Echo carbon vs Reddington CT vs St. croix imperial

[Jessed]

Anyone have personal experience with these rods? I'm looking for a 2wt and all of these rods are relatively the same price and all have greats reviews.

 

[Swattie87]

While similarly priced, those three rods kind of run the spectrum in terms of action for graphite rods. The Redington is much more of a medium action...not fiberglass slow, but noticeably slower for graphite. The Echo is kind of your middle of the road med/fast. The St. Croix is VERY fast. One of the fastest/stiffest rods I've ever casted. Wasn't for me, but there's a big market for ultra fast rods and lots of guys like them.

Surely one of them will fit your preference, but just something to be aware of if you buy one without casting it. They're all good quality rods for their price range, just very different actions as noted.

FWIW, I own a CT in Brookie rod specs, and a larger Carbon as my WW rod. Like them both for their purpose, albeit very different purposes. As mentioned, I've casted an Imperial but don't own one...too fast for my personal preferences.

 

[Bruno]

I am a fan of the Imperial. It is a workhorse. As mentioned it is a fast rod but I mitigate that by over lining the rod. But then again i over line all of my rods.

Their customer service has been great to deal with. I have been please with them for the past 20 years.

 

[jacob]

I've got a CT in a 3wt and I love it! I have it matched with a Redington drift reel in 3/4 and it balances nicely. Also, lined it with orvis hydros superfine 3wt line and it is extremely enjoyable to fish. I do t have experience with the others but the redington is an amazing value and I would definitely check it out. My buddy had the 2wt before it got stolen while takin a nap streamside at the little skuke (sucks eh? People these days...) I cast it a few times and really liked it. It basically just felt a little whippier than my 3wt but not much different aside from that.

 

[CLSports]

St. Croix Imperial. Awesome rod for the price. It casts comparable to my more expensive Winston rod. Echo is terrible IMO. I have both in 4wt and 5wt.

 

[Jessed]

Yeah I don't know much about echo I just see a lot of YouTube guys use them and was just wondering! I've always heard great things about the classic trout rod.

 

[CLSports]

My buddy has the CT. Maybe he will chime in on that one. I think he has a 4wt.

I still say the Imperial. If anyone has anything negative to say about that rod I would be surprised.

 

[icyguides]

I have an echo carbon and st. croix imperial both in 3wt. I prefer the imperial because it's more versatile. It casts further and handles larger flies much better than the echo, yet still has a nice feel for finesse. It has more backbone for fighting bigger fish too. The echo is nice for casts to 30 feet but it pretty much dies on me at that distance or with any fly larger than size 10.

The echo is a decent rod and will handle most small stream work but sometimes you want to bomb a cast or throw a heavy bugger. I think they've made some improvements since the model i bought (on clearance) so ymmv.

 

[Jessed]

I'm gonna look at a 4wt in the near future and am gonna seriously consider the imperial. I think that for a brookie spec rod, I don't need a stiff rod like that or to cast long distance! I really wish STH reels were sold in the USA the old STH air weight is an amazing reel and that's what I wanted to pair with the 2 wt but I can't find them. Orvis battenkill will do!

 

[troutbert]

I think a 7 1/2 ft 4 wt is a much better tool for brookie fishing than a 2 wt.

Much more versatile.

 

[k-bob]

I have owned all three 2 wts mentioned in the OP. First, to TBs point, sure a 4wt is more versatile than a 2 wt. And speaking of versatility, rod length is the biggest difference between between the three 2 wts mentioned in the OP (imperial = 6 ft, echo = 7'3", ct = 7'6"). As with line weight, rod length massively affects versatility.

For the hell of it, I once brought along a 7' 2wt along with my warm water 9' 5wt to fish on a windy lake... casting it was terrible. But I would not like casting my 9' 5 wt warm water setup on a truly tiny brookie stream with a lot of branches over it (I am not a big bow and arrow casting fan.) Or even bushwhacking with it.

So, imho 2 wts are good for small flies, small fish, small streams, and small wind. A blast in fact. I could fish a 7.5 ft 4wt on a lake, but I'd rather have the 9 ft 5wt. I could also fish that 7.5 ft 4wt on a 12 ft wide brookie stream, but I'd rather have the echo 7'3" 2 wt there. (I almost always use medium to small dry flies.)

Given the range of what we call brookie streams, the echo and ct are more versatile, because the imperial is only 6 feet. Both overline w 3t lines well. The imperial is fun on a tiny step-across stream, but not for casts of over 30'.

 

[poopdeck]

I have a 4wt CT. I like this rod so much I have never had a single thought about replacing it or upgrading to a "better" rod.

 

[FarmerDave]

I'm pretty sure my St.Croix says Imperial, but it doesn't have the wood reel seat making it look more like a Legend. It is an older 8' in 5/6 weight. I've had it about 20 years and got it used.

Definitely a work horse, but I wouldn't call it fast. It's a moderate.

 

[Jessed]

Went with the imperial

 

[CLSports]

Good choice IMO. I hope you like it as much as I do.