Review: Redington Pursuit Combo

 

Redington was kind enough to loan us a combo for the trip out west. I first took it out of the case at home of course, and noticed that the case had a clear opening for the reel area. This was obviously to show off the reel during the sale, but I wondered how hot  this would make the reel inside a car in the summer?

The rod was very nice with straight guides and a good finish on the wraps. There were no flaws in the finish of the rod anywhere. The reel was big enough to handle large fish, take in lots of line and it was light – but not too light – it balanced well on the rod. It was however, made of a kind of graphite or plastic material as best I could tell. It felt a little “inexpensive” in hand, but the handle was smooth on the turn, and the drag seemed to be very smooth. I’m not sure I even took it apart, so unfortunately I can’t report on whether or not the drag was a sealed drag or something else. It wasn’t just the standard click/pawl of course because this was a 6wt rod. Pretty sure it was some more advanced type of drag.

On the water, the rod proved to be quite the little rocket. Standing in a wide section of the Madison I could easily double-haul 60 feet of line out over the water. My fishing there was more on the scale of 20-30 feet, but just for fun a few times, I let it fly. In the ever present Montana wind, which this day was blowing around 15mph, it was not quite effortless at 50-60 feet, but it wasn’t that hard to punch it out there. The line was also supplied in the combo and was a Rio floating line and it floated. The tip didn’t sink and it seemed as slick on this initial testing as any line I’ve fished recently which includes lines by Allen, Cabela’s and Orvis. The line was bright green and if I were designing it, I’d think about going with a little less “neon” in the color, but considering that many will probably be using it for bass instead of trout, it may not be that big a deal.

The rod was, I believe – a 9 footer and mending was easy. Again, the light reel balanced well because the rod was exceptionally light for such a big stick ( my normal rod is a 7’6 3wt. casting a #2 line).

As for the catching, the truth is that I only had two fish on with this rod the whole time….a nice, fat brown from the Madison on this day that shook the hook out on a top-side rolling spree…and a small rainbow – or maybe it was two – on the Between the Lakes portion of the Madison. While the wind made the Redington a better choice in theory ( out of the rods I took with me), my comfort level with my own rod kept me reaching for it most of the week.

Would I recommend the Redington Pursuit Combo? I would, if you’re looking for a nice rod that won’t break the bank – that can shoot line very well and has everything you need to fish right out of the box ( there’s a leader nail-knotted to the line, even).

And the price is right, too.

Any negatives?

Well, not really. Aside from the clear plastic window issue on a hot summer’s day, I can’t think of much to complain about. Would I like to see them up the price a bit and stay away from graphite/plastic/whatever it was reels? Sure. Do they know why they did that better than I do? Obviously. I’m thinking that if Orvis can make a $100 Battenkill though…surely they can have a reel produced in some part of the world for this combo out of aluminum for around $50. But then, that’s a total guess as to what it costs to put together a reel on a mass produced level. Maybe the drag system in this one cost that much? I don’t know. Just kinda telling you what a fishermen would like to see in a reel these days. Graphite bodies are so 1999. Still, if you’re looking for a really nice rod at a more than reasonable price, this one should absolutely get your consideration!

On the Owl Scale of Awesome, I give it:

---

related post

• Fly Fishing Gear: 5 Budget Buys
• Initial Review: Cabela's $29 Wind River Fly Reel
• 5 More Budget Gear Ideas
• Trout Love.
• Rules. Rules. Rules.