Today I did a little 5wt shoot-out in the back yard. I wanted to see how differently my 5wts performed side by side so I could really know each one's strengths and weaknesses. With four glass rods, one bamboo rod, and one graphite rod, I casted onto 5" targets at 15', 25', 40', and 55'. I figure 15' is small pocket water, 25' feet is a medium-sized trout stream distance, 40' is a pretty big stream, and 55'+ is "big water". I tried 4, 5, and 6 weight lines on each rod. An Orvis Battenkill II with Scientific Anglers Mastery GPX WF4F, a Redington Drift with Rio Gold WF5F, and a Lamson Liquid with TFO WF6F. The line-up of rods is:
Mountain Brook 7'3" 4/5
Garcia 7'3" 5/6
Fenwick FF75 5/6
Cabela's CGR 5/6
Hepler Bamboo 5wt
Redington Voyant 5wt
With the Redington Voyant, I could cast up to 70' but loops started to fall apart at 80'.
The Mtn Brook really preferred the 4wt line and outshined the rest when it came to loading and casting at 15', the bamboo rod coming in second at that short distance. The Redington didn't do nearly as well as any of the glass at 15'-25' but it outshines all of them in distances of 40' and greater.
The CGR and the Garcia are very, very similar in action and feel, both are fun and considerably versatile with a 5wt or 6wt line. However, I think they both did a little better with the 5wt line and the Garcia is slightly more fun to cast out of the two because it's just a tad less tip-heavy than the CGR. Plus, it's got some vintage, retro mojo about it, too.
Last but not least, the Fenwick FF75. It was the all around most fun to throw, to me. Light in hand, perfectly balanced by the Redington Drift reel, throwing the 5wt line with grace, but also throwing the 6wt line quite well, too, it's sniper accurate from 15' to 40', and reasonably accurate at 55'.
When the folks at Fenwick built this thing back in the 60's, they got it right. It casts like a dream and it looks as good as it feels. I love the way the translucent brown blank glows in the sunlight, too. If there's a fiberglass 5wt fly rod out there that's sweeter than the Fenwick FF75, I'm not aware of it. The thing truly is awesome in every way. It's hard to find something to criticize about it, really. I guess my only complaint is the fact that Febnwick doesn't make them anymore!
In order from most fun to least:
1. Fenwick FF75 7'6" 5wt
2. Mountain Brook "Big Pine" 7'3" 4/5
3. Garcia Conolon 2636A 7'3" 5/6
4. Cabela's CGR 7'6" 5/6
5. Redington Voyant 9' 5wt
6. Hepler Bamboo 9' 5wt. This one got last place because it's so damn heavy that it's just not that much fun to cast for very long. It's really fun for about five minutes but then my wrist starts to disagree. I'll give Mr Hepler some credit though, it's a beautiful build and it does cast like a solid bamboo rod should.
