Orvis Penns Creek Bamboo 4wt 7 ft Full Flex Fly Rod (470-2)

The Orvis Penns Creek Bamboo 4wt 7 ft Full Flex Fly Rod (470-2) is built for the water cane was designed around in the first place: a brushy freestone stream, a spring creek at summer flow, a pool you can cover from one standing position without ever stripping line off the reel. Orvis lists it as a 7 foot, 3 5/8 ounce, 2 piece split bamboo rod for a 4 weight line, and it ships with two tip sections rather than one. It is the lightest rod in the current Orvis bamboo range, and Orvis says plainly that the 4 weight Penn's Creek is the one they reach for on small streams when a light touch matters.

This is one rod, not a family. There is no 8 foot Penn's Creek and no 5 weight Penn's Creek: the 470-2 designation is the whole offering, with the 2 marking the two piece blank. Orvis still catalogs it as the Battenkill Grade, two tip rod under item 97315271, and still builds it to order in Vermont. We do not keep cane on the shelf, so this is a special order we place with the Orvis rod shop rather than a box we pull from the warehouse. Orvis also offers optional hand scribing on the blank for an added fee and added build time, so tell us before the order goes in if you want a name on it.

Blank

Split Cane - Orvis describes the process as split, planed, glued, wrapped and finished by hand, and puts the total at over one hundred hours of work per rod. The rods are built in the company workshop in Vermont, where Ron White has been making Orvis bamboo since 1968 and every rod gets a hand inspection from the master rod builder before it ships.

Impregnated Cane - Orvis product photography of this rod shows the blank signed as impregnated, which is the finish Orvis has been known for since Wes Jordan developed the process and every Orvis rod was impregnated by 1954. The assembled cane is cured with a phenolic resin under controlled heat until the pores of the wood fill completely, which Orvis describes as leaving it moisture proof, color fast and unaffected by extreme cold and heat. In practice that is the difference between a rod you wipe dry and put away, and a varnished rod that needs its finish watched.

Full Flex Action - Full Flex is the slowest of the three action designations Orvis uses, and on a rod this short it is exactly what it sounds like. The rod bends well down into the butt with very little line out, so it loads at the distances small water actually gives you, roughly the first 15 to 35 feet. That deep bend is what protects 6X and 7X on a close range take, and it is also the honest limit of the rod: the casting stroke is slow and wide, wind is a real argument, and heavy tandem nymph rigs are not what this taper is for.

Swelled Butt and Light Tip - Orvis pairs a light tip with a swelled butt section in this taper, which is why the rod delivers a dry fly softly at the tip while still having something under the cast when a better fish turns downstream. It is the reason the Penn's Creek reads as a fishing rod rather than a display piece.

Two Tip Sections - The rod comes with two tips. Owners of cane rods commonly alternate them so neither takes a permanent set, and a spare tip is the difference between a broken tip ending your trip and ending your afternoon.

Guides

Orvis does not publish guide brand or material for the Penn's Creek, so we are not going to state one. What its own photography of this rod shows is the traditional layout for a small cane trout rod: a ringed stripping guide above the grip, wire snake guides up the blank to a wire tip top, and dark red thread wraps at every foot. That is a deliberately light guide train, which matters on a rod this soft, since guide weight added out toward the tip slows a slow rod further.

Reel Seat

Orvis does not publish a reel seat specification for this rod either. Its photography shows the classic small rod arrangement rather than the anodized aluminum screw lock used on graphite trout rods: a wood spacer with a metal sliding band over the reel foot and a metal cap at the butt. A sliding band seat is the lightest seat there is, which is the point on a 3 5/8 ounce rod, where a heavy seat would drag the balance point behind your hand. Orvis sells the rod alongside its C.F.O. and Battenkill Click reels, both small click and pawl designs, and a light click reel is the traditional and sensible match here.

Rod Tube

Orvis does not state what tube or sock ships with the rod only item, and we will not guess at it. For reference, the outfit version Orvis once sold around this rod listed an aluminum rod tube as part of the package, and Orvis care guidance for bamboo owners assumes a rod sack inside a protective rod tube, stored standing upright or lying flat and kept away from heat and damp. Because this is a special order, ask us and we will confirm exactly what comes in the case with Orvis before the order is placed.

Warranty

Bamboo does not fall under the Orvis 25 Year Guarantee and its processing fee that covers the graphite rods. It carries the separate Orvis Lifetime Bamboo Rod Warranty. Orvis hand inspects each bamboo rod before it leaves the Vermont shop and guarantees it free from defects for as long as you own it. Any repair Orvis makes because of a defect in workmanship is done at no cost, including inspection, labor, parts and return postage, with no fee attached. Damage from an accident or carelessness is not covered: the Orvis rod repair department sends a written estimate for your approval before any work begins. Dealers, ourselves included, are not authorized to make repairs under this warranty, so a rod that needs attention goes back to Orvis directly.

More Info

• Rod Action - Full Flex, the slowest of the three Orvis action designations
• Best For - Dry flies and small nymphs at short to medium range on small freestone streams, spring creeks and brushy headwaters
• Grip Style - Half wells cork
• Ability Level - Advanced to expert, since a full flex cane rod rewards a slow, patient stroke and punishes a fast one
• Line Weight - 4 weight only, a single configuration
• Length and Pieces - 7 feet, 2 pieces, supplied with two tip sections
• Rod Weight - 3 5/8 oz
• Origin - Built by hand in the USA, in the Orvis rod shop in Vermont
• Ordering - Special order through us, with optional Orvis hand scribing that adds build time

Recommended Lines

Scientific Anglers Mastery Double Taper Fly Line in DT4F is the default answer for this rod. A true double taper carries its mass evenly through the belly instead of front loading it, which suits a full flex taper being worked at 20 to 30 feet, and the long front taper lays a dry fly down softly on the sort of flat water a 7 foot rod puts you close to. It is also reversible, so you get a second line life out of it once one end wears.

Rio Mainstream Trout Double Taper Fly Line in DT4F is the same taper logic at a lower cost, and a reasonable first line if you would rather spend the money on the rod and see how you get on with cane before committing to a premium line.

Scientific Anglers Mastery Trout GP Fly Line in WF4F is the pick if you prefer a weight forward line. Orvis itself once sold this rod as an outfit with a WF4F, so the head design is not out of character. The Mastery Trout GP runs a quarter size heavy with slightly extended front and rear tapers, and that extra grain weight is genuinely useful on a slow rod that has to load inside 30 feet.