I’m considering buying a new rod. I currently have a lower end St. Croix Premier series rod. I like it well enough and cast pretty well with it, but the bug is biting me to upgrade and get a new rod.
Three that I’m considering are Winston WT, Scott G2 and the Orvis Trout Bum series. This is based largely on reading about them. I did get to fish with a G2 a little bit with a guide on a recent trip and really liked that rod. My son has a Cabelas Stow Away 5 piece rod and I like casting his rod quite a bit. I’m finding that I tend to lean toward a slower action rod. Something about feeling the rod load and the slower pace of casting the softer rods is pleasing to me. I do sometimes cast larger poppers and some bead head buggers, but nothing outrageously heavy.
I know side by side casting is the best way. However the local shop carries Scott and Sage but does not carry Winston or Orvis. Another shop that I’ve been to has Orvis and Winston, but does not carry Scott so I cannot really compare side by side.
In the Winston line, I’d also like to try out the BII-T rods as well.
Any thoughts on these rods? Any personal experience and suggestions for these or others I should consider?
I was recently fishing with my Brother-in-law. I was using an old Sage 8’-9" 5 wt GFL (I love that rod) and my brother-in-law was using a Scott 9’ 5wt. I fished his rod for a while and can honestly say I liked it even more than more than my Sage. Scott also has a unconditional guarantee.
Also as JC mentioned above, you may want to consider a bamboo rod. I have two of L C Park’s rods that cost about the same as a top flight graphite. They have terrific action and very nice cosmetics.
I too enjoy a slower full flex action. I think the Cabela’s Stowaway is an amazing rod for it’s low price.
For a higher end rod I would go with the Winston LT over the WT. I own a 3wt LT and I love it, my friend has the WT and I think it is a little too soft. I find it difficult to use in the wind where I really want to punch the line out.
Try being honest with one of the shops. Go to the place with the Sage & Scott and decide which you like best. Then tell the shop that you would like to take it out to try against the Orvis & Winston. If you like theirs best they have a sale, and if not they have a customer that appreciated them. Maybe buy the reel and line from the shop that lets you take out a rod. If the 1st shop says no, then try the second. The worst thing that can happen is that they both say no. With the chance to sell a $400+ rod, you may be surprised.
My local shop ordered 3 different 3wt’s for me to try. Good luck.
Thanks for the tip. The local guy may let me do that as I shop there pretty frequetnly (couple reels, line, tippet spools, leaders, flies, etc.). I wish he carried Winston as one of his rod lines as I’d have to shop no farther. Oh well, it’s a small shop and there’s only so much money he can have tied up in inventory. I think he fishes Sage personally and stocks their line and he seems to have a very high opinion of Scott as well (yes, he carries Scott). When I asked him about Winston, he said they’re great rods and suggested I cast a few to make up my mind (and he did add "and come here to buy the Scott… )
Wow! I could sure build several excellent rods for that price. Wait, I HAVE built several excellent rods for LESS than that. :lol: Sorry, but someone from the rod builder’s side needed to say that. I’ll go crawl back into my shop.
If you’re fishing with those, you might want to find a Sage XP. It will handle those flies better than a Winnie WT, Trout Bum series or the Scott. Those are more of the dry fly and slow action rods ( I know you mentioned you liked slower action rods). Throw a XP if you can. You still might be able to pick one up if you liked it.
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