So when was the last time you got someone to push you around a redfish flat all day? I'll bet that only happens on Walkers Bay Chronicles. Didn't have to push the boat once (eat your heart out Flip) but got a good soaking during the run to the "promised land" due to the boat handling. Got to bend my own rod, a sweet Winston custom 8 wt., a few times on some puppies (that's what us yankees call those small texas reds), before asking to audition a custom CTS (Affinity 6 wt.). I'll review the CTS rod for those of you unfamiliar with it.
The sparcely dressed custom CTS handled a number of weighted and unweighted flies handily. Guide set on the 9'-0" rated for 6 wt. were a combination of alconite stripper & REC SF guides (and yes they sing and no it doesn't diminish over time!), with a finely fitted fenwick style cork handle and fuji seat. I had been fishing a borski sliders and an one-eyed nothing (my own design) flies on both the Winston 8 wt (morning-three nice fish) and the CTS (afternoon). The CTS was very light in hand even balanced with a pflueger trion 1934 loaded with a cortland WF 6 wt. The rod wanted about 40 feet of line to load sufficiently, and to sent the weighted fly to the target into a 10-15 knot head wind. The presentation was straight to the target and with very little effort. No doubt the construction of the CTS blank played a part in the casting performance, even for this beginner of 29 years of fly fishing. What I found most appealling was the lightness of the rod and the performance - the ease of laying out a line straight to the target. It allowed me to throw the tight loop needed into the wind and to hit targets at 60 ft with almost no effort. You didn't need to focus on the casting since the equipment let you target the fish, something a lot of rods don't allow you to do. Although I could not christen the new rod with its first redfish, together we managed to approach & scatter over a 100 fish during the day. They were there and although we didn't get to fish the so called promised land, we saw plenty of fish. By the way - it did cost me lunch
(over cooked fried crawfish imported from Louisiana). But the bottom line is that Andy Dear has promised me exclusive rights to custom building of all CTS blanks east of the Mississippi, so get your orders in soon cause I'm gunna be backlogged 10-12 weeks once these rods get into the market. Yes they seem that good. Hayseed or fox - you decide.
Regards,
Kenneth Prager
khprager@msn.com