By Mike Watts
Imagine walking through a fly shop, and you see it, maybe it’s the overhead lights reflecting in the Fuji guides or the varnished wraps. It catches your eye, and you pick it up, and the grip fits perfectly, and you immediately notice its light weight in your hand. Could this possibly become your go-to rod? Does it feel almost magical as you stand in the shop and imagine casting candy-cane loops over rising fish? Then you go outside and cast it. Does the flex snap to your rhythm? Is the price on target for your budget? You inspect the grip, consider the components, and ask yourself: Does the performance match the price? What if a mid-priced rod, built for the average caster, checked every box? Tempted yet? You should be.
The fine craftsmanship
I spent the afternoon fly fishing with Kevin Howell, owner of Davidson River Fly Shop in Brevard, North Carolina, and a Master Caster himself. What better way to judge the casting of a rod than the finicky fish of the Davidson River?
He had designed a new line of rods and invited me to field-test them over rising fish. Who could resist that? While walking, he told me of the many trial-and-error rod samples he test-cast, until finally the 5th Generation edition. Working closely with the Gary Loomis staff for several years at North Fork Composites, he feels he has finally developed the perfect mid-flex graphite rod: light in hand, sensitive, and with a strong butt section.
The Scout Series 9 4pc 5wt Fly Rod
Over time, I’ve moved from a fast-action rod back towards fishing with medium-fast, mid-flex rods that match my senior casting stroke for trout fishing. Today I was fishing with the 9’, 5-weight Scout Series Model, a versatile choice. On the grassy field behind the shop, I found it responsive and loaded well on short casts at twenty feet, as well as on casts up to sixty feet.
After a few trial casts, I switched the rod over to my left hand. Taking a new fly rod out of the case and casting it using the opposite hand helps telegraph its performance. I do believe that we often get patterned to a specific rod and sometimes forget why we like it. Performing this exercise forced me to be more attentive to the rod’s action. Even in my left hand, this rod was responsive as it loaded line.
Time to see if a flowing river would change my perception. A few nice 16” rainbows were rising about forty feet upstream. Normally, I would get in a little better position to attack the fish, but today was all about the rod. This setting provided the perfect opportunity to stretch out a cast. The rod loaded nicely, and I fired it above and to the side of the first rising fish the first time, which was the casters’ fault. It took several casts to find a willing and cooperative fish, but finally one opened its mouth, and I felt the most important thing; how the rod played the fish. I wasn’t disappointed. With this rod sensitivity, I could feel the fish surge and shake its head down to the rod handle. The rod’s flex was perfect to protect 6X tippets, as I would find out later. So far, this rod has passed my test.
These rods play fish great
Evaluating both sensitivity and strength, I considered the rod’s backbone. I like my fly rods to be sensitive, with a mid-flex yet strong enough to horse a fish if needed. Kevin showed me a video of the rod’s resilience up to 62 lbs of pressure before snapping. Impressive. No reason to be afraid of landing behemoth browns here.
During the afternoon, several persnickety fish were caught and released. It was a joy to fish with this rod, picking up and laying down line effortlessly at different distances and catching fish. What a great way to field test a new rod. I must admit it made me want one.
Curious about Kevin’s motivation behind the rod, I asked him what made him decide to design a rod with all the influx of new rods and technology.
“The rod designers have made the rods faster and faster,” he said, “and that makes it harder and harder for the average angler to cast. I wanted a rod that was medium fast and very user-friendly, so that anyone could pick it up and fish.”
I asked him how he measured the rod flex to make it medium-fast, and he said it took almost two years, playing with different tapers, bending them, charting where they flexed, then building one and casting it.
“After this step, you start tweaking mandrels and resins and guide spacing and layout until you find a combination that works,” he replied. “It’s a long process working with the engineers at the factory,” he reiterated. “It took almost five generations of rod samples and testing to finally achieve the flex I was looking for.
“It’s a 100% U.S. made product that I designed for the general fly fishing angler to use for many years. We are offering this model in all four-piece rods in 8 ½’, & 9’ for a 4 weight and 5-weight, and the other rods all in 9’ lengths for lines 6,7,8,9, and 10-weight lines.”
He mentioned this rod will be distributed through one of his affiliate companies, Trip Saver Tackle (https://tripsavertackle.com), and can be ordered online or at Davidson River Outfitters. There are two models; the faster series is called the Explore Series and sells for $450.00. I plan on returning one day soon to fish with it also. Only having time to fish one specific rod, I chose the medium-fast Scout Series and really liked it. This rod sells for $350.00.
After fifty years of fly fishing and handling hundreds of rods, Kevin’s rod did not disappoint me. There will probably be one in my rod quiver soon.
