Our opinions on the best six weight fly rods on the market today.

Could any of the new high-end 8-weight rods beat our 2018 Shootout overall winner, the G. Loomis Asquith? Would any of the new mid-priced rods be able to outscore the Orvis Recon, our 2018 mid-priced winner? Could any inexpensive 8-weights under $200 outperform the stellar $189.95 Fenwick Aetos? We answer those questions and more in our 2020 8-Weight Challenge. 

2020 5-Weight Rod Shootout – Presentation Category

2020 5-Weight Rod Shootout – Power Category

By George Anderson With comments by the Yellowstone Angler staff *Note The final results and performance charts on this page are George’s figures.  To read each staff member’s casting notes and performance finishing order, please click on their photo above.   It has been several years now since our last 4-weight Shootout, as we have concentrated…

2018 8-Weight Fly Rod Shootout by George and James Anderson  With comments by the Yellowstone Angler Staff  Note* The final results and performance charts on this page are George’s figures.  To read each staff memeber’s casting notes and performance finishing order, please click on their photo above.   With all the great new rods on the…

Trout Switch and Spey Shootout 17 Two-Handed Rods Reviewed by James Anderson and the Yellowstone Angler   The new G.Loomis IMX Pro in use on the Yellowstone.  Learning to Use Two-Handed Rods After having fly fished with a single-handed for years, learning how to cast and fish with a two-handed rod is like skiing your…

The 2016 Yellowstone Angler 5/6 Weight Fly Reel Comparison by: James and George Anderson We learned a lot doing our 8-weight reel comparison back in 2014, but in considering and comparing 5/6 reels, however, there are some categories that are not as important in smaller reels – like ease of drag adjustment, ease of spool…

James and George Anderson Intro Welcome to our first ever wader shootout!  Last year, in addition to our normal rod shootouts we conducted a tippet shootout.  This year we decided to take a close look at waders, and compare what we feel are the best waders we’ve used and found on the market. Apples to…

Back in 2012 we wrote a tippet shootout for Fly Fisherman Magazine.  Our intent was to post the article on our website soon after but somehow time got the best of us, so…. better late than never?   The good news is that we included some new information on tippet-to-tippet knots, tippet-to-fly knots, some new…