5-Weight Challenge

A 10’ 5-weight might just be the most versatile trout rod on the market today. In George Daniel’s excellent book, “Strip-Set”, George says that he now only brings one rod to the river: a 10’ 5wt. That’s a very appealing proposition to me as I own dozens of trout rods and am often tempted to bring 3-5 different rods on every trip. Needless to say, if I could carry one rod that could do it all, that would be a very tempting proposition indeed. Can the 10’ 5wt throw a streamer as well as your 7-weight, nymph as well as an 11’ 3-weight, and throw a dry better than an 8’6” 4-weight?

  When we released our 8-weight reel shootout, we began to demystify fly reels. We proved that cork drags didn't perform as well as modern disc drags. We also showed that it was possible to create a reel with virtually no startup inertia. It was not only was it the first reel shootout that was widely published, but it remains the...

Spoiler alert. We've given away the punch line. The Lamson Litespeed IV is the winner of our 2015 5-weight Reel Shootout. So, you can probably just go ahead and buy it now, but if you really want to know what makes this reel so great, read our full review below.

Redington is well known for making great value-priced products, including great rods like the CPS and the Classic Trout. We test the the Redington Rise II in our 8-weight shootout, and it didn't do so well. It wasn't that it was a bad reel, it was just up against some pretty stiff competition. Let's see if it does better as a trout reel.

Ask and you shall receive. You wanted to see how Galvan reels stack up, and as it turns out, quite well. The Torque turned out to be one of our favorite reels, and we were excited to see if Galvan could churn out a great value reel as well.

Fly Reel designs have changed a lot in recent years. From the odd-but-now-classic Ari T. Hart to the space-age Lamson Vanquish to the neo-classics like the Hardy Lightweight. Everyone is trying to build a better mousetrap, so to speak. That's one of the reasons we work so hard to bring you great reviews like the 8-weight Challenge and 5-weight Reel Shootout.

The Lamson Guru fly reel has long been the entry point for made in the USA quality, and one of our best selling reels. A top contender among 8-weights, we're excited to see how it performs as a trout reel.

Based in Montrose, Colorado, Ross is one of the world's leading fly reel manufacturers. Over the years, Ross Reels have become a virtual household name in fly fishing. We really liked the Ross F1 fly reel the last time we tested it, and we were particularly excited to see how it would fare in a freshwater-oriented test.

When Steve Abel started building fly reels, they were some of the finest fly reels ever built. They were well machined and had some of the best drags in the business. This was proven by the countless world records that can be attributed to Abel reels. Fast forward to today. The world of reels has changed. The best reels are the market are made by the likes of Nautilus and Hatch and cork is no longer the best drag material. Enter the Abel SD fly reel

Hatch. One of the finest reel makers in the business. We know this, not because their made in the USA, not because we've spent hours with them on the flats, and not because we're Hatch fans (well, we kind of are), but because the 7-Plus won our 8-weight Reel Shootout. But, as we've said repeatedly, trout is a different game with different rules. We're eager to find out hot the 4 Plus measures up to its big brother.