Hello:
If anyone out there enjoys stillwater and nymph fishing as I do and is looking for a 9'6" to 10' rod, and do not want to spend $700 or more for Sage, Orvis or Loomis you might want to look at the($430.00) St. Croix "High Stick Drifter" series. I recently bought the 9'6" 4 wt. of this series and have been really enjoying fishing it. The action is a medium, semi parabolic with a very soft tip. These rods were designed for fishing multi fly rigs and indicators. The rod is very light (3.4 oz.) and cast very well. I recently caught several bluegill that were 10 to 11" and several 2-3 lb. bass with this rod using 6x tippit and never broke one of these fish off. I have been using a Rio Gold WF 4 F with this rod and the combination works great. Even though the rod is designed for short casts, it will throw 60 plus ft. of line in a nice tight loop with no problem. The rod is finished out nicely with a quality grip, REC Recoil snakes and Fuji striping guides. The blank is nice medium gray color with gray wraps and black inlays. I think this rod could also be a nice dry fly rod with it's mediun fast action and nice soft tip. I have never been a fan I rods longer than 9' ft. But with modern technology and new rod designs, todays 9'6" to 10' rods are light a blast to fish and cast great. I also have a ECHO 3 10' 5 wt. and must say I have not fished one of my 9' rods in quite a while.

Lanny