Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Jaakko's Cult Fiber 7/8 Weight Review

Even though I have the opportunity to cast quite a bit of the various fiberglass fly rod offerings there are always a few that I just haven't had a chance to get my hands on yet.  A few weeks ago Jaakko Karjalainen sent a couple emails with a short review and images of his Vision In Fly Fishing Cult Fiber 7/8 weight which I thought would be interesting to share with readers as short heavy line weight fly rods come in handy for many big fish species in and out of watercraft.


Jaakko wrote...  "Please know that I don't have prior experience in fiberglass rods, all comparisons are made to my "modern" Vision Nite nine foot six weight fly rod.

I found that the Cult Fiber has very relaxed action which needed some time to get accustomed to.  After finding the Cult Fibers natural rhythm, I found it extremely pleasant to cast.  If you try to force it, it doesn't work at all.  But if you just let it do it's magic, it can cast beautifully almost without any effort.  It has plenty of power.  I have used a seven weight floating double taper fly line (Vision Cult), a seven weight sink 7 line (Vision Compound) and a 8-9 sink 3 line (Vision Big Daddy) and they all feel like quite a good match for the rod.  I have used this rod for mainly northern pike fishing from a floating tube.  I think that the length of the rod is close to perfect for that specific task as I don't need to cast that far anyway and the shorter rod doesn't get in the way while in the tube.  I wouldn't use the rod to cast the biggest eagle sized pike flies but my 15-18 cm synthetic flies cast nicely.  The best part is the feeling of the rod when fighting with even the smallest pike.  Thanks to the full action of the rod, I can feel even the most delicate movements of the pike.

On top of the great feel of the rod, the rod also looks very nice.  It has a nice round butt, great reel seat and one of the sturdiest locking mechanisms I have seen.  I like the brown unsanded blanks too.  A good mix of classic and modern look.  Function complements the form.  I use the rod mainly with Scientific Anglers System 1 789 click pawl reel because I really like the combination of it with the feel of fiberglass.  I have also a Vision Koma Kassette reel to be used with the Cult Fiber, but somehow it just doesn't seem right.


All in all I think I'm hooked on fiberglass thanks to the Vision Cult Fiber rod. I'm planning to get the other extreme of this rod family in a form of Cult Fiber 5'9" three weight for the next summer.  Until then, it's off to another pike adventure."






More information can be found on the Vision In Fly Fishing website and those in the United States may want to visit the Vision Fly Fishing U.S.A. website as well.

6 comments:

BLUEANGLER said...

very cool! Cameron,
Great to see another new rod on the market! I have heard they make very good spey rods too!

Jaimirris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jaimirris said...

I see this post was years ago but it's maybe good for my question. Vision has now another glass rod, the Glassic. Do you have any comment related with its quality (I'm particulary interested in the 3/4 weight model)? I have found very short info about it.
- How is it compared with for example the Orvis superfine glass, redington butter stick and/or the fenwick fenglass.
- Is is softer/slower (or faster) than any of those?

Any comment will help.... Thanks!

Cameron Mortenson said...

Jaimirris... I believe I covered this in an email, eh?

OneBugIsFake said...

Any more of these rods circulating? Blanks even?

Cameron Mortenson said...

OBIF... Sorry for the delay. I don't think so. I believe this glass series was scrapped for a possible follow up series but not sure how many of those are in and around the U.S.