The Sweet Spot

You know, I'm not a professional fly fisher in any way...far from being a fishing guide. I'm certainly not an analyst in the fly fishing industry. And, I'm not a writer. I'm just a fly fisher who fishes for fun. And, I'm a guy who loves fly fishing gear and the history of past rod designers who were pioneers in the fly fishing industry. All of my rods were purchased by me. No sponsors for this "nobody" of a fly fisher. Rod companies don't even know I exist (I'm okay, my family loves me).

Fly fishing has taught me that some fly rods are more fun than others...and fishing different rods from day to day keeps fly fishing fun. When I'm looking for a fly rod, I like a rod that has a natural sweet spot for my New Mexico streams. I always try a new rod on a trout stream and never on the grass of the local community park. To test the rod's casting and performance characteristics, it's best to be on a stream to find the sweet spot for any given rod. If I discover the rod's sweet spot is when the line is over 40 feet out, I know it is not the rod for me. You see, I'm a small stream kind of a guy, and a sweet spot of that line length means a rod will not properly load for my mountain streams.

No secret that my favorite fly rod is a Winston. And, there is a reason I have more Winstons than any other brand of fly rods. They work perfectly in my small trout streams. They just fit so comfortably that a day of fishing with a Winston is total relaxation, and very enjoyable. I fish to savor the day in the mountains and don't want to have to work at casting or even think about the rod in my hand. To be in the moment with the beauty of the mountain, the last thing I want is my fly rod to be a distraction.

And that's the magic of fishing a Winston. It just disappears into your hand while working a trout stream. How ironic is that! A fly rod that beautiful, just disappearing from your thoughts while you roam the mountain and fish for pretty little trout...a dry fly just drops into the intended pocket of water. If, by magic.

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