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Elnetti Stratocaster GTX4 fly rods

Pete Sutton has been testing two apparently very exceptional rods from made by Elnetti in Germany, supplied to him by Corporate Fly Fishing.

‘Have you ever tried an Elnetti, Pete?’ asked Carl Hutchinson of Corporate Fly Fishing. ‘Er, no,’ I replied not wishing to admit that I’d never heard the name and anyway it sounded like a pizza. ‘I think they’re brilliant rods. They’re from Germany, I’m now selling them through my on-line shop and I’ve got a couple you can try if you want to,’ continued Carl. ‘Yeah, great,’ I replied, now becoming excited at the thought of getting my hands on another fly rod, and one that I had never even heard of.

To cut a long story short, Carl presented me with two rods, both Stratocaster GTX4s: a nine footer rated for 5/6 weight lines and another nine footer rated for 7/8 lines. Both are four-piece rods and come complete with a cloth bag and the usual sort of aluminium tube with the Elnetti name on the side. The rods are exceptionally well finished in a beautifully understated way; matt carbon grey blanks, mid-green wraps, which are amongst the best finished that I’ve seen, with six (yes, I’m told six) coats of sealer applied very thinly to avoid creating those dreadful ‘rugby balls’ which occur on some rods, cork handles of the very best quality and reel fittings out of the top draw; an exotic hardwood insert on the 5/6 weight rod and a saltwater-resistant, all-metal fitting on the 7/8 weight. It is easy to create a pretty rod making use of the best fixtures and fittings available but all this is of no use at all if the blank is poor and the rod therefore does not perform as it should. So how did they cast?

The first thing I noticed putting the rods together was how light they were and how very crisp and steely they felt when I first gave them a waggle without a line through them – so far so good. I fitted each rod with a Rio Longcast long belly weight forward floating line, a leader and a piece of wool in place of a fly.

The first rod to be tried in anger was the 5/6 weight and a Longcast 5 weight line. This is quite simply one of the finest rods that I have ever used at any price. The rod has a truly progressive tip action, which means that for short casts only the tip of the rod is used. As more line is extended so the bend moves further down the rod bringing the more powerful middle and butt sections into play. As a result the rod is quite happy with 10’ or 20’ of line in the air but when needed is equally happy carrying 60’, 70’ or even more of line. The rod tracks straight and true and the tip is exceptionally well damped without a hint of wobble or bounce, which means that the transmission of power from the rod to the line is incredibly smooth so loop control, shape and size is exceptional, with no unwanted wiggles in the line as it unrolls. This means that turnover and presentation is also very good. The rod has plenty of power and I found no difficulty in casting the entire 100’ of fly line when required. As well as being a very good rod for casting overhead, the progressive action and quick recovery makes it also brilliant for switch, roll and spey casting. This rod would be equally at home on rivers or still waters, casting a long or short line as required and I can imagine that I would be quite happy if this was the only rod that I owned.

The 7/8 weight rod is just a stepped-up version of the 5/6 weight, displays identical casting characteristics and will perform the same repertoire of casts. It is very powerful, and very long casts are a breeze. I can see that this rod would excel at casting a very long line on still waters, especially when large flies, lures or sunk lines are being used, but it would also make an exceptional mid-weight, salt water fly rod.

You may well be thinking that such high performance rods will be difficult to use but you would be wrong. I rate these as two of the easiest rods to cast that I have ever come across because of the light weight, very smooth progressive actions, well damped tips and oodles of ‘feel’ which lets you know exactly what is going on. If you are a strong caster with a powerful double haul technique you may well choose to use the lower designated line weight. If however you wish to slow the rod down a bit and have a more relaxed casting style then you may prefer the feel of the heavier line – the rods will handle either with aplomb.

For those of you wishing to know exactly what the rods are capable of I can report that they were used by the British Fly Casting Club, in the casting competition, at the British Fly Fair at Trentham last year, and using the Rio Longcast lines, on level ground and in less than ideal conditions the 5 weight was cast 34.15m by Jon Allen and the 7 weight was cast 35.54m by yours truly. I know that both rods are capable of greater distances than these.

It will cost you £425.00 to become an Elnetti owner, which compares favourably with the cost of the top American alternatives, and this comparatively modest sum also buys you a certain exclusivity not available with the more popular US brands. If you would like to buy an Elnetti or find out more go to Carl’s web site at www.corporateflyfishing.com.

Pete Sutton - APGAI