They won’t throw an articulated fly quite like an 8-weight, but surprisingly there’s a lot you can do with the best 6-weigths. $35 handling fee. The NRX six weight is another great G. Loomis rod. It was easy for me to get a nice gentle presentation every time without too much worry of being overly splashy. George’s casting notes:   The perfect line –  S.A. MPX in WF-6-F, Performance at 30 feet:  20 points out of 20. This line is also available in an Amber/Willow version (MPX Stealth) for anglers that prefer a less visible line. In order to have a more manageable Shootout, we wanted to limit our 6-weight Shootout to what we felt were the ten best expensive rods. The accuracy was simply amazing but I just didn’t have the feel I got from some of the other top rods. Fishing streamers is a joy as these rods have the power to drive a long 10-15 foot sinking head with good sized streamers, right up to size 4 with ease. Douglas is a relatively new company, just a few years old now and not yet well known, but they are giving us some wonderful rods. On the above chart, it is interesting to see how much stiffer the Scott Meridian is than the others, and also how much softer the Winston Air is compared to the rest. Fenwick uses one SiC stripping guide with the rest black hard chrome snake guides along with a hook keeper. A slightly softer tip would really put this rod over the top. The tips on the faster action rods bend more, and if you look at the top rods, you will see that they tend to be faster action rods. NRX is nice. Are you comfortable showing up with a $200 rod when all your buddies have those hotshot $750-$1000 rods? The best 6-weight rods need to have excellent loop control and the ability to throw very tight loops to get the best accuracy and presentation, and to cut through a good breeze. If from neglect or any other cause you must use the Expeditor service, which charges your credit card $100 but you get a brand new rod in 3-4 days. #11. And it just barely beat out the Fenwick Aetos, that is $260 less! With 100 points available in the performance categories, we assigned a maximum of 60 points in the price category. At 50 feet you want a rod that will be light and smooth enough to do a lot of false casting, which you will do fishing dry flies like hoppers all day long. We have played around with this over several shootouts and now we have gone back to my tried and true approach, using our digital postal scale. 5. As we noted when we wrote about the Asquith back in July, Shimano has a lot of fancy words — ones like "InfinityTape" and "Musclecarbon" — that it uses to describe exactly what Spiral-X is and what it does, … #5. It loads great and has a really smooth transmission of power because of a great blend of soft tip to powerful butt sections. I did not feel that the NRX was all that much better. The soft tip and light swing weight produce good feel and accuracy at short range, but not quite as good as the Radian or Air. TFO   BVK   9 foot 6-weight      $259.95. The reel seat is an elegant slotted uplocking seat with a bluish burl wood that complements the color of the rod. They should feel totally solid at this distance and the line should track perfectly. Rods are replaced. JG, (Josh Green) is our on-line sales and mail orders manager. Still good but out long the Sky is much better, as are both Loomis rods. First you must zero out the scale. In the past we’ve seen manufacturers cut overall weight by reducing the weight of the butt section only. Rods are repaired, not replaced. If you haven’t tried a G. Loomis rod because of this stigma, you should forget about it and give one a try. #2. The Sky has a western style grip with very high quality cork and contrasting rings top and bottom. Once they get this rod in their hands and see how well this rod performs, the high price isn’t that big of a deterrent. 4. This is one rod that you can order with either a standard uplocking seat that has a wood insert, or one with full anodized seat and a short extension butt that would be better for salt water use. And the best way to do this is to cast some of these rods yourself and do your own head to head comparison. This year we again used the Ross Evolution LT #2 reels for our 6-weight shootout. In performance this rod does everything well, from shorter distances to long. We appreciate your business! Another thing to keep in mind is that this Asquith is one of the strongest and toughest rods ever built–so if you are reasonably careful there isn’t much danger of it breaking. The Hardy Zephrus rods that have replaced the Zenith are superb. This Loop Cross SX felt much like the Sky, even though the design is definitely Loop’s own. Often it took a month and a half to get a rod back from repair. And the Loomis Asquith was a lot better and a lot more solid at long range. examines it. Your credit card will be charged $100 but G. Loomis also send you a FedEx call tag so it won’t cost you a thing to return your broken rod. The best 6-weight rods should be able to cast 70 feet with ease, using a double haul. The Pro4x did not feel heavy in my hand. Loop – Lifetime warranty to original owner. Ive been trying to avoid reviving beaten topics but I cant seem to make a decision between the 852s NRX & GLX. The Radian has performed very well in our 5-weight Shootouts, and this 6-weight is no exception. George’s casting notes:    The perfect line-  S.A. MPX in WF-6-F, Performance at 30 feet:  19 points out of 20. But we cast and looked at 9 more. Performance at 50 feet:  19 points out of 20, I cannot form the effortless tight loops like I can with the Sky, or Cross SX. NRX Jig & Worm spinning rods are