"I can't believe you guys did that," I said to Paul.
"You mean to tell me that you took the engineering
developed for the Legend Elite and brought it down
to the Ultra?" That is exactly what he told me they
did, and he should know, he runs St. Croix. I had him
on the phone and was double-checking before I wrote
this. They had been working on it, he said, (IPC)
technology, "for over three years and when we finally
perfected it, used on the top of the line rod, the
Legend Elite."
Then they did the remarkable thing, they also dropped
it down to the next rod in their line, the famous
Legend Ultra. Some years back St. Croix decided it
was time for a guy to be able to buy a darn good fly
rod and not have to use a mortgage payment for it.
The result was the Legend Ultra, a fine fast action
fly rod for a medium price.
The market was open for an even faster stick and the
Legend Elite was produced to fill that slot. It cost
more due to the type of graphite used in the scrim but,
it was light and fast. Just what the market had asked
for and still at a fairly reasonable price. But the
point here is the new Legend Ultra using IPC (integrated
poly curve) technology and a fiberglass scrim which makes
for a slightly less fast rod and at a much lower price.
For the average fly-fisher and caster, I feel that the
Legend Ultra is a better choice. If you are into fast rods,
and I mean really fast rods, then the Legend Elite may
be the rod for you, but the overall castability of the
new Legend Ultra, I think will fit far more of us.
Fast-plus rods are speciality rods for specific
situations and narrowly defined fishing conditions.
The Legend Ultra is able to cast with finesse at a
wider range of distances and conditions.
I took a nine foot, eight weight to the Bahamas a few
weeks back and had a good chance to try it under a
wide range of conditions, (high wind and presenting
flies from fifteen feet to seventy). Will it pitch a
fly into the teeth of a hurricane? A wind of thirty
five or better and lay it down a gently as a whisper?
Good grief man, heck no! Show me that rod and I will
buy it, but, did it perform everything I asked of it?
Certainly it did. If I hadn't thought it would do the
job I wouldn't have taken it all the way down there.
Like they say in the Bahamas, "No problem mon." The
rod does what it is supposed to do and at a very fair
price. St. Croix; nice going. ~ JC
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