Orvis Hydros

I fished a 906 Tip Flex Orvis Hydros on Saturday and was impressed with the rod. At $495, it's basically a scaled down Helios, which if you know me at all...you know that these are the best rods I've ever fished with. When I say its basically a helios, that's because it's the same blank as the Helios. The difference lies in the hardware, rod tube, and finish. The Hydros has standard chrome snake guides, a regular cordura covered rod tube and a cheaper reel seat.

The rod fished very well, but is slightly heavier than the Helios. I really like the recoil guides on the Helios, especially when ice on the guides is an issue. The recoil guides make it possible to just run your hands down the blank for easy ice removal. Not a huge deal, but really nice when you need it.

As far as the Hydros goes though, it's a helluva stick for the money. If $755 is too much, $495 gets you very similar performance for $250 less. I realize $495 ain't cheap...but compare this rod to Winstones Boron or the Sarge Zero Axis and this rod wins for less. The Hydros, much like the Helios, loads very easily resulting in an "intuitive" casting stroke. This isn't BS...I've seen dozens and dozens of anglers fish the Helios and they simply enable you to cast more accurately and efficiently!

I was fishing a heavy nymph rig in a big hole on the Madison and found the rod to handle the rig really well from 10-50 ft (I didn't fish any more line than that). It was a joy to mend with even with 30-40 feet of line out in heavy current. I fished it pretty hard fro a few hours and really enjoyed it, I would highly recommend these rods as a primary or second rod! I did catch a few fish too!