardys success. As youll shortly read, our top rated rod, the Hardy Zephrus is $679.00, nearly two hundred dollars less than the next three rods, which are each close to $850.00. Both the feel and accuracy were outstanding. And for a rod that is half the cost of the Helios 3F, the overall weight and swing weight are actuallylower! Annette McLean, Winstons long time rod designer did a great job with the Pure, giving us a rod that is Pure fun to cast and fish. At 40 feet you need a rod that is light and pleasant enough to do a lot of false casting, as you will when fishing dry flies, but you shouldnt have to double haul to get the rod to perform and hit this distance. Here, the softer rods, ones with softer tips and rods with lighter swing weights post the highest scores. I was hitting the plate almost every time. The perfect line: SA Amplitude MPX WF-5-F. (However we tested the rod with the WF-4-F Infinity.). NUMBER OF PIECES: 4. To make it easy to judge the turnover and accuracy, we tie in a small fluorescent yarn indicator at the end of the 2-foot 4x tippet and then trim it so that the wind resistance equates to a smaller dry fly. The uplocking skeleton reel seat is silver anodized aluminum, with one good-sized locking ring and sliding band, similar to the Avantt. The blank is finished in a dark olive green with dark green wraps, that include a little light green trim on the butt. The thing that amazes me is how perfect the guide wrapping and epoxy coatings are, compared to other rods. And since it was such a soft rod, the lack of butt and mid-section power killed its score at 60 feet, especially if there was any wind. Will they make you a better angler? #24. scott radian. Pretty good loop control but the feel and accuracy were not as good as what I was getting with the DXF or the St. Croix Imperial. We actually cast two #4 line Pure rods- the 8 footer you see here and its 86 brother. The uplocking skeleton seat is anodized in a dark gray to complement the blank with a beautiful piece of black ash burl for the insert. I liked the use of alignment dots. $50 handling fee. Rods that have good power in the butt and mid-section help me set the hook quickly and allow me to throw a combination of flies and indicator along with a little weight. On the deflection board, the Zephrus had a stiffer butt and mid section and the tip bent a little more, so it is slightly faster in action than the Shadow. The epoxy coatings were a bit too heavy though, not nearly as nice as what we see on the Hardy rods. Some anglers know Todd Tanner as the author of hundreds of fly fishing stories, essays and columns. A great 4-weight rod is the best tool Ive found to meet these demands. 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. But the stiffness of this rod and its heavy swing weight hurt the performance scores, especially at the shorter distances. It was a little better than the Avantt here, but not as good as the H3F. Feel is good and the rod is very light in hand. The quality of epoxy coatings on the guide wraps was excellent and almost the equal of the T&T rods. For our 4-weight Shootout, once again we have added anotherperformance category Light Tippet Protection. At one point it was our Best inexpensive rod until the Fenwick Aetos muscled it aside. Hardy ZEPHRUS ULTRALITE 89 #4 $679.95. Scott claims that this gives their rods better strength and we cannot argue with this as we see very few Scott rods broken. My favorite length for a 4-weight rod is 8 feet. The 8'6" 4wt Zephrus FWS is a fine rod. 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. Vintage Hardy C C de France Bamboo Fly Rod Circa 1939 2 Piece Hardy C C de France Vintage Bamboo Fly Rod Great eye appeal for this vintage rod and rod bag serial number E50405 dates the rod manufacture to circa1939 2 piece rod. Orvis HELIOS 3F 86 #4 $849.00. The best part? Now the stiffness is becoming an advantage, and Im getting some nice tight loops. In all, this is an extremely attractive rod. Category changes that improve the accuracy of the results in our latest 4-weight Shootout. I love the way this rod tracks and the accuracy is good too. The insert is a gorgeous piece of bamboo, sourced from the same company that uses it for Lexus steering wheels. Hardy ZEPHRUS 8'6" #4 $679.00 It's the Hardy Zephrus for the win! The action seems about right and Im getting nice loops. I could hit this distance easily enough, but I had much better feel and accuracy with the faster, lighter rods. Not very good at long range either. R.L. How did the 99 4 and 5 weights feel throwing dries? An attractive X-pattern graphite wrap is used on the butt, behind the logo. w/ Hardy Reel + Rio Backing & Line. It is one of the few rods in the Shootout that excels at casting a size 24 midge on 7X tippet, yet still has the ability to chuck a size #6 lead eye streamer on 2X tippet. The X is a medium fast action rod built with Sages KonneticHD technology that they say delivers greater blank recovery and good dampening. They use a stack of thin diameter cork rings and the quality of the cork was good. #16. The action is medium fast not as fast as the Pure but still feels very nice in my hand and produced some respectable performance scores. 