a bird rod – riverwatch

I have been fish this “bird brand” rod – Riverwatch for several months now… just thought it might be good to do some review about this awesome double handed bamboo rod – Kispiox Valley – the Dean 12’ 8/9 from Bob Clay.
A very good friend L from Oregon sent along this rod to me in this passed early Spring. He want me to test this rod on the local striper river, how could I refuse such a wonderful treat! It arrived just on time to match up with my Saracione Mark 4. It’s a great balanced combo and this rod feel really solid on hand. The visual experience on this rod is simply unreal! Bob has the top notch craftsmanship and his art form spells the elegance, inside out through the whole rod! Amazing! When I open the rod case, the smell of the wood (or say.. Boo) just filled up the whole space! Wonderful! This is a 12 feet 8/9 rod, utilized the splice joint ferrule design. It take a while to get use to tape up those joints, but now I can tape it as fast and confident just like other ”plastic rods” I have. HA. It feels like one piece rod after the whole taping process. One piece rod! What a dream rod! If you know me well, you know I hate multiple piece rod. Even though, all the modern manufacturers claim that no difference between 2 piece versus 4 piece… I still hate to check the ferrules every once of a while… but for this rod, when done taping, you can fish whole day without checking ferrules… how awesome!
This rod is made from 5 sided design blank, feel really solid on hand. I mean, really SOLID, vivid and powerful. L told me it is suitable for scandi head 380-420 grain. It’s really hard to believe a whimpy bamboo rod can cast a good sharp loop on scandi head line… well… this is the rod! And this rod is not whimpy at all… it is a very responsible and have all the power come from the deep bend. I am not going to argue it is heavier than other graphite rod. It is. But this power of this rod is really make me speechless on the water. It casts 450-500 skagit head with heavy tip very very well… too well that I don’t even try to go up to 550… (which I believe it will also handle handsomely). If I can only fish one rod, this is the ultimate rod, period! The rod got soul! It never stop surprising me; every time I fish it, I have new discovery… the power seems like come from the Ah La Din Giant in “the magic lamp”… every time I asked, he gave me more… just that’s cool! To be continued…