Having decide I still had a gap in my amory I decided to speak to Steve Parkes at Atom Six. I was looking for a 4# rod with a fast recovery that bent nicely into the blank.

After a long chat with Steve he decided to send me a couple of rods to try out. To help him get a better idea of what I was actually looking for.

Now, its not only Steve's rods that are fast his service matches his carbon. The next day the rod tube arrives and I open it to find three rods, two 9ft 5# both Atom 6's new blanks; a Tachyon which as the name suggests is that more tip action of the two, and a Neutrino which has a more mid to tip action. Steve had also included a 7 ft 6in Tachyon for me to play with. I know I am looking for a 4# but Steve is still waiting for the 4# blanks.
My first impression was of the quality, these are very well finished rods, the guy obviously has great pride in his work. Which is always nice to see.
The rods are matte black/charcoal with just a little bling in the whippings. Which gives them a quiet understated look that reminded me of the phrase "The more you know the less you need to show". The quality of the cork is about as good as it gets these days and certainly far higher than some of the top end rods costing more than twice the price.

So of to the field to see how they cast. Now I am a fan of my casting tools, fast and stiff, and in the 9ft 5# Tachyon that exactly what you get. The rod was a pure joy to cast and quite easily put the backing knot out the rod rings with a couple of false casts. I messed around with it for an hour get a good feel for the rod. One of the things that impressed me most of all about it was its sheer stability, even when carrying a long line it still felt smooth and under control unlike other rods I have cast recently which have felt like they where buckling under the load when it came to carrying 65-75 ft of line. All in all a very sweet rod.

The next of the three rods I try was the 9ft 5# Neutrino. I don't really put much store in the old waggle test it tells you virtually nothing about a rod in my opinion but i did notice that the Neutrino has what I would describe as a very tight tip, by that I mean that once you stop waggling it it stops moving almost instantly rather than bounce around like a a kid on a space hopper.
It still had a nice fast recover on the rod and it was well capable of shooting of a whole line and throwing a nice tight loop with ease but it was just the bit more flexible than the Tachyon, making it that much more of a fishing rod to my mind. A cracking rod that would be a pure joy to fish with all day.
I liked it a lot, in fact I ordered one When the 4#s arrive.

Comparing the Tachyon and the Neutrino to each other the comparison that sprung to mind was that of comparing the TCR and a TCX to each other in terms of the feel of the rod when casting.
I don't mean that the Tachyon is like a TCR and a Nutrino is like a TCX, What I mean is that a Tachyon is a fast very tip action rod while the Nutrino is a very sweet mid to tip with fast recovery and gives a bit more feel when casting.

So that just leaves the 7ft 6in Tachyon, the best way to describe it is "WOW what a beast", for me it was just what I would want in a rod of its kind. It is short and powerful capable of throwing the tightest of loop with the least possible effort.

So in summary, I was very impressed with the Atom6 rods and with Steve's dedication to customer care. I would say if you are looking for a top end rod but don't want to shell out the £500+ Speak to Steve Parkes at Atom Six, not only will you get far more bang for you buck you will also have a rod that was made with you in mind on a British blank. Perfect!

Frank Williams
APGAI Fly fishing instructor
www.frankwilliamsflyfishing.co.uk