Winston Microspey Air 2 Fly Rod

The Winston Microspey Air 2 Fly Rod is a two-handed rod scaled down to the size of the fish you are actually chasing. Trout spey is not big spey with the volume turned down. You are swinging a size 6 sculpin or a pair of soft hackles through a run that is forty feet across, on a rod that has to make a clean cast off a two foot backcast window and then still let you feel a twelve inch brown eat on the dangle. That combination is what makes trout spey hard to build for: too soft and you cannot turn over a sink tip in wind, too stiff and every fish feels like a snag. Winston's answer is a purpose-built Microspey taper on the Air 2 boron/graphite platform, with a grip and a grain scale designed around trout rather than borrowed from a steelhead rod.

Three models cover the range, all four piece: a 10ft 9in 2wt, an 11ft 3wt and an 11ft 3in 4wt. Winston built each one to a tight, published grain window rather than a broad one, which is the single most useful thing about this family, because trout spey lines are sold by grain and a 30 grain error is the difference between a rod that loads and a rod that fights you. Every model is designed and handcrafted in Twin Bridges, Montana.

Blank

The blank uses Winston's Air 2 boron/graphite material in a medium fast action, described by Winston as Winston feel with faster blank recovery for better control in wind and at distance. Boron content sits in the grip section with Air 2 S-2000 graphite through the rest of the blank, which is a deliberate split: boron in the butt gives you lifting power and a stable platform to load against, while the lighter graphite up top is what recovers quickly enough to generate line speed on a short stroke.

That fast recovery is the whole argument for this rod over an older trout spey blank. On a two-hander you are not false casting, so the rod only gets one chance to convert your sweep into line speed. A blank that stops vibrating quickly turns a modest D-loop into a cast that actually reaches the far seam, and it holds a tighter loop into the upstream wind that ruins most swing days. At the same time Winston kept the deep, readable load the brand is known for, so the rod still tells you where it is in the stroke instead of asking you to cast on faith. Practically, that means Snap T, Snake Roll, Double Spey and touch and go casts all work off the same blank without retiming everything.

The Microspey tapers are new to this platform rather than shortened versions of Winston's full spey rods. The result is a crisper snap back through the forward cast, which is what lets the same rod throw a heavy Skagit head and a sink tip in March and then swing a light Scandi head with a long leader in June.

Guides

Stripping Guides - A TiCH finished stripper guide with a nano plasma ring handles the first and hardest contact point. TiCH is a titanium carbide hard coating, so the frame resists the corrosion and abrasion that pit standard chrome, and the nano plasma ring is the low friction insert the shooting line runs against. On a spey rod that guide matters more than it does on a single hander, because every cast fires the entire running line through it in one pass under full load. Less friction there is measurable distance, and a ring that hard will not groove and start chewing line coating after a couple of seasons of sand and grit.

Snake Guides - Special chrome snake guides run the length of the blank. Chrome is the durable, corrosion resistant choice for a rod that lives in cold rain and snowmelt, and snakes add almost no weight out toward the tip, where mass costs the most on an 11ft blank. The tip-top is oversized to clear the thicker head to running line loops, poly leaders and sink tips that a spey system runs, so a connection coming through on the retrieve does not hang up at the one guide you cannot reach without breaking the rod down.

Reel Seat

The Microspey Air 2 gets a figured burled maple reel seat made exclusively for Winston, with double downlocking nickel silver lock rings and nickel silver componentry. Downlocking is the correct configuration on any two-hander: it puts the reel behind your lower hand toward the butt, where its weight balances the blank rather than hanging under your grip. Two lock rings, not one, is the detail that matters across a season, because a reel worked by several thousand casts will walk a single ring loose. Nickel silver is the traditional and corrosion resistant hardware choice, and paired with wood it is a warmer, more classic build than the anodized aluminum Winston uses on its full-size spey rods.

