I seem to be using ½ my fishing time going after wild brookies.
Don’t ask because I will not tell.
Kinda my favorite quick stop warm water fishing spot. On this day I caught one bass (pictures) and one Pike (film) on the spey fly fishing rod.
5The stream has mostly small fish.
I love fishing it with a 2wt.
There’s a little stream I fish.
So far all my 2wt fishing has been with a home built 2wt. From whichI learned 2 things:
- How cheap the components are
- I don’t enjoy rod building
We have an upcoming trip to Newfoundland and the place is teaming with brook trout streams. Unfortunately my 2wt is 2 piece and as a traveling fly rodder musician and photographer I need to get everything compact.
So I went about my search for a 2wt combo that won’t break the bank. My logic being that I put my last outfit together for $150 ($60 kit, Martin reel and some decent Cortland line).
Now once you get to the 2wt end of fly rodding your selection greatly decreases. As well ‘they’ know that if you are looking for a 6′ 2wt, the addiction is strong in you.
SO I started with my Guide deal at TFO, combed the internet, sought advice on forums and the rod alone was going to cost more than my whole present outfit. Combine that with wanting to get one each for myself and my wife…this was going to cost me $800!!
So, once again, I find myself scoping around eBay. On a lark I searched for 2wts. At first I was getting results that were similar to my previous searches but once I narrowed the parameters to 2wt combos under $200 I found gold.
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| Maximum Catch eBay Store Photo |
The store and manufacturer is Max Catch. I have a sling made by them and it is OK.
Anyways I pulled the trigger.
My logic?
- Everything is made in China and renamed for various high end brands
- At $72 USD per outfit, how bad would it have to be to be a complete bust?
- Even if only the rod was any good I would still be ahead of the game!
- I will be using it to fish small streams for small fish…it doesn’t have to be that good
So, rod, reel, line, tube, and sock x 2 delivered to my front door for $144 USD (free shipping too)
So I un-boxed it and I have to say cosmetically it was a mind blower. $72? Should have got 4.
Put it all together and did a little backyard casting. Everything looked and worked beautifully.
Took it fishing. Cast well into the wind played and landed fish well.
I loved it!!
To be fair one shouldn’t be stressing a 2wt with big fish and hero casts. I am not sure how good the reel or the line will be in the long run and I have no idea what upper weight rods would be like but they claim it’s IM 10 graphite.
Here are some pictures.
