hi, i want to meet a 9' 4wt trout rod thats soft action, easy/forgiving to cast, no more than £200, for fun days out on northern rivers and possible long term relationship.
any ideas what rod to go and try?

Good Sage, Or Hardy?

When you say soft gimme, how soft, noodle soft, or just a nice easy action?
S.

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"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

You're probably in luck in that seemingly by default, a lot of the softer action rods on the market are at the cheaper end of the price range - summat to do with carbon modulus or fibre positioning or some other such rubbish perhaps?

Greys make nice rods with crisp but not fast actions. I picked up a now discontinued X flite #4 for 90 quid last year and it's as good a rod as any Sage I've owned. I wouldn't describe it as slow, but it allowed me to horse out some big wild trout in fast flowing hazard strewn water on a tippet of 0.10mm diameter....and it delivers a nice slack line cast (nicer than this ham fisted fisher should be able to deliver anyways).

I'd imagine that any of their GRXI to Streamflex range rods would be worth a waggle down the local tackle emporium.....

M

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The sun pushed dark spokes of melt and sparkle
Across the fields of hoar. And the river steamed -
Flint-olive.


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Orvis do a range of full action (soft) rods called Superfine Touch and do #4 weight rods in a range of lengths from 7 to 9 ft. They typically retail at £399, but Orvis currently have a sale on and you may be able to fin on closer to your budget.

As far as I can see it's only the Hydros, Western 3 and Clearwater rods that are on sale. Pity.

Hi

On my wee River i fish wets/spiders/czech nymph a Vision Cult 9' 3wt cracking rod full flex great sport with 6" river Browns, yet can handle 4.5 lb stockie rainbow no problem.

I use a Cult Fiber 5' 9" 3/4wt for dry fly ..............

Re price PM Ian AKA Grommit best price in toon

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Englander

"Barbless since 2008"

Vision GT Four catapult 9' 6#
Vision GT Four SW 9' 9#
Vision 3 Zone 9' 5#
Vision Cult 9' 3#
Shakespeare Trion 9' 5/6#
Cortland Endurance 9' 6#
Shakespeare Expedition float tube
Vosseler DC3 reel
Okuma Helios 8/9 reel
Greys G series 3/4 reel
Snowbee Geo 3/4 reel

I often use a 7' 6" #3 Greys GS2 for small river fishing, it has a lovely soft action. I think they do a 9' #5 or an 8' #4 too.
Ive also just bought a Loop yellow line off here for use on larger rivers. Its a 9' #5 but has a nice soft action too. Took me ages to find one, they dont seem too common.
Also have an original model Greys streamflex in a 9' #4. Its not as soft as the above but still much softer than most rods.
Or you could try and find a fibreglass rod, most seem to be fairly soft actioned, Ive got a 5' #2 Hardy Aln and it has a very soft action. They do an 8' #5 too.

I dont really enjoy using fast actioned rods.

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“Where the footprints end the fishing begins”

Have a look in the used tackle section at John Norris - there's an 8' 2 wt Guideline Fario. Absolutely *superb* rod, and a perfect soft action with a bit of backbone. It's on for 220.

SNOWBEE Diamond i use a 10' 4# all the time overlined with a Wulff TT 5# , sublime

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!