Scott Radian Fly Rod Review
"Wow! That is some ridiculous casting rod." Those were the first words out of our mouths when we first had this on the pond at the IFTD show in Vegas a year ago. I would like to preface that statement with another. "Wow! That rod is casts amazingly and now that I've fished it the feel is even better than the casting."
Yes, the rod is that good. I in general do not get overly excited about new rods. In fact it had been several years since I had even thought about buying a new rod. My standby Thomas and Thomas Horizon series salt rods and my Winston Boron Series Rods of different years for trout had kept me on all the fish I could handle---and are still quite enjoyable to fish---but this rod, this rod was something else. It was like someone out there had walked into Jim Bartschi factory over there in Montrose and given him some magic dust he could sprinkle onto every rod coming off the production line. Ok, has everyone understood where this review of the Scott Radian is going yet? I bought 3 immediatly after they came in. John Hendrickson scooped up one for his world class carp fishing and two more guys in the shop are lined up waiting on theirs. This rod is pretty much epic. Even realizing that being a prisoner of the moment is a bad thing I am going to go ahead and say that this is a new benchmark that will be remembered as the best rod of a generation. I'm not sure when a rod might surpass this or even match it but I won't be switching any time soon because this rod opens up a little piece of heaven for me and reminds me why fishing is so much fun.
So now everyone is going to want some specifics.
The Scott Radian slogan is “Fast meets Feel” pretty good job and hats of to marketing over there.
As always Scott put the best componants into the Radian, high quality boxwood reel seat, super duper titanium guides, top quality carbon fiber...yada, yada. They always are tops in the industry with materials and craft....nothing has changed with that. The fantastic Scott warrenty is of course included. So on to the good stuff!
One of the biggest problems with the S4 was having all the feel without losing that crisp fast action performance. Radian = Solved.
Super light to the point of being sort of unbelievable. Radian = Checked.
Highest quality cork grip with new thicker grip which has definitly increased the control and feel. Radian = You betcha.
X-core technology with new space age materials to increase recovery time dramatically. Radian = Check check.
New enhanced resin which has made this a beefy strong performance rod....I know this because I definitly got a little excited a wacked a 5 weight right into my truck the first day we had off to go fish. Radian = Surprise check.
The rod cast like a dream. While it isn't going to be the long distance caster of the year, it handles a double hull out to 75 ft with extreme accuracy no problem. Combine this with the fact mending, bottom feel, and hook setting feel is going to be the best expierence of you life, you have a rod that is just down right impressive. How they have balanced the feel and the speed I will never quite understand. I have a masters in architecture so I can understand a lot of the science but to get two things to happen that are suppose to resist each other is just plain confusing. My favorite thus far has been and 8' 6" 4 weight I have used to tackle some of the High Sierras classic fisheries....Scott, if you are listening I need a 10' 3 weight and I am not going to tell you why but PRETTY PLEASE!!!!
What's even better is when you buy rods here at the fly shop you get a ridiculous amount of free flies to get you out and using it.
To sum this up. If you are in the market for a rod this is the best choice out there and a great example of getting performance worth every penny. Check out the models and see if there is one for you! - aussie