Leave it to everybody at Rajeff sports to turn the fly rod world on its head once again. If you are in the market for a small stream rod, forget all the garbage out there and pick up the Echo Carbon 7′3 2wt. I put it up against rods four times its price and they have all fallen to the wayside. Somebody finally created a modern 2 weight that you can actually fish and is not just a ‘toy’.
Working in a fly shop gives you insight into the odd world of fly fishing habits. One of the mantras of many shops around the country is that small rods just do not sell. There are all kinds of theories out there as to why this may be: ”They are toys useless for any real fishing” ”used for fishing midges”, “They are too light if you hook a bigger fish” etc. It all boils down to the fact that it seems rods manufacturers have overlooked the 2 weight category for years. They have been producing taper and feel from ‘classic’ rods, which is fine if you want to be limited, but in the fly fishing world I live in here in the spring creeks of the Driftless Area I find that you are forced to change tactics 3-4 times through the day. That is where the Carbon 2wt comes in.
This is a rod we honestly, overlooked until recently as we were victims of the 2wt stigma as well. But, once we picked it up and test casted it in back, to having the cork turn that beautiful dark brown with black specks from fishing it so often, it has impressed at every turn.
Cast delicately to fish sipping trico spinners. Done with subtlty and accuracy. Punch small bead head leeches into brush, no problem. Fish big foam hoppers into a headwind, with a bit of a double haul can do.
Now this is not a rod to fish wide open rivers and cast huge amounts of split shot or expect to bomb out 50 foot casts and beyond. This is a creek crawler’s scalpel. Able to dissect small water easily and adapt to and cover changing conditions without fuss.
The Echo Carbon 7′3 2wt is an absolute gem, especially in the overlooked world of 2 weights. The term workhorse and 2 weight do not usually go hand in hand, but in this case it gets the dirty baseball cap seal of approval. Head to your nearest dealer and grab one to test out. You will not be disappointed!
