Echo Carbon XL Euro Nymph, first impressions, quick followup

[Greg Price]

i have two echo rods, a 4 wt and a 2 wt. the 2 wt gets more action than most of my more expensive rods because small stream fishing is my fav. Warranty is good wth them.

have not tried euro nymphing, dry fly only on small streams, but it looks fun and productive

 

[MGTom]

have not tried euro nymphing, dry fly only on small streams, but it looks fun and productive

I'll admit my euro nymphing technique is really a cross between ESN and traditional wet fly fishing, but it's really working.
Throughout an entire season on the river I just don't find that many occasions when a dry fly is the best choice, especially alone. My top fly is usually something to swim in the film. Although there were a couple days renegades tore it up, and a few stonefly days, so I'm sure next season I'll run it dry fly only at some point.

 

[Greg Price]

i hiked a mile up a wilderness steam that was new to me last summer. Fish were aggressive and dumb. Best part was i could see them rising up from the 3 to 4 foot depths to molest my dry fly. So cool to see. I hope to find more gems like that this coming summer. I had to sign up to get into the wilderness

 

[jaredoconnor]

Although this is rated a 3wt, echo recommends a 4wt if fishing a non euro line.

I think it's important to point out that Echo are most likely referring to true to weight lines, when they state this. Most lines these days are not true to weight, so you have to be careful. The rod definitely doesn't handle all 4wt lines well. For example, the 4wt Rio Single Hand Spey and 175gr OPST Commando Smooth are both far too heavy.

I think 150gr is the sweet spot and 160gr is the maximum. Also keep in mind that I'm referring to the total head weight, not just the first 30 feet. Depending on the head length, that range could be anything from a heavy 2wt to a light 4wt.

 

[Stonefish]

I noticed some reel companies are now introducing ESN specific reels.
Looks like Galvan just introduced one based on a email I received this morning from a fly shop.

I don’t fish rivers much anymore, so how critical is it to have a ESN reel on your ESN rod?
SF

 

[Clarkman]

I noticed some reel companies are now introducing ESN specific reels.
Looks like Galvan just introduced one based on a email I received this morning from a fly shop.

I don’t fish rivers much anymore, so how critical is it to have a ESN reel on your ESN rod?
SF

I think it's a must if you don't want to be labelled by the other euro-fishers as a poser.

 

[MGTom]

I noticed some reel companies are now introducing ESN specific reels.
Looks like Galvan just introduced one based on a email I received this morning from a fly shop.

I don’t fish rivers much anymore, so how critical is it to have a ESN reel on your ESN rod?
SF

I'm not an expert but I noticed that: the rod came with a 4/5 echo base, which placed the balance point at the sweet spot on the grip. Rod ~3.2oz reel about 5. I'm sure what you spool, what flies and how much line you prefer to fish out will affect that point some. I also used it with a little 3oz crown 2 and 4wt line. It felt a little tip heavy just to hold, but fished it was nice in hand. really nice.
To your question I think it's just preference on how you want it to feel.
When I was bike racing I was a sucker for TI bits and go fast stuff. It's really enjoyable to have good stuff to play with. What actually worked and when I started winning was when I learned how to train and race. I think whatever feels good to you and makes you a confident fisher is what's important, then learn to use it.
I've kind of gone the other way and didn't fish still waters much this year.
Thanks for info @jaredoconnor on line weights, I'll keep that in mind. I was running an old 444 DT. Even after all these years since it's been cared for it's not bad, and I'm pretty sure it would be close to true weight.

 

[jaredoconnor]

I noticed some reel companies are now introducing ESN specific reels.
Looks like Galvan just introduced one based on a email I received this morning from a fly shop.

I don’t fish rivers much anymore, so how critical is it to have a ESN reel on your ESN rod?
SF

You don't need a specialized reel, but it does help. I used a cast reel, with pretty horrendous tolerances, for most of this year. I use a mono rig, which is even more problematic on standard reels than a typical euro rig; more memory and more line pull through. I would recommend taking some backing off though; the more space you have, the less the line will pull through the frame.

I use a Danielsson F3W now. It's cheap and has a full frame, but the arbor isn't super large or narrow. It's a good, general purpose, reel that solves the line pull through problem and balances my rod well. I'm about to buy an Echo Shadow X and Shadow Click, now that I've been radicalized.

The Sage ESN reel is ok, but I think they're solving the balance problem in the wrong place; the weight should really be in the butt of the rod. If I was paying $900 for a rod and $500 for a reel, I would expect that to be addressed. Echo got it right on the Shadow rod and reel combo, for less than half the price.

All the other "euro specific" reels I've seen aren't really very innovative or good value. The Galvan reel is the same price as the Sage reel, but doesn't have the weight system, so I don't see why anyone would buy the Galvan reel instead.