![]() No breaks, no cracks, no excuses - not even after fishing the rod a couple times since. Orvis is going to cringe when they read this, but twice I smacked the Helios very hard against solid, non-moving objects, and both times I was practicing the traditional “my Wonderdog broke your rod” excuses while examining the tip. ![]() ![]() Time will be the judge of the truth of that statement, but I’ll say this – it certainly seems durable. One Orvis staffer told me their exclusive thermoplastic resin technology actually placed them ahead of the competitors they’d lagged behind for so many years they were able to build extremely light fly rods that weren’t brittle or fragile. He said it was “very trouty” and because he has scads more experience with current rod technology, I’d suggest his word carries a little weight. “Smooth” was the word he used over and over to describe the rod, and - sadly - he got to experience it with a couple of decent fish (I never caught anything bigger than 12″ on the Helios). Wayne Eng spent several hours with the rod fishing pocket water, and his face positively lit up. Then again, they’re largely being sold to people who fish less then five times a year, so that distance bias helps sell rods. The Helios bore little resemblance to the “parking lot rods” that largely soured me on graphite, though it’s no match for my softer, low-modulus rods at short ranges.įrankly, that’s to be expected life is a series of tradeoffs, and the majority of fly rods nowadays seem tuned to cast just a bit further than is useful for most trout fishing. My overall impression was of a very smooth fly rod - one that cast for distance without folding, yet fished well at shorter distances. The same held true on the technical water, where you sometimes have to make long casts, and you always have to make long roll casts. Popping a sinking line out of the water was no big deal (a task that’s not much fun with softer rods), and threading a damsel nymph between lily pads was a straightforward, no-hassle job. I liked the Helios enough that I went ahead and float-tubed an alpine lake, fished a technical section of the Upper Sacramento River, and even hit some pocket water with Local Kung Fu Guide Wayne Eng, who fished the rod most of the evening.įrom the float tube - hardly the ideal environment for a medium-flexing 8.5′ rod - I was able to cast for distance, and more importantly, do so accurately. One reason why I’ve turned down some testing gigs is because I don’t want to spend my my precious fly fishing time field-testing equipment I don’t like. Overall - for a rod I would have told you was not interesting to me - I was pleasantly surprised. With this as a backdrop, my first lawn casts with the 8.5′ “mid-flex” Helios were a surprise the rod cast smoothly at what you might call “normal trout ranges” and shockingly - I even felt a little flex under the cork grip at longer distances.Īt short ranges, the rod lacked the kind of feel I get from my higher-mass bamboo and glass rods, but it was accurate and not overly stiff or clumsy.Īerial mends were easy due to the light weight of the rod, though the higher line speeds generated by high-modulus rods give you less time to make the mends (compared to low modulus rods), so I’m calling this one a wash. I fish a lot of bamboo and fiberglass, and own damned few graphite rods, which I often find stiff and lacking in the kind of feedback I want in a fly rod. One friend jokes that I’m a low modulus guy stuck in a high modulus fly fishing world, and there’s a ring of truth to that. Let’s just get this out of the way I’m not easily bowled over by high-tech fly rod technology. There was a rod in the tube - a prototype so new it lacked the Orvis name, the “Helios” label, and even the final cosmetics.Ī call to Tom Rosenbauer at Orvis was oddly unproductive manufacturers are usually keen to babble endlessly (to the point of nausea) about the technology behind their shiny new stuff, but Rosenbauer cagily told me to forget about the technology and just report my impressions. In fact, the box arrived, I hefted the tube, thought it was empty, and figured I was the victim of a practical joke played by Hathaway at Orvis. “How can it be lighter than Zero?” you ask? Well, despite consulting Albert Einstein on this one, we’re not sure, but I will testify that the rod is light. View Orvis Rods and More Products on Amazon !īecause I’m devilishly handsome, Orvis shipped me a 4-pc, 8.5′ 5wt “mid-flex” prototype of their yet-to-be-released ”Helios” fly rod - a rod said to be even lighter than their Zero Gravity series. ![]() Dakine AMP 12L Hydration Backpack Review.Mountain Hardwear Ultralamina 32 Review.Protecting Your Pet From Rattlesnake Bites.Maui Jim Freight Trains Sunglasses Review.Sage Fly Fishing Gear: Fly Rods, Reels, Lines and More.2022 Best Recurve Bows for Beginners and Experts. ![]()
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