Winston Air 2, Rod Review
As a fly fishing guide, I see a plethora of rods in my boat every year. From the latest and greatest in rod manufacturing, all the way down to the small instagram fad brands (you know who you are). In one of these particular instances, a client, and now friend, brought along the 6wt Winston Air 2, which is Winston’s take on a “do it all rod.”
The term “do it all rod” is rarely more than a marketing scheme to get you to buy the newest and shiniest rod before realizing that it is merely a half ass tool to do a little bit of everything but not having the gumption to do much of anything well. Said rod, ends up failing to meet your expectations and you find yourself back on the hunt for a specific rod for each varying niche within the sport (i.e. dry flies, nymphing, streamers, euro nymphing, etc). That said, I am a glutton for nice things and am tempted by new rod releases. Every. Single. Time.
To give you a little background, Winston, is a high end fly rod manufacturer from Twin Bridges, Montana, whose very genesis is based on slower action rods for the dry fly angler. Winston has historically been coined the “Rolls Royce” of fly rods. However, Winston has been deviating from their historical positioning in the market by creating rods like the Air 2, which is a moderate to moderate-fast action rod that rivals the renowned G Loomis Asquith, Scott Centric and Sage R8. All of which are light weight rods that sit in that medium to medium-fast action range. In the 5 and 6wt categories, these rods have been claimed to “do it all,” from throwing small-medium sized streamers, nymphing with a bobber, dry dropping or even throwing a single dry fly on a reach cast to a rising fish.
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The realm of powerful rods that can truly “do it all” can be cut throat and is certainly not an arena for the faint of heart. Renowned rods like the Sage R8, Scott Centric, Orvis Helios 3 and the G Loomis Asquith all come to mind when thinking of power and versatility. Winston answered the call by creating a rod that is ultra-light in hand, recovers quickly in the tip section, while also bending deep into the butt section where it begs the caster to haul as much line as their cast will allow. On the water, this thing is a true performer, whether that be with a 200 grain SA Sink 25 streamer line or even with a more delicate forward tapered floating line for your dry flies. You can feel the intricacies of the rod effectively doing its job throughout every fiber, top to bottom. The streamer lines bend the Air 2 deep into the cork, while the tip is delicate and eager to throw tight loops with ease. Sure, this rod has absolutely no problem throwing an entire fly line, but it also just straight up fishes. This is one of those things in life that gives you zero buyers remorse and just feels right. This rod will definitely be on the boat all summer long. Hoppers under the willows, streamers on the bank and salmon flies in the riffles. Winston nailed this one on the head and genuinely built a rod that makes you want to toss on your boots and go fish.
