I recently got my hands on an Orvis T3 9' 5 weight 4 peice rod in a 9.5 Tip Flex thinking I'd make it my new streamer, nymph, big river rod. The rod was absolutely beautiful but it felt a little heavy and unbalanced in hand. Needless to say, I loved the looks but didn't like the feel. It was very fast and stiff. I couldn't feel line load like a really wanted. It would however cast to the moon and you could cast into the backing. I don't think however that casting into the backing is needed nor is it a good way to actually hook & land trout.
So, I was a little dissapointed in the rod. I contacted Orvis and let it be known. I told them I wanted to feel the line and have very little weight. I talked about how the Sage XP felt and how I liked that rod. We discussed where and how it would be fished and then came to the conclusion that a Zero Gravity in the 8'6" 5 weight 4 peice 6.5 Mid Flex would be just about right. I agreed and said send her out. Guess what? It was overnighted to me for Free!!!! I had it at 10 AM the next morning. I opened her up and this awesome, beautiful, super light rod just came into my life like a newborn baby. She only weighed in at 2.75 ounces. All four peices! So I had this awesome looking rod and I couldn't wait to cast her and didn't know if she would breath with life like I wanted. I felt the need to cast her BAD. I got home, pulled her out and lined her up. I laid out about 20 feet of line and gave her a cast. It was absolutely amazing. Yard casting this rod only made things worse. It would do whatever I wanted. The rod was nimble, light, sweet, had amazing feel and was very accurate. It would also shoot all the line and go well into the backing. I was in total Shock and Awe. It would load 15 feet of line as easily as the entire fly line. I felt this feeling of amazement. I couldn't believe a rod could really feel this good. I now had to fish her BAD. So luckily, my brother and friend called Wed night and said, lets go fly fishing tomorrow! We usually go when we are all off so Thursdays work best. I couldn't say no as this rod was speaking to me to use her under real fishing situations.
We got up early in the morning, left town and drove 80 miles, got her out and she was brought to hand and rushed to the water. It felt even better then the evening before, yard casting. The rod will do everything I want on command. It played the fish very well, it had power where needed and was just so amazing that I can't say enough about her. After about 3 1/2 hours fishing and more than 40 fish we had to call it a day. Now the rod is waiting for next Thursday so she can come to life again. I absolutely love this rod.
