| Name: Wayne Sheets |
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| E-mail: wrsheets@charter.net |
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Experience:
I am a life long angler, having learned to fish with at my grandpa's pond. These days, I do a lot of float fishing for trout and smallmouth in the Ozarks. |
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Product Being Tested:
March Brown Limited
Braden Powell Special Edition
7 piece, 5 wt.,8.5' Travel Fly Rod |
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Snapshot of your experience with products of this sort:
I have tried every conceivable way to travel with fishing gear. One piece, two piece, four piece, 7 piece, and eight piece rods have all accompanied me on trips via plane, train and automobile. |
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Date of Test:
Week of December 4th |
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Place of Test:
Missouri Ozarks, Small Stream (high but clear water), rainbow and brown trout. |
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Test Condition:
This was the week after the great big Midwest ice/snow storm. Although the air temp was about 46 degrees, there was still about 4 inches of snow on the ground. The wind was mostly calm, with an occasional gust. There was a ton of newly fallen "structure" in the stream. |
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Relevant related equipment or products:
Reel: Orvis Turbine III Wide Arbor
Line: 5 wt Wonderline
Leader: 6x
Flies: Nymphs, Midges, San Juan Worms, Caddis
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Your experience with the product:
During my first inspection of the rod, the first thing I noticed was the good quality tube and wrap that the rod comes in. The Tube is good quality and has a handy adjustable shoulder strap. The wrap has individual slots for each rod piece and rolls up and ties together nicely. It would be possible to pack this rod in a suitcase with just the wrap to save space. I further unpacked the rod to find a very well finished rod blank. This is a nice looking rod! The rod blank is clearly marked so it is assembled in no time. The hardware is top quality. When fully assembled, the rod seems very light in my hands.
And now to fishing! Since the water was up and I had seen several fish break the water on my walk to the river, I started with a caddis fly. This would turn out to be a good choice. I picked a spot that had some protected water on both sides of the stream so I could test both long and short casts. I was immediately impressed with how fast this rod is. Casting was effortless, as a five weight should be. Roll casts were easy and quiet. I found it very easy to shoot as much line as I wanted. As this was a small stream, I didn't get more that 30 foot or so of line out at time, but I have no doubt that the rod can handle it. Mending was a little bit of a challenge, but it is an 8.5' rod. I didn't make a single adjustment to the blank or reel seat after initially putting the rod together.
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Qualities you liked about the product:
I liked the general appearance of the rod, the tube and wrap, and the hardware. I loved the speed of the rod and the ease of line shooting. |
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Qualities you didn't liked about the product:
I couldn't mend my line as well as I should have in fast water. |
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Summary Comments
The most important thing to me in a travel rod is that it doesn't fish like a travel rod. I want it to fish like a one piece. I think March Brown has done a wonderful job with this rod. As I moved down the stream fishing with it, I completely forgot that I was supposed to be fishing with a travel rod and reviewing it on top of that. I just fished and enjoyed every moment. That's the way it's supposed to be, isn't it? |
