Orvis Helios Fly Rod

It was almost three months ago that Tom Rosenbauer sent me a prototype rod simply called the "whisper" rod. Nothing fancy about the prototype. From its plain looks it could easily have been a mid priced rod for the budget conscious angler (the rods that will make it to the consumer are anything but plain!). I initially cast it with the expectation that I indeed held a mid priced rod in my hand. Immediately after the first cast I knew this rod was truly something special, a rod for the serious caster who appreciates the finest tool ever made to ply his craft.

The more I fished the rod, the more I liked it. I put it into as many of my clients hands that I could and found one simple common denominator; everyone who cast it not only liked it, but they cast better with it than with the rod they were currently using.

The extreme light weight and delicate feel of this rod is in stark contrast to the swift power this rod generates to buck the sometimes windy conditions that surround big water trout fishing. The rod I have is a mid flex 8'6" 5 weight that feels like something less in my hand, yet casts like something more. Fighting and playing fish with this rod is incredible. I've used this rod's sensitive tip to protect delicate 7X tippets against twenty inch class brown and rainbow trout while the rods backbone easily handled bringing big fish in fast water to the net. It's hard to believe that such a light rod can do so much.