Woodard Pinnacle Series 4 Weight Fly Rod- The Maiden Voyage & Product Review

If you didn't see Monday's post and the unboxing of the Woodard Pinnacle Series 4 weight fly rod, you really should.  It's amazing work staring yours truly.  I jest, but if you want to have a reference point for what in the world I am talking about in THIS post, you might want to scroll down and check it out...or don't.  I'm not your boss and this is a free world homes.  Now, on to the point.

After getting the rod out of the box, packaging, and assembled, I was ready to do some grass casting.  I had fulling intended on setting up a camera to shoot some video of casting the rod but found it completely unnecessary.  For one, I don't want to show the world how bad of a caster I am.  (Sort of not kidding).  For two, it only took about 5 casts in my backyard to know that this rod was something special and ready to see some action on the water.  I hurried to put load my boat and get to the body of water closest to my house.  Upon my arrival, I was not disappointed.

I made some notes using my GoPro (which you might see in the video below) while I was fishing because I was really impressed by the rod and didn't want to stop casting/fishing to write things down.  The first thing I noticed about the rod is that it is EXTREMELY responsive.  I never really knew what that meant until I cast this rod.  I have heard the term used to refer sports cars and high end technology, but since I don't have much experience with either, I was lacking an understanding of what it meant.  I think I know now.  To me, it means something that does what it is supposed to do both accurately, powerfully, and efficiently.  This should be the motto of this rod in my opinion.

"The Woodard Rod Co Pinnacle Series 4 wt handles like a dream.  The casting is smooth and fluid, has an easy hook set, and has tons of play with small to large trout.  I generally do not care what my rods look like, but this one is just beautiful.  The blue color combined with the silver reel seat make for a gorgeous rod.  I have fished with nothing butmy Woodard 6 wt for the past year, but it looks like the 6 wt has serious competition for attention now!"-Robert Hopkins, Director of Marketing, Woodard Rod Co.

Accurate
To elaborate more on what I mean, let me give you some examples.  When you do everything you are supposed to fundamentally do when casting this rod (staying between the 10 and 2 positions, accelerate to a dead stop, pause in your backcast, etc.), then the rod is going to be accurate.  Some would say that all fly rods are supposed to do this and I would agree but at the same time, they don't.  Some are a little temperamental and take a while to get the feel for all of their nuances.  This rod you can pick up, sting up, and hit the water because not only does it perform the way a fly rod SHOULD, it is also forgiving.  I made a few mistakes in my casting (big surprise) and to my shock, the rod compensated for my shortfalls beautifully.  If my rod angle was off, or if I applied too much force, or there was a wind gust, my casting accuracy didn't suffer as much as it would have with my other, lower quality rods.

Powerful
Admittedly, this is the first four weight I have ever owned.  I have a couple 8's, have had quite a few 6's, and about a year ago got into 5's.  I had so much fun feeling evenly matched with trout on a 5 weight that I decided to give them a little more of an advantage by picking up a four weight.  I was a little apprehensive at first however because I didn't think my casting style would mesh very well with such a light weight rod.  Since I was raised on six weights, I am used to being able to muscle up a little bit when necessary.  My concern was that I would constantly feel the need to overpower a four weight and would get frustrated with the feel and my casting would suffer as a result.  I could not have been more wrong.

This four weight allows you to muscle up a cast when needed and won't penalize you as a result.  You don't NEED to use much force, but it's okay if you do!  Speaking of muscle, it doesn't take much to haul line with this bad boy.  While I didn't max out its (or should I say "my") casting abilities on the first outing, just a little tug on the line on a forward cast was enough to get a nice haul and shoot some line.  Speaking of shooting line, it seems like the line wants to just shoot out of the end of this rod and I don't know about you, but boy do I like that!  In fact, that is one of the highest compliments I could pay a rod.

Efficient- the ratio of the useful work performed by a machine or in a process to the total energy expended or heat taken in.

One of my favorite rods that I have is an eight weight.  I throw big streamers for big bass and wipers/hybrid stripers and you have to muscle up on that set up.  That rig wears me out if I try to throw it all day so usually I just fish it in the morning and/or evening.  This rod is the exact opposite in terms of efficiency.

This rod is like playing around on a trampoline.  What I mean is that it seems like you are getting A LOT more force out of casting than you are putting into your casting.  You can almost feel the rod jumping forward as you deliver a cast and doubling the energy much like if you were trying to jump as high as you could on a trampoline.  It feels like a loaded spring that is begging to send line flying but not in a mechanical way.  It is very smooth and maybe most importantly, won't wear you out over the course of a day.

Playing Fish!
As you can probably tell, I have fallen in love with how this fly rod casts.  However, prior to taking it out on the water, I wasn't ready to give it a full endorsement.  To me (and this is a personal thing), how a rod feels when it plays a fish is just as important (if not more important) than how it casts.  My dad taught me growing up that most of the fun in fishing comes from the experience of feeling the fish on the end of your line and the corresponding fight.  The entire reason that I wanted a four weight in the first place was to feel more connected to the fish that I catch.  I want to feel twists, changes in direction, head shakes, and every little detail.  My only experience with a four weight was with a Redington Classic Trout and I LOVED the feel of stocker trout on that rod.  The rod flexed all the way into the handle on stockers and I actually felt under matched on larger fish.  I really liked that feeling!  Every fish felt big and I felt more connected to each fish I caught.  My hope with this rod was that I would feel the same thing.  Little did I know what I was about to get into.

I put my small boat on a local lake and decided to try to get into some big bluegill, redear, and bass to see how the rod played fish.  I was throwing a small jig under a float and slowly retrieving it which go the bluegill fired up.  Unfortunately, I didn't hook anything that I would consider to be comparable to a stocker rainbow.  I guess I will have to write another review after my next trip to Bennett, Roaring River, or Taneycomo that addresses how trout feel on this rod.  With that being said, I did hook into something that DID put a bend in my rod and let me know how a big fish would feel...it just didn't FIGHT like a trout.  It felt great though when that rod was goosenecked!