Seated in a comfy armed chair before a crackling fireplace, elixir in hand, your thoughts suddenly shift to future flings with fur and feather. Those daydreams, for the brotherhood of fly anglers, are of trout slurping dry flies from the outer shell of a riffle as it slowly wafts downstream.
Realize, however, that the abovementioned is what makes cinema卬ot reality.
Truth be told, it抯 a rare occasion when fish solely focus on feeding at a river抯 surface. That抯 because the windows of time insects make their way to the water抯 veneer to don wings and flutter into the shoreline scrub are finite. Most of the year fish feast on insects in their nymph modes. Fanatics of flipping flies know, overall, they抣l catch more trout all year around while wafting nymphs within the flow versus dries on top.
But even as commonplace as fish eating creepy-crawlers under the water抯 facade, nymphing maniacs have never had a fly rod manufactured with their distinctive drifts in mind; a stick that doesn抰 make you have to perform magic just to imitate an immature insect, but rather a rod custom made to conform to the way nymph anglers fish bugs before their wings unfold. To make a long story short: St. Croix Rods once again teamed with the guru of the substrate-swing, Kelly Galloup, so he could let loose his inner flies; this time leading to three new rods in the High Drifter Series.
No one, and I mean no one, had ever built a stick made just for nymphing. St. Croix抯 changed all that by having me co-design a few High Stick Drifters for the way we really fish nymphs ?no gimmicks. 100-percent the right rod for the job,?says Galloup, who not only designs the most angler engaging fly rods and flirtatious flies, but also runs the Slide Inn on the banks of Montana抯 Madison River.
Now, we could delve into the state-of-the-art aspects of the High Stick Drifter, such as special lightweight tip made of high modulus/high strain SCV graphite with NSi resin (featuring 3M抯 nano Matrix Resin) and a carbon-matte scrim, as well SCVI graphite in lower sections for added power with reduced weight and St. Croix抯 proprietary ART?and IPC?technology, but we won抰. Er, sort of just did?
Instead, we抣l just tell you all three (a 9??4wt, 10?4-wt and 10?5-wt) balance perfectly in the hand and have a parabolic flex (head to toe) you can feel when the rod抯 loaded with line and being roll-cast, or the hook plants firmly because of the rod抯 quick tip. Their lengths, too, have been analyzed and devised for keeping your fly line up and out of the current for drag-free drifts. Even something as simple as where the hook keeper should go has been scrutinized and is now where it belongs ?near the second Fuji?K Series Tangle-Free stripper guide (all with Alconite?rings), instead of right above the handle and in finger抯 way.
Nymphing Maniacs Get the Drift
St. Croix Rods teams with Kelly Galloup to design a rod that fishes subsurface bugs right
Park Falls, Wis. ?Seated in a comfy armed chair before a crackling fireplace, elixir in hand, your thoughts suddenly shift to future flings with fur and feather. Those daydreams, for the brotherhood of fly anglers, are of trout slurping dry flies from the outer shell of a riffle as it slowly wafts downstream.
Realize, however, that the abovementioned is what makes cinema卬ot reality.
Truth be told, it抯 a rare occasion when fish solely focus on feeding at a river抯 surface. That抯 because the windows of time insects make their way to the water抯 veneer to don wings and flutter into the shoreline scrub are finite. Most of the year fish feast on insects in their nymph modes. Fanatics of flipping flies know, overall, they抣l catch more trout all year around while wafting nymphs within the flow versus dries on top.
But even as commonplace as fish eating creepy-crawlers under the water抯 facade, nymphing maniacs have never had a fly rod manufactured with their distinctive drifts in mind; a stick that doesn抰 make you have to perform magic just to imitate an immature insect, but rather a rod custom made to conform to the way nymph anglers fish bugs before their wings unfold. To make a long story short: St. Croix Rods once again teamed with the guru of the substrate-swing, Kelly Galloup, so he could let loose his inner flies; this time leading to three new rods in the High Drifter Series.
揘o one, and I mean no one, had ever built a stick made just for nymphing. St. Croix抯 changed all that by having me co-design a few High Stick Drifters for the way we really fish nymphs ?no gimmicks. 100-percent the right rod for the job,?says Galloup, who not only designs the most angler engaging fly rods and flirtatious flies, but also runs the Slide Inn on the banks of Montana抯 Madison River.
Now, we could delve into the state-of-the-art aspects of the High Stick Drifter, such as special lightweight tip made of high modulus/high strain SCV graphite with NSi resin (featuring 3M抯 nano Matrix Resin) and a carbon-matte scrim, as well SCVI graphite in lower sections for added power with reduced weight and St. Croix抯 proprietary ART?and IPC?technology, but we won抰. Er, sort of just did?
Instead, we抣l just tell you all three (a 9??4wt, 10?4-wt and 10?5-wt) balance perfectly in the hand and have a parabolic flex (head to toe) you can feel when the rod抯 loaded with line and being roll-cast, or the hook plants firmly because of the rod抯 quick tip. Their lengths, too, have been analyzed and devised for keeping your fly line up and out of the current for drag-free drifts. Even something as simple as where the hook keeper should go has been scrutinized and is now where it belongs ?near the second Fuji?K Series Tangle-Free stripper guide (all with Alconite?rings), instead of right above the handle and in finger抯 way.
In short: The High Stick Drifter series has been designed explicitly for fishing nymphs. 揟he average guy can pick it up, drift a nymph and catch fish. It抯 as simple as that,?finishes Galloup, and then drifts away into the sunset.
About St. Croix Rods
St. Croix Rod is a family-owned manufacturer of high-performance graphite and fiberglass fishing rods headquartered in Park Falls, Wisconsin. The company offers a complete line of premium, American-made fly, spinning and casting rods under their Legend Elite? Legend Ultra? Legend Tournament? Avid Series? Premier? Wild River? Tidemaster? and other trademarks through a global distribution network of full-service fishing tackle dealers. The company抯 mid-priced Triumph?Mojo, Imperial?and Rio Santo series rods are designed and engineered in Park Falls, Wisconsin and built in a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Fresnillo, Mexico. Founded in 1948 to manufacture jointed bamboo fishing poles for a Minneapolis hardware store chain, St. Croix has grown to become the largest manufacturer of fishing rods in North America.
