I've been bouncing back and forth for a while on getting a new rod. I had narrowed the search down to a Winston WT and a Scott G2.

I found a G2 on Ebay and got it for a very reasonable price. Low enough that if I didn't like it, I could sell it for what I had in it or maybe even a slight profit.

Well, the rod arrived today and not only was it in excellent condition, it had never been fished. The plastic with the Scott "difference" sheet was still shrink wrapped around the cork handle and the ferrules looked like the rod had never even been put together.

I liked the Scott rods I cast but was having difficulty with them and the Winstons paying 600+ for a new one. I ended up getting what is in essence a new rod for a song (well, not really a song, but $250 seems like a pretty decent price for the rod).

I haven't put this one on the water yet, but some back yard casting has been very impressive. It's the 9' 5wt 4 piece rod and it is very smooth.

I set a plate out about 15' and was able to drop my yarn "fly" on it with regularity. Just for grins, I cast across my back yard. Our yard is 75' from one side to the other and this rod was able to cast the full 75' across my yard with ease. I don't recall ever needing to cast that far in real life fishing conditions, but it's kind of cool to know the rod will allow me to do it.

I'm much more interested in the 15 - 30' range and that seems to be what this rod does best. Even at 15' with a 9' leader which meant I only had about 6 or so feet of fly line out the rod loaded well, the stroke is smooth and the fly & leader laid out quite well and very accurate (at least accurate for me).

I'm very happy with it. I hope to get it out on the water this week and will post an update after I get to try it in real life fishing vs. casting at paper plates in the back yard.

Jeff