Pretty excited to get my hands on this one.

[MikeA]

I ordered a one in a 4wt along with the new rise reel. This rod looks amazing and built like I like them. Single foot guides and flat finish. Reminds me of my all time favorite 3wt that Dancrat put out for a short period.
Rod
https://player.vimeo.com/video/152294309

Reel

[MikeA]

I yard cast the rod and reel combo last night for quite awhile. I was very impressed with the feel and light weight of this rod. It feels just a little fast to me with a 4 wt Rio Gold which is a true 4 weight line, but not bad at all. I wanted to see how it handled and heavier line so I put a true 5 wt line on it and it came alive. I’ll probably use a Rio Grand (one size heavier tip) line, in a 4 wt, on this rod.
My first impression when casting it was how much I’m going to like this rod on the Caney. It’s got enough ass to throw the largest nymph, shot, indicator, rig that I’d ever need there, but still has that light 4wt in hands feel. After a few casts I had to check the blank to make sure I actually had a 9' rod in my hands. It's light!!

To make this rod lighter they used single foot guides (which I prefer as long as they used a forhan loop, locking wraps, to secure them). IMO the single foot guides don’t stiffen the blank up as much, and lets you feel the blank flex as it was designed to be flexed. It also reduces the weight by almost exactly half for each guide. I've never built a fly rod with ugly snakes. 
 
They also didn’t use a spacer on the reel seat. It’s looking more like the new conventional rods in that regard but I like the look. This is a big reason the rod is lighter than the others it’s competing against. When you take subtract the weight of a seat spacer, arbor, and epoxy, it’s quite a bit of weight. I’ve read reviews that complained about swing weight due to the light seat. I don’t feel that,, and if I did, I’d just put a heavier reel on it.


One thing I don’t like, and might fix, is the stripping guide. There is one stripping guide and it’s chrome? I think. I prefer high quality stripping guides and this one seems cheap to me. I’ll give it some time before I take the razor to it.

Overall opinion: I’m excited to see how well it protects tippet and handles the average size Trout on the Caney. Might finally get to semi retire my old Sage SLT. It's hard to say if I love it till I' get it wet, so I'll update my review after I fish it a few times.

[Steve H]

Very nice review Mike. Looks like a winner to me.

[MikeA]

Well I fished the rod a few times and I was extremely, extremely,  impressed. When casting this rod for a few hours and switching to my SLT, it was amazing how much heavier the SLT is. I could bang out all the line I needed for a loooong stealthy cast, and the action was faster but still easy on the tippet. Put it s few clients hands and they all loved the rod. Even had them tell me how much lighter it was without any input from me. This rod was destined to become my “go to” Caney rod. That is until my new Beagle learned how to get into the boat and chewed it and the fly line into a hundred pieces. Let’s see how that Redington warranty goes I guess… Had this been the SLT,,, I would be writing this from the county jailhouse. Lucky dog.

[jarrod white]

Man ... Trudy doesn't know  how close she came to meeting her creator in short order !!!! A fly rod is pretty special thing and I don't think Trudy has acquired that kind of status around the Anderson home yet ... RIP sweet fly rod !! Trudy count your blessings amd learn your lessons