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. We were all especially anxious to see how the Orvis Helios 3F and the new Winston Pure would fare, compared to our favorite 4-weight, the Hardy Zephrus. They are light but very durable. $25 handling fee. T&T also uses a stack of thinner cork rings and the quality of the cork is as close to perfect as you can get. Feedback. The amount of power seems to be about right, and it performed best at the longer distances where I could punch it hard without throwing tailing loops. 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. Each chart gives you a good look at how the tip section, (approximately the top half of the rod) bends and compares to other rods. $75 handling fee to original owner, $150.00 charge to all others. A darker composite cork ring is used on the bottom of the grip that is flared out to accept the uplocking seat. As the name implies, the new Zephrus Ultralite is light. The Hardy Zephrus series of fly rods features our award winning Sintrix material . The blank is that same lovely emerald Winston green we have come to know and love. #22. The accuracy suffers too. The blank is finished in natural graphite gray in the Scott tradition, with the blank sanded only lightly so that the tape marks remain. 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. 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 overall craftsmanship is excellent. No other rod was remotely close at doing everything well that is to say casting accurately (and delicately) in close off the tip of the rod, having lots of feel at all distances, and having plenty of reserve power for handling windy days and playing larger trout. Hardy has built one very light rod! I was getting decent feel in close but accuracy was not that great. 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. After fifty years in the fly fishing business as a guide, shop manager and shop owner, Ive learned a lot about what it takes for a fly rod to perform well. The Zephrus feels great to cast at 40 feet. This rod has a slower action than the fast action NRX LP, as well as a stiffer tip. Accuracy is pretty good, heads up matching the Zone and NRX LP. Of the two TFO Finesse rods, I like this 79 rod as a 4-weight a whole lot better than the longer 89 model. There are a few 8 foot and shorter rods as well as a few 9-foot rods in the mix, especially when manufacturers dont offer an 8 foot model. This rod is insanely lightweight and maneuverable; in fact, it has the lightest swing weight of any rod we've tested here at Trident. Like the Avantt, each section is inscribed with the serial number of the rod so that you can avoid mixing up sections if you have similar rods. I loved the punch and power I was getting with the Shadow and only at long range did it suffer. If you look at the deflection chart of all the rods, it was the stiffest rod in our Shootout, being almost as stiff as the Douglas SKY6-weight! GUIDE TYPE: FUJI TITANIUM REC RECOIL. Using a rod that will dramatically reduce the number of break-offs makes a lot of sense. This rod has the gusto to launch it out to 60 and then some! Hardy uses a comfortable half wells, western style handle and the quality of the cork is superb. Some anglers may not be, though. Performance at 25 feet: 18.5 points out of 20. He wanted another 4-weight that was very accurate and delicate, yet one that had more power in the butt and mid-section. I love the light swing weight. A 12-foot leader also gives you a stealthier presentation. Although we thought that the Winston 8 foot Pure was a fantastic 4-weight, the Nimbus didnt get us too excited. Performance at 25 feet: 19.2 points out of 20. We have learned that we cannot trust manufacturers stated rod weights. This was the best distance for me with the Zone. Perhaps the best example here is our winner, the Hardy Zephrus. Props to rod designer Howard Croston, it may be a long time before someone dethrones this new 4-weight king. Notably light. I still had to give the edge to the Zephrus and Pure. (Click here to see more deflection charts). A counterbalance opposite the handle is used to keep the reel running smoothly when a fish is racing away from you. A sliding band and wide locking ring is used that is easy to grip and seemed to lock up well. Shop Now. In this years 4-weight Shootout, we found that most manufacturers are building more powerful 4-weight rods than in the past. There is no reason they wouldn't sell out fast once they started getting discounted. The action of these two rods is very different. Good, just not great. At short and medium distances, it has great feel, but was lacking in accuracy. Great feel, power, accuracy, and a light swing weight. For an 86 rod, the Zephrus packs a punch and can deliver casts out to 60 feet as easily as it can at 25 or 40. Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) Lifetime warranty to original owner. This fast action produced extremely good feel and accuracy, especially at 25 feet. 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. There is no hook keeper on this rod. Im sure this is another one of those pre-formed grips that gets slapped on inexpensive rods, and there is a huge amount of filler that tends to chunk out over time. When we first saw this new rod from Hardy, we all had two impressions: 1. Performance at 25 feet: 17.5 points out of 20. The rest of the guides are the excellent nickel/titanium one-foot guides in a silver color.
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