| It was five months ago that Tom Rosenbauer | | | | protect delicate 7X tippets against twenty inch |
| from the Orvis Company sent me a prototype | | | | class brown and rainbow trout while the rods |
| rod he simply called the "whisper" rod. Nothing | | | | backbone easily handled bringing big fish in fast |
| fancy about the prototype. From its plain looks it | | | | water to the net. It's hard to believe that such a |
| could easily have been a mid priced rod for the | | | | light rod can do so much. |
| budget conscious angler (the rods that will make it | | | | Recently, I have had the opportunity to fish a |
| to the consumer are anything but plain!). I initially | | | | Helios 10 weight in the salt for stripers, bluefish |
| cast it with the expectation that I indeed held a | | | | and false albacore. The rod performed beautifully. |
| mid priced rod in my hand. Immediately after the | | | | It's light weight, lighter than many five weights, |
| first cast I knew this rod was truly something | | | | made casting all day long a very non-tiring pursuit. |
| special, a rod for the serious caster who | | | | Casting can best be described as distance made |
| appreciates the finest tool ever made to ply his | | | | easy. The windy conditions typically found on the |
| craft. | | | | ocean were less of a concern than usual as this |
| The more I fished the rod, the more I liked it. I | | | | rod generated tight loops and line speed to slice |
| put it into as many of my clients hands that I | | | | through the up to twenty knot winds we |
| could and found one simple common denominator; | | | | encountered. I have to admit that initially I had |
| everyone who cast it not only liked it, but they | | | | some reservations about the fish fighting ability of |
| cast better with it than with the rod they were | | | | such a light rod. That concern was put to rest |
| currently using. | | | | after the first fish was hooked; this rod is no light |
| The extreme light weight and delicate feel of this | | | | weight. It just doesn't weigh much. With the drag |
| rod is in stark contrast to the swift power this | | | | cranked down the rods backbone and muscle |
| rod generates to buck the sometimes windy | | | | were put to the test on big North Carolina false |
| conditions that surround big water trout fishing. | | | | albacore and New Jersey's chopper blues and |
| The rod I have is a mid flex 8'6" 5 weight that | | | | striped bass. |
| feels like something less in my hand, yet casts like | | | | This series of rods are not only the best Orvis |
| something more. Fighting and playing fish with this | | | | has ever made, they are the best that anybody |
| rod is incredible. I've used this rod's sensitive tip to | | | | has ever made. The new definition of a fly rod. |