?10 rod tested - 8 ft 5/6 3 piece

[Malcolm]

A friend gave me one of these ?10 Montana Fossilfly (made of vitro - supposedly carrot fibre) rods to get the comments of the Glasgow casting club members. 
General; even by my standards this is an easy actioned rod and a little bit heavier than most modern carbon rods. Startling red colour.

Furniture and fittings: I've seen a lot worse on much more expensive rods. The reel seat looks to be worth more than ?10 on it's own. The cork handle is not too bad, again I've seen much worse. The butt ring wasn't great.

Casting: Overhead. Ok but not great but puts out very smooth curve casts.

Roll casting. Absolutely superb. The acid test is when you dont have room to form a proper D loop and have to perform the cast with a lot of line in front of you. It passed with flying colours.

In summary - I'd happily use this rod on any river. Far too soft for many people but I really like the very slow action.

[sandyborthwick]

Interesting Malcolm,

I have bought and tried the 10Ft 7wt Montana Fossilfly again of the same construction and colour. I liked the idea of a cheap rod for Sea Shore Seatrout fishing. The technique I use requires a floppy rod  :lol: so to speak and I wanted something cheap that would take the conditions.

Must say it seems reasonable for its purpose be it a bit on the heavy side. The weight was not too much of an issue as it was more the action I was interested in and usually catching a few tidal hours meant time limited use.

Conclusion on this one was that it was fit for purpose but not a rod for all day at the loch. A robust bit of kit that will handle the bigger flies well and puts out a good line on the beach. All Fossilfly rods seem to have an old style slower softer action which I still quite like it seems to keep those acrobatic fly throwing displays down a bit.

Sandy B.O.