There are a plethora of Chinese made rods available on Amazon, eBay, and other sources for less than $100 but quality control is often lacking. You may get a good one, or one with assembly issues or defective blank. Customer service is non-existent. It is not that being made in China automatically means an inferior product, it is just that the gear isn't subject to the quality assurance processes controlled by companies like Redington, Echo, Fenwick, Orvis for their Clearwater Series.
Stroud Tackle just got in some of the new for 2023 Wrangler series rods and combo kits. These replaced in the Redington line up the long lasting Path series rods and combos. The Wrangler series became available in early summer but Stroud's still had a good supply of Path rods and combos and was discounting them as permitted by Farbank Enterprises (the parent company). I opted to put a 6 wt though some testing including fishing and picked the Wrangler 690-4S rod. This rod is four sections as designated by the "-4". The "S" stands for saltwater which must means the rod has a fighting butt. There is also a 690-4 model without the fighting butt. I prefer to have a fighting butt on all of my 6wt rods. A 6wt rod is a good all around choice for local fresh and light saltwater fishing.
The Wrangler series retails for $159.99 which is $30 more than the Path retailed for. I asked the Redington rep if this was just a Path rod in new clothing but he told me the tapers were different with the tips a bit softer. In my testing I felt that indeed this was the case. It makes for a better rod for close distance fishing, especially for novice casters. The Wrangler Combo Kit comes with a rod, newest version of the Redington Crosswater reel, Rio Mainstream weight forward floating fly line, leader, backing, and a covered rod/reel case for $249.99 (saves about $60 over purchasing those separately).
The rod is a glossy gray color with black wraps and has a anodized aluminum reel seat. Reel seats with wood inserts are pretty but anodized aluminum will last longer and hold up to salty environments. Redington describes the rods as having a moderate-fast action and I concur. This is a good action for newbies to learn casting and it is a good action for an all purpose fly rods. The rod isn't as light as some other 6wt rods with fighting butts that I have, but those rods cost more than twice as much 15 years ago. The rod doesn't feel particularly heavy either. Redington doesn't list a weight (mass - in ounces) on their website. I didn't bother to put it on a scale.
I tried about 10 different lines on the rod and spent some time fishing the bay with it. For me I found that it was plenty accurate at close distances with a floating line. By close I'm talking 15 to 30 feet where most trout fishing in streams occurs. With the softer tip really short casts could be made with just a short arm movement.
The rod seems to have a bit more swing weight (feeling a bit tip heavy) compared to rods that cost 2X or more, but is inline with similar priced sticks. It's not a deal breaker and I didn't notice it much when casting heavy sinking lines.
For most floating line work the rod performs well with a WF-6-F line. I tried the Cortland 444 Peach, Rio Mainstream, Rio Gold, and Rio Grand. The rod has enough reserve power that you could go up to an 8wt line and cast bass bugs short to medium distances out to about 50 feet with no problems.
With intermediate (slow) sinking lines I found a WF-7-I line to be better than a WF-6-I, but I have found this to be the case with most graphite rods that I have used for the last 30 years.
For 10 or 12 foot sink tip lines a WF-6-F/S or WF-7-F/S were fine ("F/S" stands for floating/sinking).
With full length sinking lines a WF-8-S seemed optimal, a WF-7-F ok, and a WF-6-I harder to cast. Again this matches my experience with other rods in the past. The first 30 ft of a WF-8-S line weighs about the same as the first 30 feet of many integrated shooting taper lines so this is not really out of line.
The rod handles heavy integrated shooting tapers just fine. The rod really responded well with a 24 or 30 foot 200 or 250 grain head line. (Teeny T-200, Rio Avid 24 foot sink tip (older 200 grain or current 6/7 wt version). I also tested with Rio Outbound Short 6wt lines with different sink rates. These are also integrated shooting taper lines. The Outbound Short 30 foot head weight is actually about 3 line weights above the AFFTA so you don't want to upline these. I had no problem launching 75 ft casts with these lines. I wasn't trying to cast any farther. Even casters with new to the sport can make longer casts with integrated shooting tapers than they usually can with standard weight forward lines.
A couple of nits to pick. (none of which would keep me from recommending the rod):
There is only one stripping guide. I believe this can cut a few feet off distance can be achieved. The single stripping guide is also typical for rods in the lower price ranges so this is not a big grip.
The rod tip has a bit of bounce on recovery at the completion of the cast. It is more noticeable when making long distance casts. This can cause some slack and loss of distance as the line shoots out. Still, it is less prone to this than most lower priced rods in the past. You might not even notice unless you compare against some rods that cost 2x to 3x as much or more.
Some nice things:
Better reel seat than the $50 more Redington Vice. The Wrangler seat has two locking rings which secured tightly with finger tips. The Vice has only a single locking ring.
During a 4 hour session on San Diego Bay casting heavy lines non of the ferrules loosened up. I'm used to this occurring with less expensive rods. Loose ferrules can lead to poor casts or broken rods.
Rod finish is nice. Cork is lower quality with lots of filler, but consistent with current rods on the market, even more costly one. The 690-4S has a full well grip which I prefer to the reversed half wells on the standard 690-4 model. The full wells grip gives that fatter section in front that provides better thumb support for a long day of casting.
The rod works for me really well out to about 70 feet. That is plenty for most fly fishing. I can cast farther with it but that required a bit more work compared to my more expensive rods. If you are going to be primarily fishing in the 50-100 foot range the Redington Vice would be a better option but that's not typical for most folks.
If you are going to be doing primarily panfish and trout fishing on small streams and small ponds the Redington Classic Trout series, which is the same price, might be a better choice as its more moderate action is often preferred for dry fly work. The Wrangler is a better all purpose rod though and would be fine for fishing dry flies, nymphs, streamers, and poppers. It is available 4wt through 8wt models, all 9 feet in length.
The Wrangler is a good all around rod and I would be happy to take it as a backup for a flats bonefish trip.
The 690-4S model is not available in the Combo Kit but some brick and mortar dealer may swap a "-4" for a "-4S" model if you ask nicely.
Locally you can get the Wrangler models at Stroud Tackle. Though not listed on their website, The Fly Stop is also a Redington dealer and may have them.
- Starting the day with a Redington Wrangler 690-4S
