The Drift Rod is designed to be light in overall weight, fast damping and well balanced as we used a mixture of our highest modulus carbon fiber along with a down-locking reel seat and removable weighted fighting butt. You can further fine tune balance with 3/8th inch ID washers – depending on the weight of your reel. The tip is ultra-sensitive allowing one to distinguish between a subtle take and a bottom tick with a soft tipped action that protects the very light tippets often needed to sustain a drift and remain invisible to a selective trout.
The versatility of this rod will amaze as it can be fished as a traditional 9’ 4 piece 3 weight, add a 1’ section to make it a 10’ rod, a 27 inch section to make it an 11’ 3 inch rod, or add both conversion sections for a length of 12’ 3 inches. So from traditional 3 weight lines to the tight line nymphing techniques including French, Czech and Polish styles, you’ll make the “leader only” tuck casts with accuracy and ease – at any rod length. Finally, we included a 3 inch lower cork grip that replaces the weighted fighting butt – perfect for the new micro spey lines and techniques… just pick the optimal length for the environment and application.
Jason Randall, design coordinator, challenged us to create stripping guides that would allow one to add one or more sections without un-stringing line, leader and flies. A big challenge but we did it… and have patented a guide that Lefty called one of the greatest innovations he has seen in the last 50 years. Rod length can be changed on stream in a matter of seconds and a reel with a couple of spare spools carrying a WF 3, nymphing setup and micro spey and you are well armed for any challenge you might face.