Ahead of the seat is a newly designed Microspey grip in Flor grade cork: an 11 inch thin diameter foregrip with a longer 4 inch bottom grip, identical across all three models. The thin diameter is the point. A slim foregrip puts more of your hand in contact with the blank and transmits load directly, which is why Winston connects it to fewer blown anchors, since you can feel the anchor come tight instead of guessing at it. The lengthened bottom grip gives you more places to put your lower hand, which matters because trout spey casts are made at wildly different distances through a single run and the grip you want for a 30 foot swing is not the grip you want for a 70 foot one.

Rod Tube

The rod ships in a premium graphite rod tube with a Winston logo rod sock. A graphite tube is stiffer and lighter than aluminum at the same wall thickness, and it will not dent at the lip the way thin aluminum does after a few seasons of being stood in a corner or wedged behind a truck seat. Keep both: Winston requires the rod to come back in its sock and tube for any warranty work.

Warranty

The Microspey Air 2 is covered by the Winston Unconditional Lifetime Guarantee, which covers every new Winston boron/graphite and graphite rod against breakage or manufacturer's defects. Winston either repairs the original rod or replaces it with an equivalent rod, at its discretion. Coverage runs to the original owner of a rod bought from an authorized Winston dealer, and you have to register the rod, either online or by sending in the completed warranty card, to qualify. It does not cover lost rods, lost rod sections, intentional breakage, misuse, neglect, or cosmetic wear and scratches. The entire rod goes back to Twin Bridges for warranty work, in its sock and tube inside a cardboard box. Winston's repair form lists the AIR 2 Microspey at a $75 service fee, with non-warranty repairs handled for an additional $100 and a $50 surcharge on international returns. Winston targets a six week turnaround from receipt.

More Info

• Rod Action: Medium fast
• Best For: Trout spey and light two-handed swinging; sculpins and small streamers on sink tips, swung soft hackles and wet flies, skated caddis, and stillwater indicator work on the 3wt
• Grip Style: Flor grade cork Microspey two-handed spey grip, 11 inch thin diameter foregrip with a 4 inch bottom grip, same on all three models
• Ability Level: Advanced to Expert
• Line Weight Range: 2wt through 4wt, all 4 piece
• Models: 2wt 10ft 9in, 3wt 11ft, 4wt 11ft 3in
• Recommended Skagit Grains: 2wt 210gr, 3wt 240gr, 4wt 300gr
• Recommended Scandi Grains: 2wt 180gr, 3wt 210gr, 4wt 275gr
• Recommended Tips: 2wt 8ft to 10ft sinking or poly leaders around 80gr, 3wt 10ft of T-10, 4wt 10ft to 12ft tips
• Blank: Air 2 boron/graphite, boron in the grip section with Air 2 S-2000 graphite throughout
• Reel Seat: Burled maple with double downlocking nickel silver rings
• Made In: Twin Bridges, Montana

Recommended Lines

Line this rod by grain, not by the number on the blank. Winston publishes a specific Skagit and Scandi grain for each model, and those numbers are low enough that most big-water spey heads simply do not go light enough to work here, which is the most common mistake people make outfitting a trout spey.

The Scientific Anglers Spey Lite Skagit Head is the direct match for the Skagit side and hits Winston's numbers exactly: 210gr for the 10ft 9in 2wt, 240gr for the 11ft 3wt and 300gr for the 11ft 3in 4wt. It is a short, aggressive taper built for lightweight two-handed rods, so it turns over sink tips and weighted sculpins on a short stroke, which is what you want in the cold months when the fly needs to be down.

For the floating half of the system, skated dries, soft hackles and long leaders once the water warms, the Scientific Anglers Spey Lite Scandi Head covers the same three rods with 180gr, 210gr and 270gr sizes, the last sitting a hair under Winston's 275gr suggestion for the 4wt. The longer front taper lands the fly softly and suits touch and go casting, which is the more pleasant way to fish these rods when there is room behind you.

If you fish genuinely tight water, brushy banks and no room for a sweep, the OPST Commando Pure Skagit Shooting Head is the ultra-short alternative, available in 25 grain increments from 150gr up, so you can land on 200gr, 225gr and 300gr for the three models and fine tune from there. All three of these are shooting heads rather than integrated lines, so budget for a running line as well.