When Outdoor Canada's Scott Gardner asked to put three of our rods through their paces, I said yes before he'd finished the sentence. Scott is the magazine's associate editor, web editor and fly-fishing columnist — he's cast just about everything on the market, and his detailed notes on our rods genuinely stopped me in my tracks.
He's kindly given me permission to share his review here, in his own words (with a couple of tiny typos tidied up).
Hi Scott – I've now tested all three rods quite a bit, though I was only on the lawn for the Grand and Current. I really enjoyed testing all three, and we'll 100% include some of them in our upcoming Xmas gift guide, and likely our round-up of best new fly tackle.
Apologies for this long message, but I guess if you can't geek out about rods with a rod maker, who can you do it with?
Two big impressions jumped out about all three rods:
1 – They're crazy light, and beautifully finished with really nice components, seats and cork. This was especially noticeable on the Current given its price.
2 – The rods perform EXACTLY as promised, and do exactly what you've designed them for. The contrast with "do-it-all" rods from the majors is really noticeable. I really see the value of using a boutique company to get the perfect stick for your needs.
Current 8-wt
So light! Excellent recovery and really forgiving of any kind of sloppiness. Laid out gorgeous loops even when I dropped the tip, etc. That's impressive since my 8wt lines are all Rio pike/predator lines, and they're at least a half-step heavier than standard. So it was definitely overlined a little, yet it cast very well. An 8wt trout line would have been even sweeter, I suspect.
It's also outrageously well made. I can hardly believe you're selling it for $325. (Much nicer cork than my US$400 Predator, I might add.) It would also be an outstanding rod for someone's first foray into heavier sticks.
Tailwater 7-wt
This rod was excellent throwing heavy flies from my kayak in the wind, and for fighting the 2–3 lb smallmouth. I've always been skeptical of 7-wts, but it filled this niche very well. For fun, I tried it with a bonefish tropical line, which it also handled very well.
I really loved this one, but that's also because it was a strong fit for my personal fishing and casting style. Again, a very strong value at $450.
Grand 5-wt
A phenomenal piece of engineering — a truly lovely rod on all counts. I tested it primarily with a 5-wt RIO Gold, and later experimented with a 6-wt floating line.
Lays out incredibly tight loops with no tip wobble. At short distances, it's crazy accurate and offers surprisingly good loading for such a fast rod. It's nice and solid in the middle and has plenty of oomph to push out distance. It was also payload indifferent: the performance was the same both when casting a fluff of yarn and a size 4 streamer (hook cut off). It would be ideal for those technical river situations you mention on the web page. Again, I'd say priced exactly where you'd hope for a premium, specialty designed rod.
So again, it sounds a little ridiculous, but I'm blown away by how carefully and intentionally these rods are designed and fill exactly the roles they promise. And of course, they all feel — and look — gorgeous in the hand. You'd expect this of the $800 rod, but it was super-noticeable on the Tailwater and Current.
Scott Gardner
Associate Editor, Web Editor & Fly-Fishing Columnist, Outdoor Canada magazine
Winner of 32 National Communication Awards from the Professional Outdoor Media Association of Canada
Shared with permission.