I have been looking at new fly rods lately and, after casting a Colton 8wt IM-10 decided the Tradewinds 9wt was the rod for me.
It sure was a lot kinder on my pocketbook than the Orvis rods I tried and casts even better than the Trident.

I put a new 10wt Aquanova floating line on an old Courtland fly reel and clamped the reel on the rod. I laid out 90' after about 3 casts--the entire line outside the tip. That is a heck of a cast for me, especially with a floating line. The 10 wt line felt good on the rod. The rod felt super stiff to me until I loaded it for a cast, then it absolutely came alive. I see this rod as the rod I will use mostly with a shooting head. This thing will be a rocket launcher with a sinking shooter.

More about the rod. I fell in love with the grip and especially the reel seat. The grip has the finest cork I've seen in a long time. Good cork is in short supply and really expensive now days. I'll have to look into the reel seat. It is a cut above what I am used to. I have always used 2 piece rods and this one is a 4 piece. Chances are, I will use it as a 2 piece unless I go on a trip where I can break it down in my luggage.

BTW, I bought the rod on E-Bay. Colton is selling out some last years rods and introducing new ones. I wish I could afford one of the Colton Reels. I've heard nothing but good about them.

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Capt. Ken

I just bought one, thanks for the heads up! I've been looking for a 9wt for a while.



Now to save for a nautilus reel

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ilk-a-licious

They've got some nice deals, but I see there is no warranty on the close out rods. I have a propensity to break the higher modulus rods so I like the lifetime warranties. Mostly due to poor casting technique with clousers! Although at the price of the rod I'm looking at, usually the handling charges on the warranty are close to that, maybe I should just get two.

I haven't broken a flyrod since I stuck one through the spokes on my bicycle when I was about 12.

I don't fish Clousers very often.

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Capt. Ken

I shouldn't, or I should stay out of the wind! Those do look like nice rods though, I may still get a 4 wt for brim

My rod came in today! Is there any difference between the UD blue and the regular tradewinds? I got the blue one because it's perty.... but if there's some other perk I'm good with it =)

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ilk-a-licious

Well, I already broke the tip off of the rod in a door.. Lesson learned. Break the rods down before walking in or our of doors.

I contacted Colton to see if there was anything they could do to help me and I was ignored. I completely understand that there is no warranty for rods bought at closeout but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. The guy responded to my first email telling me to follow the instructions on the warranty. I sent back an email because I forgot to mention it's a closeout rod and I got no reply. I feel like ignoring someone is a cowards way of saying no. Will not be purchasing any rods from this company in the future.

The rod will just have to become my first 8'6" rod, down from 9' haha.

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ilk-a-licious

Well, I hate tripple posting... But I have another update.

I sent another email for confirmation. His reply was "as I said in the previous email, follow the warranty instructions"

I'm pretty good at following instructions, and these state that the rod isn't under warranty because it's closeout..... But I'll just send it in and hope for the best.

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ilk-a-licious

So - you going to tell them you bought it as a closeout or just send it under normal warranty.???

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I forgot to include it in the first email. His reply was send it in as the warranty says.

In the 2nd email I told him it was a closeout rod which is why I even bothered to ask for help. The 2nd email was not replied to.

I sent a third email to make sure my email was not simply overlooked and he told me to follow the warranty instructions.. I'm not sure if this means follow them as a full priced rod or if I'm just SOL like the warranty says.

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ilk-a-licious

Last Wednesday I caught a 130# (est) Tarpon on my 9wt Colton Tradewinds. I leaned as hard on that fish as I ever have with my favorite baitcaster. No creaks, squeaks or groans out of the rod at all. When it was down and dirty, with the fish down about 10' and the top of the leader on the surface, I just kept pulling. About that time, he got a second wind and made a pretty fair jump on about 15' of line. It was pretty much over after that. It probably would have taken longer if the fish hadn't jumped 14-15 times. I don't remember ever having a fairly large fish jump that much.

If I had not had the StandNFish, it would have taken a bunch longer because I wouldn't have been able to really pressure the fish without standing up.

I don't know how long it took but I am pretty sure it didn't take much more than 20 minutes. I had the leader in my hand when he frayed through the 50# bite tippet.

I'd post a photo but it would show pretty much exactly where I've been catching these fish and too much pressure would end the show.
Friday, I jumped at least 12 Tarpon. I went to a Fly Fishing conference in Orlando on Saturday. Sunday it was too darn windy to fly fish but my son managed a strike from a big Tarpon on his first cast. Today I jumped 8-10 Tarpon and landed a 20#+ Snook. Tomorrow I am going to catch a Tarpon if I have to use a live Mullet to do it.

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Capt. Ken

Picked up my freshly repaired 9wt today! Coulton is a great company, my faith is completely restored in them.

I'll probably be looking to them for a 5wt rod for panfish and rainbow trout sometime in the not to distant future I plan on taking a trip to the Arkansas white river

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ilk-a-licious