My moonshine epiphany euro rod review.
Feb 7, 2019 20:16:37 GMT -6
darrelln09 and coldwaterfly like this
Post by lipripper1983 on Feb 7, 2019 20:16:37 GMT -6
So I've fished the rod on two outings so far. First euro rod. I have it paired with a ross colorado LT 3/4 with about 60 yards of dacron backing, rio euro fips fly line 3wt and devin olson's leader formula. I'm gonna keep this as short as I can so here goes:
Pros:
Looks good
Price isn't too shabby
Rod tube
extra rod tip
lifetime warranty
free tacky fly box with purchase
Cons:
Too tip heavy
Tip isn't very sensitive
Have to rely on sighter for detection for the most part
On the pros - The rod looks great. The aesthetics are nice with the matte black blank, the awesome looking burl and the clean logo. At 225$ dollars it's hard to beat that price. The cortland competition that the pros use is 249$. A 25$ savings. The hard rod tube isn't bad. I own nicer rod tubes, but it's not bad. The biggest selling point for me about this rod though is the additional rod tip. That extra insurance is a nice bonus no doubt. I've not had the chance to break a rod yet, as I've only been fly fishing for a year (almost a year.) But it's nice to have a plan B.
On the cons - Too tip heavy. I've heard other people complain about this, and the people at moonshine claimed to have addressed this issue with their latest batch. But that doesn't seem to be the case. It's pretty darn heavy up top. Granted it is a 10'6 rod...but there are other rods out there at roughly the same price that supposedly aren't as tip heavy. The tip isn't sensitive either. The only strikes I can detect through feel are pretty savage one's. I can't feel subtle strikes and spend most of my time watching my sighter. Which after fishing for about an hour, the heavy tip starts to fatigue the arm and the sighter starts to get wriggly from shaking arm and can make it difficult, yet again, to detect strikes. As I stated previously, reliance on the sighter for strike detection encompasses most of my efforts. And arm fatigue causes my sighter to shake.
In summary: It's not a bad rod for the price point. You get alot of added bonuses what with the extra rod tip, the warranty, the decent price and the free goodie you get with purchase. But all that extra goodness comes at a cost. Performance. If you're looking for a rod that performs I would suggest avoiding this rod. But if you want all the extra that comes with the purchase of one of these rods, then go for it. It seems to me like they throw in all the extra to pull people in and make the sale, and it unfortunately was indeed to good to be true. You just can't get a good performing rod with all those benefits at such a low price point. My advice would be to look else where. I'll be picking up a cortland competition in about a month or so and will give that one a go. I'll be looking to get rid of the moonshine rod soon.
Pros:
Looks good
Price isn't too shabby
Rod tube
extra rod tip
lifetime warranty
free tacky fly box with purchase
Cons:
Too tip heavy
Tip isn't very sensitive
Have to rely on sighter for detection for the most part
On the pros - The rod looks great. The aesthetics are nice with the matte black blank, the awesome looking burl and the clean logo. At 225$ dollars it's hard to beat that price. The cortland competition that the pros use is 249$. A 25$ savings. The hard rod tube isn't bad. I own nicer rod tubes, but it's not bad. The biggest selling point for me about this rod though is the additional rod tip. That extra insurance is a nice bonus no doubt. I've not had the chance to break a rod yet, as I've only been fly fishing for a year (almost a year.) But it's nice to have a plan B.
On the cons - Too tip heavy. I've heard other people complain about this, and the people at moonshine claimed to have addressed this issue with their latest batch. But that doesn't seem to be the case. It's pretty darn heavy up top. Granted it is a 10'6 rod...but there are other rods out there at roughly the same price that supposedly aren't as tip heavy. The tip isn't sensitive either. The only strikes I can detect through feel are pretty savage one's. I can't feel subtle strikes and spend most of my time watching my sighter. Which after fishing for about an hour, the heavy tip starts to fatigue the arm and the sighter starts to get wriggly from shaking arm and can make it difficult, yet again, to detect strikes. As I stated previously, reliance on the sighter for strike detection encompasses most of my efforts. And arm fatigue causes my sighter to shake.
In summary: It's not a bad rod for the price point. You get alot of added bonuses what with the extra rod tip, the warranty, the decent price and the free goodie you get with purchase. But all that extra goodness comes at a cost. Performance. If you're looking for a rod that performs I would suggest avoiding this rod. But if you want all the extra that comes with the purchase of one of these rods, then go for it. It seems to me like they throw in all the extra to pull people in and make the sale, and it unfortunately was indeed to good to be true. You just can't get a good performing rod with all those benefits at such a low price point. My advice would be to look else where. I'll be picking up a cortland competition in about a month or so and will give that one a go. I'll be looking to get rid of the moonshine rod soon.
