Winston Boron IIX and Orvis T3 opinions

I am seriously considering a lifetime membership in TUC (Trout Unlimited Canada). To sweeten the pot, TUC is including a 4 piece 9 foot Winston Boron IIX or a 4 piece 9 foot Orvis T3 in your choice of 4, 6 or 8 wt rods.

I am thinking maybe an 8 wt for bones or perhaps a 4 for trout. I live about 3 1/2 hours from any kind of hands on wiggling of these rods so I likely will have to choose sight unseen. I am curious as to what opinions board members might have on these rods.

Thanks for any and all replies.

Guy

The Winston BIIX is by far the superior of the rod choices you have. I have 6 BIIX rods of my own and they are great. For trout fishing, especially dry flies, I love the 9' 4 wt BIIX. You can not go wrong with the Winston green stick.

RoyC

I'll offer my opinion as I have experience with both rods. My experience is that the BIIx will be lighter in hand and very capable, a delightful rod but more of a "trouty" 8wt- not quite as capable in the 8wt realm as the T3. It's a fine rod for most things that involve a floating line but if you want to cast sinking heads, big deerhair bugs or very weighted sculpins, I'd opt for the T3.

About 18 months ago, a buddy that works at an Orvis dealer got us all together for an 8wt shootout including the BIIx, T3, Scott S3,( and something else that I can't recall). I could have lived with any of them. The T3 seemed to be the more powerful of the bunch and would have been my choice for saltwater fishing.

I have the BIIX in 4 wt for trout, but in the 8' 6" version. I love that rod! It will handle nymphs with a couple of shot if it needs to, but it won't really like it. Where it really excels in my mind is fishing dries and/or a lightly weighted nymph on it's own for shotgunning riffle type stuff. It will make nice short little casts and also reach out there if needed. I had several 4 weights before, and I would always reach for this one, so I sold the others.

I haven't cast the T3 specifically, but it seems like every Orvis rod I've ever cast has a 'heavy' tip, meaning more weight out front. I didn't enjoy fishing them all day. Last fall I cast a friends Zero G and it also felt that way. But some people love them, I'm just not an Orvis guy.

So I'd have to say that in your situation, I get the 4 wt BIIX and some other, better 8wt.

I would agree with RoyC that the BIIx is a superior rod to the T3, especially at the trout level. But the T3 is a workhorse, a solid, well done rod and very capable. Not as sensitive or light but more capable of "work". I owned a few T3s and eventually sold them but I enjoyed them all and NEVER broke one, which is more than I can say for any other brand name that I've fished. What can I say, I'm clumsy and determined and my rods/reels pay the price....

I used a T3 when I had my BIIx in at Winston getting a bead head hit repaired, and it was a nice overall rod. But I found that my BIIx was more responsive and seemed to throw farther than the T3. I however recommend the BIImx, I just bought a 6WT and the darn rod is a cannon in the wind. It still has the responsive feel of the IIx, with the added benefit of being able to slam line through windy conditions.