salmo-trutta
Member
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2015
- Messages
- 98
Okay, the mailman just dropped off my new rod, a Hardy Zenith, 9ft, 6wt 4pc with the wood reel seat. The mailman and I have a special bond. I think it is safe to say that I have bought more fly rods than the average fly fisherman over the years. In fact, it may be a bit of an obsession for me. Reels too. I started out, thirty-some years ago buying Orvis rods, back when that was the only rod to buy if you fished in the Northeastern US. Then I started buying Sage rods, and I have purchased the RPG’s the XP’s, the SP’s and then the Z-Axis rod, which is perhaps my favorite rod to date…or at least I thought it was. Then, I had to start replacing all of my two piece rods with four piece rods as I go out west now every year. I started fishing for steelhead years ago, so I had to buy bigger rods. Then I started fishing for strippers in the Chesapeake and now, for the last two years I have fished in Florida in the gulf. It just never ends. The last two rods I bought are Winstons, and the new Boron rods are sweet! I bought a Beulah 9ft 6wt, after reading good things about it, and turned around and sold it on eBay for a $100.00 less than I paid for it after fishing it two or three times. It was very sloppy to cast and lacked power.
But I digress…. As I said, the mailman just left and I went into my office to open the big shipping tube. And I have to say, this is, without a doubt the nicest looking, nicest presentation fly rod I have ever owned. I have not casted the rod yet, and that is obviously the most important thing. I read all of the reviews from the Yellowstone Angler’s 2015 5 weight shoot-out and bought this rod without first casting it. (If you’re not familiar with Yellowstone Angler’s web site and their rod shoot-outs, check it out). I paid $428.00 for the rod which is a lot less than I pay for Sage and Winston rods. It comes with a cloth sack over top of the aluminum tube with a beautiful House of Hardy label sewn on it. The brass screw-off top of the tube is engraved with the House of Hardy emblem, again, beautiful. Open the tube and there is a beautiful black cloth sack with the Hardy logo sewn on the sack and three ribbons to tie the rod together. The reel seat wood is a beautiful Maple burl. It has single foot titanium guides, beautiful anodized reel seat fitting, and there are what looks like machined anodized aluminum plugs in the female ends of each ferrule, just like the top quality bamboo rods came with. Small white dots to line up the ferrules…nice touch.
Like I said, I have not casted this rod yet, but the rod looks incredible. If it fishes as well as it looks, it’s going to be a lot of fun to fish with. I think I will be heading up to fish the upper Delaware this weekend. I have one of the new Hardy Ultralite CLS cassette Fly Reel, with three cassettes for 5, 6 and 7 wt, which is also a beautiful reel and works really well, so I am all set
I understand this rod is discontinued. It was not Hardy's most expensive rod and I think Hardy realized they are selling the rod too cheaply and it outsells their higher end rod. I would not be surprised if Hardy renames the Zenith and sells the exact same rod for several hundred more.
AND, the customer service at Mayfly Outfitters in Holland MI, where I purchased the rod on eBay is second to none. Instant contact when there was a question regarding shipping, and they had it in the mail the morning after I purchased it. I would have purchased the rod from Yellowstone Outfitters, but they were out of the 9ft 6wt and they were selling the rod for $649.00. My gain!
But I digress…. As I said, the mailman just left and I went into my office to open the big shipping tube. And I have to say, this is, without a doubt the nicest looking, nicest presentation fly rod I have ever owned. I have not casted the rod yet, and that is obviously the most important thing. I read all of the reviews from the Yellowstone Angler’s 2015 5 weight shoot-out and bought this rod without first casting it. (If you’re not familiar with Yellowstone Angler’s web site and their rod shoot-outs, check it out). I paid $428.00 for the rod which is a lot less than I pay for Sage and Winston rods. It comes with a cloth sack over top of the aluminum tube with a beautiful House of Hardy label sewn on it. The brass screw-off top of the tube is engraved with the House of Hardy emblem, again, beautiful. Open the tube and there is a beautiful black cloth sack with the Hardy logo sewn on the sack and three ribbons to tie the rod together. The reel seat wood is a beautiful Maple burl. It has single foot titanium guides, beautiful anodized reel seat fitting, and there are what looks like machined anodized aluminum plugs in the female ends of each ferrule, just like the top quality bamboo rods came with. Small white dots to line up the ferrules…nice touch.
Like I said, I have not casted this rod yet, but the rod looks incredible. If it fishes as well as it looks, it’s going to be a lot of fun to fish with. I think I will be heading up to fish the upper Delaware this weekend. I have one of the new Hardy Ultralite CLS cassette Fly Reel, with three cassettes for 5, 6 and 7 wt, which is also a beautiful reel and works really well, so I am all set
I understand this rod is discontinued. It was not Hardy's most expensive rod and I think Hardy realized they are selling the rod too cheaply and it outsells their higher end rod. I would not be surprised if Hardy renames the Zenith and sells the exact same rod for several hundred more.
AND, the customer service at Mayfly Outfitters in Holland MI, where I purchased the rod on eBay is second to none. Instant contact when there was a question regarding shipping, and they had it in the mail the morning after I purchased it. I would have purchased the rod from Yellowstone Outfitters, but they were out of the 9ft 6wt and they were selling the rod for $649.00. My gain!