I finally gave in. An opportunity came my way to get my first quality rod and reel combo ever. Prior to this, I’d been using the same $50 cheapo for over 5 years (see here). It worked fine and I caught plenty of fish, but the quality of the experience wasn’t what it could be. I learned that when I casted friends’ rods and was blown away at how effortless they made the whole process.
I got a sweet deal on a really nice Lamson Guru reel. It’s my first reel with a drag! And boy is it nice. I’m actually finding myself playing fish with the reel now, whereas with my old crappy reel I used to pull in the line by hand and get left with a mess. The drag is super smooth, nice and quiet, and easily adjustable. The thing looks amazing…..these reels truly are pieces of artwork. And it balances out the rod great.
Did I mention the rod? Yeah. It was a toss-up between Echo and Temple Fork. The guy I bought from dealt with Echo, TFO and St. Croix. He dropped St. Croix after a bad experience with a rod warranty. I did some research and talked to some other fishermen. It was close, but I ended up going with the Echo.
Echo rods are made by Rajeff Sports, which is a relatively new company. Tim Rajeff designed rods for G. Loomis prior to starting his own company. He now designs Echo rods and Airflo fly lines. The rods are really high quality at a relatively low price.
I went with the Echo Edge, 9 foot, 5 weight. It’s a really nice looking rod and casts amazing. Feels like a $700+ rod. We’ll just have to see how it and the Lamson hold up under some serious use. Echo rods come with an unconditional lifetime warranty, which is pretty standard for most decent rodmakers these days. After all of the great things I’d heard about this company, I think I made the right choice.
Oh, and I also upgraded to a nice Rio Avid Series WF5F line.
Expect to see lots of pictures with my new gear in the future!
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