designed specifically for fishing jigs and soft plastics. With larger wind-resistant hoppers, our guides are normally using a 9-foot 3X leader. The Sage X is slightly slower than the rest, with a stiffer tip. We found that the good ones could carry 55-60 feet of line in the air while double hauling, so hitting the 70-foot mark was pretty easy. One last gripe is the lack of a hard case like all the other manufacturers provide. A lot of anglers associate G. Loomis with spin fishing, since they also excel at making the industry’s top spin gear. The new rod sock they have designed is one of the best I’ve seen and will allow a wet rod to dry out quickly, even if you have to put it away wet. The craftsmanship and finish are excellent. Buttery smooth and able to form very nice loops without much effort on my part. Beautiful tight loops and wonderful feel and accuracy. This is another rod that gave us a very strong performance and one that anyone will find a pleasure to fish. A good six-weight rod is a perfect choice for many occasions, and is also the choice of many anglers going to places like New Zealand and Patagonia. But here it got shot down handily by the DXF that costs $100 less. I like the light swing weight and it tracked very well, but the Sky and Cross SX were noticeably better. #3. The cork handle is a western style grip, but the quality of the cork is not so hot, with a lot of filler. When I pick up this rod I first notice the swing weight, which is one of the heaviest in our Shootout. If you click on this chart, the link will take you to the page with the other deflection charts. One thing that all of us here in the shop have noticed is how good the craftsmanship has become in the past several years. For this 6-weight Shootout we used our Clear Butt 9 foot 4X leaders. Although this rod has not changed much over the last few years, it is still one of the best performing rods at all distances in the Shootout. Now you can easily see which rods have faster actions than others (the tip bends more) or ones that have more moderate, slower actions (the tip bends less steeply). The NRX seems equal in performance to the Asquith and Radian at mid-range, and better than the Sage X or Zephrus. The DXF pulled this off again! Small tuna, big Cobia, even striped and white marlin are no match for the strength and power of NRX. NRX Fly Rods are made in USA with the nano-resin technology and are 25% lighter in weight and 20% stronger per model than any previous series of fly rods that G. Loomis has made before. Douglas DXF  9 foot 6-weight    $349.95. The Western grip on the Sky gave me better feel, especially when casting at shorter distances. This … It was accurate as any rod in the test aside from the Asquith. We hope to tackle some of these in the future, but we felt that a 6-weight shootout had more relevance as a great all around fly-fishing tool. This makes them possibly the lightest and strongest rod per model made in the world. Rods are repaired, not replaced. Personally I really like this dark green with matching green wraps. A good strong butt and mid-section will help you mend line, especially if you are fishing at longer distances like 35-50 feet, using an indicator. The craftsmanship is typical Winston perfection. The wraps are brownish olive. $640.00. This is a gorgeous rod. Overall, a pretty nice package from G. Loomis but not the best componentry we've ever seen on a trout rod. So it’s a trade off. Performance at 75 feet: 18 points out of 20. Then at long range it seemed to run out of gas compared to the best rods. Sage X     9 foot 6-weight    $895.00. Loomis uses a single SiC guide and then all the rest are hard chrome single foot guides, that are heavier and not nearly as nice as the nickel/titanium version used on the NRX. But you’ll likely find these in the big box stores as well. I helped design rods in the Sage LL series, The Loomis StreamDance GLX series, and doing the final casting and prototype work with Tom Morgan on his graphite and glass rods. A single uplocking ring is used. Here is one of our favorite 6-weights, the NRX. As you’ll read again this year, there are some outstanding rods that score higher than rods that are two to three times as expensive. #1. Our first review of an NRX rod... the finesse drop shot rod in the series . The rest of the guides are single foot, flexible nickel titanium guides that are very light. In my hand this rod has a very nice fast action – not quite as fast and slightly heavier than the Sky, but it is only half the price! But this also requires an angler to double-haul well and form good, long, tight back cast loops. The grip is unusual in that it has the swell slightly above the middle of the cork grip. The locking rings have a thin nylon ring on top of them that allows a more secure lock-up than most standard rings. Does the rod load well enough in close, to give you the feel and accuracy you need with a short length of line and leader out of the guides? The grip is a western style that Winston refers to as their cigar grip. Fun to Fish/Got to Have – 10 points available. The Evolution LT #2 weighs 4.1 oz. Rods are repaired, not replaced. The handle is a western style grip, just the right size, and the cork that they use is as good or better than you will see on any rod. Another rod that just did not perform well at long range. The Sage X was a disappointment for me. There is also a certain lust factor going for the expensive rods. Here is a short recap of each manufacturer’s policy and what we have experienced for repair time required. Superb power and smoothness. These are well designed fly rods that have tempered the Loomis