Blue is my little girl’s favorite color. Now, just changing the color of some random bit of fly fishing gear does eff-all for how it fishes, but I have to say, I’m kind of intrigued by the Link rod I just got from Redington to demo down in Belize.
At the show I met with Kara who gave me the rundown on all things Redington and she pointed out the Link rods. The Links are a little bit more pricey than Redington gear normally is, and by that I mean it is about half as much as the top rods will run you.
The 9 weight I just got… well… it looks kind of sexy. And, it has some nice blue accents and a really nice look on the blank.
Redington Link
Now, a 9 is a rod with some specific purposes. I’d think baby tarpon, maybe permit and certainly cuda. The bones in Belize are not 9 wt. fish. While in Belize I doubt there will be much/any permit fishing. I have one day with the new wife and a guide and I think that will be spent looking for little bones, little tarpon and cudas. See, this rod could fit in really, really well.
This rod, cosmetically, hits on the high notes.
Paired with the rod will be a new line from Rio, a 9 wt. Bonefish line, to be exact.
Now, how the rod fishes? I don’t know yet. I just got it today and I didn’t have time to get a line on the thing and get it out to cast. I will and I’m looking forward to it.
Now, I didn’t BUY this rod. It is a loaner and I’ll send it back after the trip. That’s the way it goes when I get gear from companies. I don’t get to keep it (although I often wish I could). I feel fortunate to be in a position to demo all this gear and I hope to be a resource for you, the readers, if you have questions about gear or want to know how something fished or how it held up to the elements.
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I’ve never owned a Redington rod but while guiding in Key West myself and my clients caught hundreds of tarpon on a Reding ton 12 wt reel. I still have the reel….it is 15 years old and still ticking.
Is the 9wt bonefish line a “new” rio bonefish line or just a “fresh” rio bonefish line. If there are any advancements coming out I will probably wait to replace a couple lines for an upcoming trip.
I had gear lust when I saw the release of this rod, too. Love the black blank, blue accent of it. Looking forward to reading how it casts.
(I have 3 rods, 2 reels, 2 waders from Redington. I dig their stuff; the CPX 8wt is my Lightsaber)
Did you cast this stick yet? What did you think? I just sent in my #10CPX and got the #10 Link back, but haven’t cast it yet. Still using my #8CPX for salmonids at the moment.
I have cast it. I liked it. Good stick for the money, I’d say.