Gidday and welcome to Issue 36 of The Weekly Five.
If you’ve been a subscriber to Exploration Angling for over a year, you were an early adopter. Thanks! Readership has grown quickly with our fly fishing articles now consumed over 3000 times every month. A special thank you to the generous paying subscribers for keeping the faith, and our lights on.
News that Orvis is shutting 36 store locations and exiting general apparel to refocus on fishing and bird-hunting goods is not all bad. They’ll lean on their independent retail network, restructuring costs will be amortized, DTC sales will grow. They’ll be leaner and laser-focused on creating top of the range fly fishing gear, including their Scientific Anglers brand of fly lines. That’s a big win for us, the angling community.
To do our bit to support Orvis, we’re giving this rod a plug. The Orvis Superfine Seven/Eleven 4wt Graphite is our pick of their current fly rod selection. Quicker than the traditional glass Superfine, well-reviewed as a small stream rod at 7’ 11”, and under US$600 makes it very fairly priced for a quality US-made fly rod.
New Zealand’s season has opened to less than ideal weather with snow in the southern high country, heavy rain and some big fish caught – typical in our antipodean spring. The settled weather will soon be upon us.
We welcome Rodrigo Moreira Salles onto Substack and, in the spirit of our tight-knit fly fishing community, recommend you sub to his Jungle Angling tales in Bolivia and Brazil. Rod’s stories promise to surprise and delight.
For the fly fisher who demands art with their angling, Hatch Outdoors have launched an Artist Collaboration Series. Our favorite is Matt Renner’s work on the Hatch Iconic 5+ fly reel. You know you want one!
Missed Last Week?
The Weekly Five - 35
In Issue 35 of The Weekly Five we delve deep into fishing fanaticism. First up, are we ‘general purpose casters’ or ‘trout experts’, as determined by Scientific Anglers new Trout fly line nomenclature.
Two Epic Reviews
Titanium Muscle Meets Flats Finesse
Southflyfisher was provided the Epic Titanium Series 890Ti Fly Rod by Swift Fly Fishing. This review complies with FTC & NZASA guidelines and our Disclosures policy.
Hubless Clicker Turns Heads
Southflyfisher was provided the Epic Trutta Model 3/4/5 Fly Reel by Swift Fly Fishing for testing.