I have seen some excellent comparison articles on nymph rods, but have not found a comparison on the CTS Affinity X against the Sage ESN (10' 4wt for both). Has anyone seen such a comparison test?

Dale Thompson
Small-time fly rod builder

Dale,
The qualities that you want in a nymphing blank/rod is stiffness and, above all, lightness "in-the-hand".

I was visiting a nationally known fly fisherman at his home in Miami a few years ago. We compared the "weight-in-hand" of his Sage 9'0" 8 weight vs the CTS 9'0" 10wt. The CTS 10wt "felt" noticeably lighter. Due no doubt to its lighter tip and the 57msi graphite. If you notice - Sage provides no specific msi in its info.
Herb

You won't see much if any. CTS does not advertise anywhere as much as the big name outfits in the USA. I do have a decent amount of experience building out CTS blanks for customers, in most cases an Affinity X blank is lighter and more sensitive than its respective popular counterpart that is mass marketed here in the USA, this is in part from my own experience and the feedback I have gotten from customers.

I'm sure you'd see more write ups on their stuff if they were buying full page ads in our popular flyfishing mags.

One place that they do have more of a "known" presence and you'll see write ups on their stuff is Europe.

Dale, one thing to make sure is that any blank you choose is designed for "euro nymph" style. I've built 3 euros on 10'4wt. blanks, but these really were just standard fly rod blanks. I customized them, reduced weight and liked the results on those, but they were still a little tip stiff. Finally bough a dedicated euro-nymphing rod, and, yeah, it has way better (softer) in the tip needed for that style of nymphing.

CTS's graphite blanks are excellent, might be worth asking them if any are designed specifically for euro-nymphing.

FWIW, I found the 4 wt. overkill and 3 wt. seems to be the "universal" weight for euro-nymphing (at least out east). Cheers.

Thanks, Angelo. I agree totally on your comments, particularly, "any blank you choose is designed for "euro nymph" style". Hence my original question regarding comparison of the ESN (desgined specifically for nymphing) and the Affinity X (which strikes me as stiffer in the tip than would be a euro-nymph specific rod). Now, a -1 top third on the Affinity might be interesting. I would so like to try each first!

Dale Thompson
Small-time fly rod builder