American Tackle Co. Matrix Rods

[spectorfly]

Just curious if anyone here has tried the Martix rods from American Tackle Co. yet. I heard some good things about them and read alot online. Bought 2 - 6'6" 2wt rods for my wife and I. One in green and one of the new ones in black to replace my old tired Cabela's PT series 6' - 4wt.

 

[Rkey530]

Hi there. Yep I bought an american tackle Matrix blank a few years back, its a 9' 4wt 4pc. I built the rod myself. I think all told the components cost me like 85 or 90 bucks. For the money its a really good rod, load easily and quickly, casts far, casts fairly accurately, and is capable of a very soft presentation. Its mid to somewhat slow action. Christened it on an 18" rainbow on a #18 cdc caddis in Sunoco pool on the Beaverkill. It fought that fish, and all others i've had on it spectacularly. The rod does a great job of protecting light tippets, and has enough back to horse a fish some. Looks good as well. Falls a little short when it comes to roll casting, and no its not a $600 rod, noone who casts it will make that mistake. Its certainly on par with and better than some 300 rods that i have cast. I'm looking forward to building a few more from the matrix series when i get a little more time, i have 3 freinds who have cast mine and want me to make it for them. I'm interested to hear how the shorter rods in this series perform, if you could let me know that'd be great.

 

[spectorfly]

I got to try them out this past weekend. The 6'6" is a medium action full flex rod. I bough both of them on eBay for under $70 pre-made. One is built with the whole Martix kit (green matrix rod, uplocking matrix reel seat, half wells cork handle ect). The other was a custom job. (black matrix rod, black Lamaglass uplocking reel seat, black guides, multi colored cork handle)

Saturday I took mine to 3 different streams the first being the upper Tully. It cast so lightly I thought it was the wind. Didn't catch any fish there.
Later in the day we went to Wyomissing Creek. No wind there. It wasn't the wind. It was the rod. This is what they state:

The Matrix material adds power and sensitivity to the butt section without inhibiting the amazing responsiveness of the unidirectional tip section

They are not kidding. You can't even feel the tip when casting. The butt section has enough stability and strength that you can make a 50' cast and not even feel the end of the rod. It is true. It is an accurate rod. I could make that 50' cast and land the fly right where I wanted it to with a soft touch on the water. Loved it. I didn't have a problem with roll casting though. Worked as well as my old rod.

Sal even cast it a few times and liked it so much he said he's going to get one with the christmas money he got.

The next day I took my wife's green one to the Run ant the Breeches to see how it performed on a nice sized fish. Caught 1 brown, 1 bow and 1 brook that day. all around 16"-17" and it was fun. Acted alot like my Cabela's PT. Woulb bend amlost all the way to the hook keeper but still be able to turn the fish and fight it without a problem.

All in all I am very happy with the rods. They look great, work great, cast easy and when you have a fish on you know it. All that with a nice warrenty too.

Can't wait till next weekend when I can get out again.

 

[tomgamber]

Are those the green ones on ebay...I think I looked into those but decided against it. Perhaps I missed out.

 

[spectorfly]

Perhaps. Here is one. The seller has different sizes and weights.

Matrix fly rod

 

[tomgamber]

Yeah, those are the ones I looked at...so they're nice? Maybe next time.

 

[Rkey530]

Good to hear they entire series of blanks is good and its not just one of those that performs well in longer lengths. I definately see myself making a few more for myself as well as freinds in the future.