TASK 5: Favorite new gear - Temple Fork Outfitters 6 foot 2wt Rod Review

I finally had a chance to review my new Temple Fork Outfitters 6'0" 2 piece 2wt rod. It's has a beautiful dark green IM6 graphite rod with half well grip and a matte black aluminum reel seat with double up locking rings. I matched it with an Okuma SLV 23 reel and Sage Quiet Double Taper 2wt floating line. Making the total price of the setup under $250. The purpose of this rod is a small creek rod that is short enough to cast in those tight places, accurate enough to hit the mark, light enough to play the smaller fish, and light enough to take on those long hikes here in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. So as I set out to review this rod I kept those in mind and headed to the perfect creek in a narrow canyon with lots of trees and a lot of trout. The first hole I came to was at the mouth of the Canyon and the end of the creek as it hits a small dam and gets filtered into pipes for drinking water for the house on the property. Seeing a few fish at the end of the small dam I made the easy 20 ft cast to them. With such a short rod it was surprisingly easy to cast and hit the mark. As the little brookie came up and smacked the fly I lift the rod for hook set. Unlike catching a trout this size with my 5 wt and tossing the fish out of the water on hook set. The rod bent over nicely and I was able to bring the brook trout in without pulling him out of the water. It wasn't a monster fight as the fish was still little but you knew he was there. After a couple more cast with similar results I concluded the rod casts well with room to cast, so it was time to head up into the canyon for some tougher casting opportunities. Once in the Canyon I spotted a trout sitting in a lane under a downed tree. It looked like a nice place to test the accuracy of the rod as I had a few feet of room behind me and I could move up behind the boulder and sidearm cast to the trout. Once again the smoothness of the rod surprised me as I placed the first cast a little too far to the right. So after the drift I was apple to pick the line up clean and shoot it back in there this time still a little to the right but the fish spotted the fly and moved to intercept. Another nice hookup and enough backbone to control the fish through the falls and brought him in for the quick release. It was time to move on and look for tougher casting spots with less room to see how the rod would handle. I soon found a pool with some fast water running into it and a log jam at the tail end. Making it a good spot to test my roll cast with the rod. The rod picked the line up of the water and made the short roll cast very nicely to the head of the pool. I even picked up one of the bigger fish of the trip out of this pool after placing the fly close to an undercut rock edge. I also had some pockets that were so dense with vegetation that pitching the fly upstream and high sticking it was the only way to fish the hole, the rod maintained great control of the fly even in these circumstances. In conclusion this rod preformed better than some of the high end 2wt rods I've used in the 7 foot to 7 foot 6 inch range. It had great control and was very smooth. The reel is a tad too heavy for the rod but still performed great with the setup and I think I will keep this combination together. I would highly recommend this rod to anyone looking for a skinny water rod. This is the first TFO rod I've owned and I will likely pick up another when I'm in the market for another fly rod just based off the experience I've had with this one. Temple Fork Outfitters also offer a no-fault life time warranty on their rods, if you break it just send it back with 25$ shipping and handling and they will replace the rod for you. This is a huge plus in my book as I have a tendency to be a little rough on equipment and have broken plenty of rods. As always if you have any questions about my review or need help finding some small streams to fish stop by our website http://www.coloradomountainfishing.com Join in the forum and we will be glad to help. Rick Schroeder Owner ColoradoMountainFishing.com [email protected]