Looking for an 8 wt for saltwater fishing on the gulf coast. I’ve fished for trout before; now I’m looking for a rod that I can use to catch redfish on the gulf coast. I’ll also be using the rod for Great Lakes steelhead around once a year.
I picked up an made in England orvis battenkill disc reel 8/9 with orvis tropical saltwater WF8F line off Craigslist for $70. I’m looking to pair that with a sub $200 rod off amazon (I have amazon gift cards).
I’ve narrowed it down to:
Redington Vice 10’ 8wt
TFO Pro II 9’ 8wt
Echo Ion XL 9’ 8wt
Thanks for the help!
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by BayouMoose
I have the TFO Pro II in a 5wt. LOVE the rod. It casts very well (faster action than advertised, IMO). And a no fault warranty...
Edit: That being said, my redfish rod is an old Orvis Streamline that is 10’. That extra foot can pay dividends.
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by Admirable_Engineer
I have heard that the extra foot is a nice addition. The tfo seems to be a well reviewed rod at this price. Thanks!
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by BayouMoose
10 foot rods suck for saltwater. Too cumbersome and apply leverage just a bit too slowly.
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by FLORI_DUH
I just bought a TFO pro II in 9wt. Been dreaming of that rod since I got in to fly fishing.
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by SultryZamboni
Thanks! Any experience using it in saltwater?
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by BayouMoose
I've got the Fenwick Aetos in 9' 6wt, not 8wt, and kinda wished I would have bought it in 8wt instead of some of other 8wts. At this point, I've used them all except the Ross Flystik and St. Croix Mojo Bass, (not in that comparo), in brackish, salt estuaries and sounds, including the Aetos 6wt.
The key to using any of these rods in or around salt, & sand, (and this goes for any rod no matter the price), is to keep them out of the sand, and thoroughly rinse the rods, guides, reel seats and especially the lines and reels in freshwater after every single exposure. By rinse, I mean taking the reels off, stripping out the lines into a bucket of freshwater, popping the spools off, rinsing in fresh water, thoroughly and of course really rinsing off the guides and reel seats. After you do it a few times it just becomes habit and is more tiring to type out than to do.
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by Independent
I have the Vice 790 and 7100 have been pretty happy with both. I usually go Redington or Echo when I'm looking for a less expensive rod.
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by wyowill
You have the vice? That’s the only 10’ in my price range, and im leaning that direction.
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by BayouMoose
Keep in mind that a 10' 8wt is basically an unwieldy 9wt. 10' rods are kind of specialty gear, and often not the advantage people hope for. It's kinda like having a longslide .45ACP: the advantages may be more on paper than in the real world, and the disadvantages are numerous.
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by Independent
I use the 7100 fishing long leaders and heavy weight from a drift boat. It's a nice rod for roll casting and managing line from a boat, but I'd probably go with a 9' rod if you're primarily overhand casting. The vice is fast so it does best throwing streamers, wind, etc.
Edit to add more detail: in addition to the vices, I've owned the predator, echo 3, sage one, and Scott radiant and meridian in various 7 and 8 weights. The predator 7100 was way too stiff and dead feeling so I sold it. The echo 3 7100 was nice (and cast similar to the vice) but didn't have a saltwater-safe reelseat so I sold it. The echo 3 890 casts great if you want a cannon. I still own it. The sage one 7100 or 890 were both way too fast and too expensive for rods I didn't love, so I sold them. The Scott radiant 7100 is amazing. And the Scott meridian 890 broke last weekend on its maiden voyage (dogs, boats and fly rods don't always mix well).
For what you want to do, I'd get the vice 890.
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by wyowill
If I had to pick only those rods I like the Vice that being said thenTFO mangrove is a killer rod at 260
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by Flyfisher73
Unfortunately these rods are already stretching the budget thinly. I was looking at combo deals before I found the killer line and reel deal on Craigslist.
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by BayouMoose
Yea I hear ya...the vice is a great rod
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by Flyfisher73
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