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06
Jan 11

A quiver of Orvis – Hydros and Access Rods Reviewed

While I was down in Mexico casting for… well… whatever would eat a 1/0 Surf Candy/Clouser, I had two loaner rods with me… an 8 wt. Hydros and an 8 wt. Access.  Having cast the Helios down in Belize a few weeks back, I’ve now cast three different Orvis sticks in an 8.

I must say… I’m impressed.

If I were going to buy one of these rods, I’d probably go with the Hydros.  The Hydros gets you a rod as good as the Helios with a substantial discount on the price.  I cast the Hydros most of the time I was down in Mexico.  It was light, crisp and powerful.  I was throwing lead eyes and sinking lines and the thing just played very well.

The Access is on the lower end of the Orvis spectrum, but it is still a good stick.  When you put them side-by-side you notice that the blank is thicker and when you pick it up, you notice the extra weight, even if it does come down to a couple ounces.  The Access is a little slower, so I had to change my casting stroke some, but the rod can still pound the casts out there.  It may not be fair to look at the Access after having cast the Hydros for a few days since the Hydros is just a really slick piece of casting rocketry.

A Note on Rod Selection for Vallarta

Vallarta is a hard place to judge for rod selection.  I would have been fine on most of the fish I caught with a 6 weight.  Still, there are a few fish I hooked that would have put a serious beat-down on a 6.  You just never know what is going to be on the other end.  Could be a 5 ounce fish.  Could be a 25 pound fish.

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Gear — 2 Comments
03
Dec 10

The Helios – A review of sorts

When out with guide Katchu from El Pescador we had an abrupt stop on our way tarpon hunting where permit rods were demanded.  We were not rigged for permit.  I quickly got the Orvis Helios 8 wt. ready and was up on deck, casting to my first permit.

I was pumping the cast out and was carrying the line well in the air and then… then the cast fell apart.  The shot was gone. As one or two other anglers may be tempted to do, I thought, well… maybe I need to over-line this rod.  Over-lining had proved just the ticket for the Sage Xi3 7 wt., so I put on a 9 wt. line.  I missed the next shot, but have no recollection of how that cast went.

Later, in a moment of reflection, I began to wonder if, just maybe, I had jumped to conclusions about the Helios.  I mentioned out-loud to my fishing buddy Shane (who happens to be a casting instructor and a beautiful caster) that I was beginning to think that maybe I had just put out a bad cast and blamed the rod.

Shane said in watching the cast that my false cast before the final presentation had been perfect.  When he saw me go for the last cast, he knew it wasn’t going to go well.  I think I knew it down deep too.  I had botched the cast… this was operator error.

Our last morning in Belize I decided to trust Steve at Orvis and I put the 8 weight line back on the Helios and I took that rod out for the last fleeting hours of fishing.

Newsflash… the Helios casts really, really well and an 8 wt. casts an 8 wt. line very well.  It is light… that’s the first thing you notice.  It feels almost like casting a 5 wt., which may give you the impression it isn’t going to have the power to get you through the wind or the distance you might need (and I think that is why I flubbed the first cast and went through the up-line fiasco).  Of course, the ROD has the power to do it and the weight of the rod in ounces does not = the power of the rod.

I’m learning.

At $800, the Helios is in the upper, upper price range of fly fishing gear.  It really makes me want to get a Hydros out fishing… a rod that is the twin brother of the Helios… but that twin that was born 20 minutes later and who might not be totally the same.  At $500, it is much more in the price-range I’d probably be more interested in.  Basically, you get the same technology with a couple of bells and whistles removed.

If you drive a Mercedes that costs $40K, you are probably a Hydros guy.  If your Benz costs $143,000… just jump right to the Helios (even though you are probably too busy to actually fish).

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