Fly Fishing

greg · Posted: Tue 11/18/08 7:13 pm Post subject: Orvis, Helios Fly Rod - Review

A few moths ago I obtained a Helios, 5 wt. 9 ft. 4 piece fly rod. Orvis makes these fly rods and markets them as their top of the line fly rod. I had borrowed one from a friend to go fishing for land locked salmon and acquired my own 6 months or so later, for the following reasons. first, I use a 5 wt. probably more than other weight rod and therefore want a rod I can cast all day or a week of days without dropping casts do to muscle fatigue and sore muscles. I now own 5 four piece rods as they are easy to transport and I no longer worry about the ferrules coming loose or getting small fractures as the quality of materials has greatly improved over the years, although I still check after continuous casting for hours. The Helios is 2 3/8 ounces in weight and the taper makes for long and short accurate casts. The rod can be cast in comfort all day and your last cast can be as good as your first. The reel seat has a fitted nut for the bottom of the reel foot and a locking nut that tightens your reel securely to the rod. The accuracy with which you cast increases noticeably. the new taper and feel of this rod is excellent and is noticeable to novice or old hand at the sport. Always try one before you buy one. Has anyone else used these fly rods? If so, what are your thoughts? I am considering getting a helios 9 weight for saltwater fly fishing applications?

joey · Location: Colorado

I have yet to cast a Helios....but I have heard very good things. The shop that I guide out of is an Orvis shop and many of the guys have Helios Rods and love them. Very light weight and can throw alot of line. Might be time for me to grab one off the shelf and give it a test drive.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

I got a chance this past summer to fish the new 11 wt helios fly rod for a weekend of bluefin tuna fishing. Unfortunately we struck out on the bluefin, but did manage to catch alot of bonito, big bluefish and stripers. "Lightness" seems to be the driving force of all fly rod development these days .. and it seems that regardless of the manufacturer when I pick up a 9 weight fly rod, it feels like a 6 weight. Kinda hard to get used too in certain respects. Maybe because I always have had and used such burly fly rods in saltwater. So, for me, I really liked the 11 weight helios because I still got that "burly" feel I am used to but with much less weight. I also really liked the extended top cork and one of the coolest and most practical features that interested me was that the butt section of the rod had 2 quick changable options. A short/traditional fighting butt option and a longer cork butt section option. So, the longer butt section is a nice option to use when chasing albies, bonito etc.. where a little more leverage and extra bottom hand room comes in handy. With the longer butt section it was a double handed rod and I could really put some nice side pressue on fish using both hands on the rod. Then for schoolie stripers or fish that didn't rip off tons of backing and require a practical need for extra leverage and a 2 handed advantage; I could easily put the shorter/traditional fighting butt section on the rod. I really thought this was one of the coolest features of the rod. Now that everything is so "light" these days and specifically the helios rod (i could be wrong but i think it is the lightest on the market?) the 11 weight helios was nice. In saltwater, I want to fight a fish the least amount of time as possible and a 9 weight rod and sometimes even a 10 weight rod just isn't enough and a 12 weight is a little too much ... an 11 weight rod is a nice choice, especially now that the weight issue associated with casting an 11 weight all day .. is a thing of the past. Not a cheap rod. But fly rods are a funny thing. Kinda like guitars. I know tons of "starving artists" with very expensive guitars. I also know tons of "starving artists" who pawned their guitars .. guess it just depends where you're at.