The Redington Butter Stick Fly Rod is a fiberglass rod, and every decision about it follows from that. Glass bends deeper into the butt than graphite and recovers more slowly, so the Butter Stick loads with very little line outside the tip top and stays loaded through the stroke. On a brushy creek where the whole game is a 15 foot cast under an alder branch, that is the point: the rod is working at the distance you are actually fishing instead of waiting for 40 feet of line to wake it up. Redington builds the current v3 in three short models, the 370-4 at 3wt and 7ft 0in, the 476-4 at 4wt and 7ft 6in and the 580-4 at 5wt and 8ft 0in, and all three break into four pieces.
That deep flex does something for the fish too. A slow blank acts as a shock absorber on the hookset and through the fight, which is what protects 6X and 7X tippet and keeps small hooks from tearing out of a wild brook trout. The honest tradeoff is line speed. Glass does not generate it the way a fast graphite blank does, so this is not the rod for 60 foot reach casts, for punching a weighted streamer into a headwind, or for the angler who wants to feel the tip stop. It is the rod for small water, short casts, dry flies and light nymph rigs, and for anglers who would rather feel the cast than measure it. Redington rates the action medium.
Blank
T-Glass Construction - Redington builds the Butter Stick blank from T-glass, which the company states improves overall rod strength and casting feel compared to other glass rods. That matters because the classic knock on fiberglass is weight and mush; the T-glass blank keeps the slow, progressive bend that makes a glass rod worth owning while holding enough structure to turn over a leader with authority at fishing range.
Heritage Design - The taper is what Redington calls its Heritage Design, drawn to deliver a classic medium action casting stroke rather than a modern fast one. In practice that means a longer, more relaxed rhythm, a wider casting arc and a rod that tells you where the line is at every point in the stroke. It is a forgiving taper for a new caster and a deliberate choice for an experienced one.
Semi-Translucent Sunshine Yellow Finish - The blank is finished in a semi-translucent sunshine yellow that lets you see the glass through the coating. It is a period-correct look, and on a rod bought partly for the experience of casting it, that is a legitimate feature rather than a distraction.
Guides
Alignment Dots - Each section carries an alignment dot at the ferrule so the guides line up straight when you put the rod together. On a four piece rod that is three joints to get right, usually in low light at the truck, and the dots remove the guesswork that otherwise leaves a rod with a twist in the guide train and a leader that hangs up on the stripping guide.
Reel Seat
The Butter Stick uses a cork reel seat, which is both the traditional choice for a glass trout rod and a functional one: cork is light, it is warm in the hand on a cold morning, and it keeps the whole rod balanced toward the grip rather than hanging weight behind your palm. Redington pairs it with a threaded lock nut so the reel foot stays clamped where you set it instead of creeping loose over a day of casting, which is the usual complaint about a sliding band seat. The grip in front of it is a traditional half wells in cork, a shape that gives your thumb a defined platform for the short, precise casts this rod is built to make.
Rod Tube
The rod ships in a durable matching Cordura rod case. Cordura is lighter and quieter to carry than an aluminum tube, and it packs into a duffel or a backpack more easily, which suits a 7ft to 8ft four piece rod that is going to spend its life walking into small water.
Warranty
The Butter Stick is covered by Redington's original owner warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. That warranty is limited to replacement of the rod and does not cover misuse, neglect, normal wear, fire, theft, missing or lost rod sections, intentional damage, or modification of a finished rod. Breakage that falls outside warranty coverage is handled as a paid replacement, and Far Bank's published Redington repair schedule lists the Butter Stick v3 as a current model at a 50 dollar fee, with the discontinued v1 and v2 Butter Sticks at 95 dollars; reel repairs outside warranty are a flat 50 dollars. You pay to ship the rod to Far Bank on Bainbridge Island and Far Bank covers the return shipping. Redington also sells a Butter Stick v3 replacement tip outright, so a broken tip section does not have to become a warranty claim. Warranty and fee details confirmed against Far Bank's warranty, repair pricing and repair FAQ pages on 2026-08-17.
More Info
- Rod Action: Medium
- Blank Material: T-glass fiberglass
- Best For: Small creeks and blue lines, spring creeks, alpine lakes, tailwater dry fly work and light nymphing, panfish and pond bass on the 5wt
- Grip Style: Traditional half wells cork
- Ability Level: Beginner to Advanced
- Line Weight Range: 3wt to 5wt
- Lengths: 7ft 0in, 7ft 6in and 8ft 0in
- Pieces: 4
- Models: 370-4, 476-4 and 580-4
- Reel Seat: Cork with threaded lock nut
Recommended Lines
A slow glass blank is already loaded at short range, so the variable that matters most is head design rather than raw grain weight. Start true to weight with a line that carries its mass close to the tip, and only move a half size heavy if you fish almost entirely inside 20 feet or throw bushy dries and small indicator rigs. The Scientific Anglers Amplitude Smooth Creek Trout Fly Line is the most direct match, built for small trout streams with a taper that asks less line to load a rod and roll casts well, which is what you end up doing on water with brush behind you. The Rio Creek Premier Fly Line is the other purpose-built option: Rio designs it to load at close range for casts of 10 to 15 feet while keeping enough head length to reach out when a run opens up. If you want the traditional pairing, the Cortland 444 Classic Sylk Fly Line is built specifically for moderate action rods with a delicate, ultrathin profile, and it is the closest thing on the market to the line this rod's ancestors were designed around.
