The New Zenith One Piece Fresh Water Fly Rods

When you pull the ferrules out of the rod design and build it with Sintrix you have a whole new kind of fly rod. Four new one piece Zenith rods have just been released to the market. They are 8'10" long and range 4-6 weight. They are the lightest and most powerful rods we have ever built and will open the door to a new set of expectations you can look for in a fly rod. You are three pieces closer to the fish and you can feel it when you cast, present, protect and set the hook. Every part of using this rod is better and worth the effort to accomodate transport. Each rod comes with a full length hard case cordura tube.

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August 4-5, 2012
The Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum

Please contact Jim Murphy at jmurphy@hardygreys.com if you have any questions.

Fortuna Reel, first reel with 32#'s of drag and Florida Sharks

Fly Fishing Show Schedule

Hardy and Greys will be exhibiting at the following shows. All our new tackle, featuring the ONE PIECE Zenith rods, the new range of four piece Zenith rods and the Fortuna big game fly reel. John Shaner will be at each show to clean and discuss your Hardy heritage reels.

Marlborough, MA. January 20-22
Somerset, NJ. January 27-29
Raleigh, NC. February 11-12
Lancaster, PA. February 18-19
Pleasanton, CA. February 24-26
Pasadena, CA March 3-4

Visit www.flyfishingshow.com for directions to each show

Hardy North America joins the Fly Fishing Film Tour as the exclusive reel sponsor

Hardy will support over 80 of the tour events with gear exhibits and factory personnel on hand and giveaways.

www.flyfishingfilmtour.com to see the schedule for the tour

Hardy North America renews sponsorship of Joe Daniel’s and his TV show Wild on the Fly.

For the second year Hardy is a full participant in this ground breaking TV series on the Outdoor Channel.  All of the shows will feature Hardy tackle in real fish situations.  David Bishop, our expert Spey Rep from Eastern Canada is featured in the first two episodes in epic fishing conditions.  Another episode features Chief Hardy-Greys designer, Howard Croston, in a Euro Nymph clinic.  For a full schedule and clips visit www.wildonthefly.com

Hardy also sponsors Justin Rey and his show Getting Guided on the Sportsman’s Channel.

Our first year with the phenomenal Keys guide, Justin Rey starts off with a thrilling and just good fun ride with Andy Mill fishing the worm hatch.  You will see the Proaxis rods and Fortuna big game reels pulling and landing the Megalops with two of the best in the game.  Visit http://vimeo.com/33831872 for a first clip.  You can also join Getting Guided on Facebook.

Nelson Ishiyama, owner of The Henry’s Fork Lodge gives Zenith a first class review in this Henry’ Fork Newsletter.

Visit www.henrysforklodge.com and subscribe to Nelson’s Newsletter to keep up with The Henry’s Fork Lodge.

Latest, Greatest Fly Rods

I’m frequently asked about rods.  As a casting aficionado and tackle junkie I try to keep up with what’s new and what’s best.  Unfortunately that’s becoming more difficult because rod manufacturers have adopted the marketing styles of ski makers, tennis racket companies and dress designers.  Everything is the latest, best, paradigm-shifting and just can’t be done without!  I’ll try to hack through some of the marketing jungle here.
For trout fishers, the most popular rod is a 9-foot, 5 weight, 4 piece graphite.  Fortunately a reputable and very knowledgeable fly shop staff has recently published the results of a well-controlled comparison of just those models.  The latest rods from all the usual high end brands – Sage, Orvis, Loomis, Hardy, Winston, Scott, Thomas & Thomas – were cast and compared in the Yellowstone Angler 5 Weight Shootout.

The winner was a big surprise, as it wasn’t an American rod.  It was the Hardy Zenith - an English rod manufactured in Asia!  Of course I couldn’t just take the word of the Yellowstone Angler guys.  I had to see for myself.  I went to a fishing show and tried the latest rods from Sage, Loomis and Winston against the Hardy.  All were very good, but I had to agree that the Zenith was noticeably better.  Extremely light and very surprisingly powerful, it also had a very light tip that loaded on even short casts.  It also had that subtle quality I call “swing” – just a little bend in the butt of the rod to give it that sweet, smooth feel.  Some of the others were cannons, but unyielding in the butt and dead feeling, especially at shorter distances.  Almost needless to say, I now own a Zenith.
A few months after I had acquired what I thought was the finest graphite rod in existence, Sage came out with a rod they humbly named “The One” as in “The One and Only” or “The One True God”.   The name of this product was matched only by the marketing hype that accompanied it.   It was produced with proprietary “Konnetic technology” and is a “game changer” that will “redefine accuracy”.   After I caught my breath I drove to a nearby fly shop and tracked down a 9 foot 5 weight “The One” to cast against my new favorite rod.

No need to worry, in my opinion.  It was a good enough rod but not good enough to better either Hardy’s Zenith or Sage’s own previous Z-Axis rod. Too stiff in the tip for my taste and too stiff in the butt too.  Another powerful cannon that has no feel, but can laser beam a line out to great distances.  The trouble with marketing hype is that it unreasonably raises expectations that the product itself can’t meet.  Such is the case here.

Shortly thereafter, I discovered that the Yellowstone Angler boys had gone back and tried The One against the Hardy Zenith and confirmed what I had thought.

Visit www.henrysforklodge.com and subscribe to Nelson’s Newsletter to keep up with The Henry’s Fork Lodge.

Yet another great review from The Yellowstone Angler asks if our new one-piece Proaxis #8 is the ‘best streamer rod ever”?  Thanks to Jamie Anderson:

In our 2011 8 weight shootout, we gave Hardy’s new 1pc ProAxis 8 weight props for being one of the best casting 8 weights ever made.  It feels as light as a 6 weight, casts accurately at all distances, and is one of the few 8 weights that can truly handle a 300 grain sinking line.  It’s the perfect rod for throwing two big tandem streamers on the Yellowstone, yet it still feels light and has the finesse to fish tiny trickles of water.  The softer more flexible tip is great for casting in close, but also allows you to give your fly an unbelievable “twitch”.  In short, we feel it is the most well rounded rod out there and is fun to fish anywhere.  It didn’t win our shootout because it wouldn’t have been fair to compare it to the other rods, which were 4 pc models.  We wish we had an Loomis 1 pc NRX 8 weight at the time of the shootout, since we know from several trusted sources that the Cross Current Pro 1 pc rods are outstanding.  The NRX 1 pc rods are supposed to hit the market soon, but for now the Hardy 1pc 8 weight has everything beat in our opinion – except when it comes to transportation.  As long as you make some kind of tie down strap for your boat’s rod holders, they toe nicely behind your rig.  If you ever needed a reason to invest in a Titan Rod Vault, this is it.  Otherwise, they are only 8’10” and fit inside most cars without bending.  But who cares, once you have this rod in your hands, your enhanced fishing experience will be well worth any trivial travel hassles. For around $35.00 you can ship these rods anywhere in the continental US (without a box).   What about the Hardy 1 pc Zenith 4-7 weights soon to come out?  Equally incredible.  We think these 1pc rods are worth it but you be the judge.  If you live in trout country and love to fish streamers, you really should stop by a shop and at least give one a wiggle…

Visit  http://fishingmontana406.com/ for the full story.