reputation as a one trick pony, but from one generation of rods to the next, almost all G.Loomis … R.L. Performance at 70 feet – 20 points available. And it was always good to have what we felt was the top rod in the Shootout, like the Sky, on hand to make immediate heads up comparisons. TFO does also make a triangular travel case that will take up to 5 rods in their cloth bags for $49.95, Performance at 30 feet:  17 points out of 20. With the newest 6-weight rods becoming lighter and lighter, a nice light reel like the Evolution LT is a perfect choice. I think if they made the six-weight in the LP version it would be the winner of this shootout. Casting accuracy is the number one factor I use in rating these rods, and at short distances accuracy is critical. We are giving this rod the award for our best inexpensive rod, just as we did in our latest 2016 5-weight Shootout. The miniature fighting butt is a nice touch as well, which doesn’t get in your way while casting but comes in handy on big fish days or big number days. This is a terrific rod and nearly perfect 20 at this distance. Needless to say, we couldn’t wait to test them out head-to-head. Solid performance however timing proved to be an important factor. One chart gives you all ten of the expensive rods, and another chart shows the six mid-priced and inexpensive rods. Over the past fifty years, it has become very apparent to me that the best rod designers are people that are also great anglers. It's everything you want in a saltwater fly rod and more! At short distance it was the worst rod in the Shootout, and at mid to long range it fared only slightly better. Extremely good feel in my hand – nice light swing weight and great accuracy. In case you haven’t noticed, G. Loomis doesn’t mess around. It is a full wells, but with not much of a swell at all in the middle of the grip, and slightly smaller in diameter than most. So if you are in the market for a new rod or outfit please consider buying one from us. Normal time 2-4 weeks. And to help with playing fish, you’ll find that many of these rods we tested have a short fighting butt. Winston does offer a “lender” program while your rod is being repaired but this is still somewhat of a hassle. A very impressive performance. Winston has a new entry too, called the Air, which is a new design and especially light and superb at closer distances. Be sure to e-mail us your comments and any questions you have about the exact tackle you need for the fishing you are doing or tackle needs for a trip you are planning. The 6-weight was not as impressive though, and finishes right in the middle of the pack. We’re looking for rods that can do it all, at any distance, with a 6-weight line. For nymph fishing, 6-weights work better for chucking a two-nymph combo, like a #8 weighted rubber legs, with a smaller tungsten bead head dropper. While they can hand the outfit down to a friend or family member, the real economy is buying the right rod initially. The blanks for this rod are made by Shimano in Japan, with a new technique of combining spiral wraps of graphite, one wrap running one way and another in the opposite direction, with a flat sheet of graphite in between. A large extension butt caps it all off. The swing weight was heavier than the DXF, but better than the Pro 4x, BVK and the Echo Base. Here the Sky and Asquith rule. Nearly all are charging a “handling” fee of $35-$100 to repair or replace your rod. We felt that this category was needed to reward the best 6-weight rods for their superior performance and that special feel that gives you total confidence in putting your fly just where you want it at any distance. Performance at 75 feet:   19.5 points out of 20. Only in close did it not perform quite as well as the best rods. The beauty of this plan is that you get a rod back in your hands very quickly, and for most people this is a whole lot better than waiting 4-6 weeks in the middle of your fishing season! George’s casting notes:    The perfect line-  S.A. MPX in WF-6-F, Performance at 30 feet:  19.5 points out of 20. You need everything on your side. So that hurts rods that are only good in close or at short to medium distances like the Winston Air. $189.95. Our testing procedures –keeping it apples to apples. The new Douglas Sky was a pleasant surprise to all of us! With your support, we can continue to give you more shootouts and head to head comparisons on tackle and fishing equipment in the future. The guide set up is the best I’ve ever seen from Loomis. I think the tip is too stiff, although the X does seem to have a faster action than the One. This rod tracks with the best. But then it is also going to cost you $15 or more to ship the rod in for repair or have your dealer do it. Once in a while in our Shootouts we’ll find a rod that feels and performs so much better than anything else, and this is why we gave the Sky a perfect score in the Perfect 6 category. Still good, but the best rods are much better. For once now all the NRX rods in sizes 6-weight on down are green and the 7-weight on up come in charcoal grey with blue wraps. George’s casting notes:    The perfect line –  S.A. MPX in WF-6-F. It feels great to me. Smooth, tight loops and this rod tracks beautifully. The handle is a western style grip but like the Aetos, the quality of cork is not so hot. The Douglas DXF, at $349.95 was our favorite mid-priced rod as it was in our last 5-weight shootout. Beat out the Fenwick Aetos is back again as our top pick for the Asquith also was and! Sky, the $ 100 less feet with ease, using a 9-foot 3X leader s one of butt. 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