John Keane
Well-known member
Thought I’d give this thread a little flush through to freshen it up a little.
My fly fishing these days is split three ways between salmon, river trout & grayling and a small club lake for rainbows. I use a 9ft Greys GR70 #5 for the small lake but it’s a bit short and overgunned for the river.
Saw an interesting rod from Wychwood, called Drift XL that starts off at 9ft 6in with a “dry fly action” but twisting and pulling the butt section of the blank extends the rod by 8” to 10’2” with a more forgiving “nymph action” bit like the twistlok on walking poles.
This definitely piqued my interest and I found out that it was £199 RRP with most places doing it for £139-149. Wasn’t convinced at that price but found it on Uttings for £79. No harm done in having a punt at that price so I ordered it and it was delivered by DHL in less than 24hrs.
I bought the #5 version to save having to buy new lines as well and took it out on Friday to the club lake. Absolutely knocked out by the casting performance and was consistently getting 25yds+ casts with a long-bellied Snowbee XL WF5, no mean feat on a dead calm day.
Not tried it at 10’2” yet but it should be fine since wet or dry fly fishing you rarely put out much more than 10yds and Czech Nymphing you have no virtually fly line outside the rod tip.
Clever idea and an improvement over the Greys Streamtec where there is a foot long extension hidden in the butt and the butt cap is unscrewed to access it.
My fly fishing these days is split three ways between salmon, river trout & grayling and a small club lake for rainbows. I use a 9ft Greys GR70 #5 for the small lake but it’s a bit short and overgunned for the river.
Saw an interesting rod from Wychwood, called Drift XL that starts off at 9ft 6in with a “dry fly action” but twisting and pulling the butt section of the blank extends the rod by 8” to 10’2” with a more forgiving “nymph action” bit like the twistlok on walking poles.
This definitely piqued my interest and I found out that it was £199 RRP with most places doing it for £139-149. Wasn’t convinced at that price but found it on Uttings for £79. No harm done in having a punt at that price so I ordered it and it was delivered by DHL in less than 24hrs.
I bought the #5 version to save having to buy new lines as well and took it out on Friday to the club lake. Absolutely knocked out by the casting performance and was consistently getting 25yds+ casts with a long-bellied Snowbee XL WF5, no mean feat on a dead calm day.
Not tried it at 10’2” yet but it should be fine since wet or dry fly fishing you rarely put out much more than 10yds and Czech Nymphing you have no virtually fly line outside the rod tip.
Clever idea and an improvement over the Greys Streamtec where there is a foot long extension hidden in the butt and the butt cap is unscrewed to access it.
