Hi All, On Friday 14 May I met Stevie Parkes of Zenith Fly Rods at Ellerdine Lakes in Shropshire. I had asked him to take an FT, a Harrison Lorhic and a CTS Affinity X. I had a quick flick of the CTS and the Harrison first on Steve's advice. I think he wanted me to see the difference in them, but finish with the FT 9' 6/7. I've tried the FT before, all be it briefly, on a six, then seven weight.

The CTS Affinity X in a 5wt was very light and extremely well put together. as all Steve's rods seem to be. It had a very crisp tip action and generated plenty of line speed. I only cast it about 5 times as I wanted to get onto the other two.

Next was the Harrison Lorhic 7wt. This rod is more middle to tip action and was very nice to cast. Again I only cast it about half a dozen times, but got a pretty good idea of the rod, from that. Very stable and again it generates line speed with ease. I'm not really a Harrison man, but I can see why people like them.

Next was the FT, which is the main reason I asked Steve to meet me there. Again beautifully put together and looked identical to the rod on his website. I asked if it was the same rod, but he told me that the rod on the site, went to a customer in Holland. It had the channel lock Pacific Bay reel seat, which held the reel rock solid. A top quality cork handle, which suited my hands very well. The single leg stand off line guides, which Steve told me, keep the action of the blank truer and faster when compared to standard snakes. I've always had rods with double leg snake guides but I now understand the difference after Steve explained it. Last part of the build to describe was the Blue thread work and varnish coating....this was flawless and looked stunning against the matt grey finish of the FT blank. All in all a looker. I don't know if some people won't like the matt finish, but I do.

I put my own reel and Snowbee 7wt floater on the rod and off I went. Steve just sat there on a bench with a knowing smile on his face. All I can say is WOW!! I stripped off the reel what I thought was plenty of line for the medium powered cast I was planning to make. I pushed forward on the rod and finished with my usual tap and the line zipped through the rings and I got a lovely smack as the slack was taken up. I looked round to Steve, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.....he had 'told you so' written all over his face.

My overall opinion of the rod, is like I said before "WOW". It totally blew me away. I normally fish Scott rods but now I'm converted. I can't stress enough that you should give one of Steve's FT's a try. Stevie has kindly left a demo rod at Ellerdine Lakes too, for others to try. If you like fast rods that aren't stiff or collapse under extreme casting, then you will be hard pressed to beat an FT, with anything costing under £500.

So have I taken the plunge. I've decided on the 6/7, standard build, instead of the 5/6 that Steve tells me, is just as sweet. Now I;m just trying to decide what thread colour to go for. As soon as I've made up my mind, Steve will put my rod order in the cue and I hope to have the rod in a week or two. What more can I say?

See Steve Parkes work on his site at zenithflyrods.co.uk you won't be dissappointed.

Regards

Smudger564