[Austin W Hogan]

Was Art on one of the 600 channels? I'll look for a repeat.

My Orvis "99" 7 1/2 foot HDH works great with a floating line and my 8 1/2 foot Madison GBF lifts a streamer as it should. When it comes to roll casting a nymph to a spot 20 feet from my feet, my fibreglas "Orvis Full Flex" copies of the nymph rod do the job.

About 10 years ago I bought an Orvis Henry's Fork GEF carbon fibre, as it most closely matched the nymph rod. It was very good except for that 15 - 25 foot window for upstream nymph fishing. I had a gravel bar disappear under me last season and took a good spill. The rod finished out the day, but made cracking noises the next time out. I took it to Manchester in early February hoping to find a new butt section. My rod returned by UPS three weeks later with a new butt at no charge. Orvis is retroactively guaranteeing their high end carbon rods for 25 years.

I tried several new rods while there. They are all as fast as a 220 Swift. I think that the butt section from an old telescoping steel rod would match the action. The fibreglas rods were made using the same QC jigs as the bamboo they imitated. The carbon fibre rods
have an action alltheir own.


Best, Austin