I have owned and used the following rods: A Fenwick 6 weight fiber glass rod, a variety of St. Croix pro-graphite rods, a couple of Elkhorn rods, and couple St. Croix Legend Ultra rods, and two Powell "LGA? LGT?) rods from the original Powell blanks (Powell has new owners and new blanks) . None of these rods are ultra fast, in spite of advertising to the contrary, but the Legend Ultra is the fastest and also my favorite rod. Why? I primarily nymph fish (not by choice, but necessity, I still need to catch fish to enjoy fishing and most of the time this means nymphing). The extra stiffness seems to communicate more about where the fly is and what is happening to it than a softer tipped rod. The Powell, with its softer, fuller flex casts like a dream, but I feel "blind" when I nymph with it. (I might add that most of the time I use the "high stick" method of nymphing where feel is as important as sight).
Anyway, this brings me to an old subject: Are there rods you prefer for for different kinds of fishing? And if so, which do you consider the best?
