Fly Tying

In 3 weeks of fishing in Lapland I had the chance to test 3 Premium Nymphing rods. I fished in all kind of rivers from mountain rivers ( big and strong ) to smaller forest river with lot of shallow pools and ginger clear waters. I used always a team of 2 nymphs and occasionally wet flies To understand better how behave all rods I used the same nymphs on all 3 rods and I covered all kind of situations. As I said I fished on small and big rivers from small fish up to over 50cm fish.
These rods are:

• Hanak Superb XP 3100. It is a size #3 rod with 10′ length, new in the market and available only from this year
• Devaux T48 size #3. It is a size #3 rod with 10′ length, was made a few good years ago
• Sage One size #3 10′, a rod and a brand that do not need of a new introduction

I was delighted using them and I can say that all are very nice, sensitive and able to extract serious fish from strong currents.

I cough around 70-140 fish day from 30cm up to 50cm, especially grayling because this is the fish that I love to catch.

For many years my favorite rod was the Devaux T48 made by Mouche Devaux on special premium blanks from CTS New Zealand. The rod blank is not a common CTS blank, is one designed by New Zealand producer special for France brand. I was curious to test the Hanak and the Sage rods because is good to know what is new in our market and to see how the rods developed during years. I was competitor for a few years and always I was looking to detect what is happening with the nymphs under the water.
The Sensitivity and the action, how rod behave in fighting time, how easy I can control the fight with the fish where the main points for me. How the rod looks, how nice is finished do no represent a strong point in selecting the rod for buying, at least for me. Of course that I will appreciate a good looking rod but I will not buy a rod for that.

So here are my conclusions after comparing these rods in my August trip in Lapland.

First place: – Hanak. Hanak by far!. Very light, in fact the lightest rod that I used in my entire trip. Super sensitive and with surprisingly enough power in blank. I was a little bit scarred to use it fishing for big grayling ( over 45cm ). But was really good. I was able to extract each fish from the pool fast enough without scaring the others. The rod is very sensitive, The light team of nymphs used where made of 2 nymphs with beads of 2mm and 2.5mm. I was able to detect any rock from river bed and each fish. The rod had a great hook-up rate, I lost fish very rare and usually based on my mistakes.
The action of the rod is medium fast, the blank work on the entire length and put enough pressure on the fish without loosing control. I used size 0.12 fluorocarbon ( Hanak, Stroft and Varivas ) and everything was perfect.

Second place: Devaux T48. It is a rod developed by Jaques Boyko – French Team captain for many years- together with Mouche Devaux. It is a dedicated rod for nymphing and I used and I consider it one of the best rods that you can find on the market. Saying that I’m not happy because my favorite rod was not so good like Hanak. The Hanak was lighter and more sensitive. At least with 20% lower in sensitivity compared with Hanak. Even so the rod is very capable and is able to extract and control easy any kind of fish

Third place: Sage One. O love sage and I use Sage. But the One from Sage is not on my lists with rods dedicated for this stype of fishing. And I know that this model was not created for that. Anyway, I used to fish a few good days and I can say that is sensitive when I fish with small nymphs and I lost a few good fish because the blank was too stiff and I was used 0.14fluorocarbon. The rod behave ok with a 0.16 or 0.18 tippet. It is sensitive enough when you fish with 3.5mm tungsten beaded nymphs combined with other similar or more heavier. I liked when I changed on wet flies, was very precise in casting.
The rod have a tip action, a super fast action in my opinion. During fighting time with the fish the rod works on the first part of the blank. I was not able to control very well the fish and I had to stay with the fish quite a lot until the grayling get tired….

These are my personal opinions, of course is a matter of taste and style. All rods are great but for me, Hanak is on the first place from this year.

In future I want to test a Maxia rod. In the past was a great rod made first time by Aldo Silva in Italy, now is made in Spain. I will order one soon and I will let you know my opinion 🙂
cheers
Lucian

PS
bellow a few photos with fish and places , enjoy:)