Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Airflo 6th Sense


I finally got enough spare time in the evening to get out on the river and toss the new line around a little. Much as I'd expected the line casts much like the 7/8 delta I've got for my solstice. With the old sage 5120 the it flies with almost zero effort, the key as usual being to take it easy and let the line load up. Even after a three week hiatus from any casting it took only a few minutes of tinkering to get the stroke dialed to throw the 45' head before I started working line out. I found that it casts easily to about 80 feet which is really all I will ever ask that light spey rod to do. While I favor a single spey for summer fishing the line felt sweet with a snap T as well. The combination of the ultra light rod and delta taper is pure butter, and as a bonus, the line casts extremely well overhead adding even more versatility for close in presentations etc. Thanks airflo for another sweet line.

With the fly fishing industry always focused on pushing the envelope it can be frustrating watching companies abandon great designs infavor of techno progress. I'll just come out and say it, Airflo...please don't change the delta, this may not qualify as a long term business plan, but I promise to buy one delta every three years for the rest of my life. I'm pretty sure its the sweetest line/taper possible and I could very happily fish it for 90% of my fishing. Sage, I've long since given up on you but I'm not mad at you. (although the XP/Cabelas deal was a little whack). Keep pushing the "envelope" with new designs and $750 rods. I'll stick to the used goods and the unfilled warranty card for 1/3rd the price.

2 comments:

  1. why was cabelas bringing back the xp a little Wack?

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  2. wack in the sense that you could only buy the rod through cabelas. not being inclined to buy my fly tackle from megastores I shied away despite a long standing need for a good single hand summer run stick

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