 A couple of weeks ago I purchased the Orvis Helios 2 11' 7wt switch rod as a personal stick for nymphing winter run steelhead and swinging flies for summer runs. Right out of the box from Orvis I could tell this rod was no joke...carbon fiber rod tube, finish on the rod is impeccable from the cork...which has virtually no fill material, something that is not uncommon in rods even in this price range, to the crush proof REC recoil guides. The reel seat is supercool carbon fiber with up-locking rings. I lined up this rod with Rio Switch Chucker 7wt line and set out to do a little sight fishing for steelhead. The first test was to see how much tip this rod could handle. So 10 feet of T-11 was in order. A pretty standard tip for winter fish I would usually throw on my 12.5 foot or longer spey rods. WOW, was I surprised, it threw that much tip 70+ feet no problem with excellent turn over and a weighted fly! Laser pointer would be a good description. I've cast comparable rods in this price category and they all track superbly but at over a half an ounce lighter than the offerings from Sage in the One and Method this rod has a much lighter swing rate which makes for less fatigue after several days on the water. It is a little shorter than some other switch rods out there but I did not find that to hinder performance one bit and let's be honest it's all about how it works on the water! I reset up the rod to indicator fish and found it to easily turn over a heavily weighted indicator rig as well with either a roll cast or snake roll. If your looking for a rod to do it all this should definitely be on the SHORT list of options. Orvis...well done. Now when do those Helios 2 spey rods come out? BTW...This rod was super fishy right from the get-go!  |