Cabelas CZN 11ft 4wt - first look

[Dejon Hamann]

Finally got out to test the new Cabelas CZN 11' 4wt fly rod today. 

I fished a 30foot Camou leader with straight sighter and an assortment of light and heavy flies.  After about 30 minutes I found that powering the rod tip straight through the cast almost dipping the tip in the water would deliver the leader nice and flat with very little effort.  Fought a dozen odd trout in the 7-13inch range with fine performance. 

I'll put my summary first: for just under $200 this is an incredible value in a nymphing specific long reach rod.  After just one day it's moving into my "A" river bag to see where it fits over a period of time against the PE Echo Shadow 10.5ft 3wt. 

Positive: I was impressed at how light and well balanced this rod is at 11ft as soon as I un wrapped it. However, every angler with a few decades under his/her belt knows testing a rod takes time... just like a mate.  It's not hard to see where this rod excels and you don't need a degree in rod building to experience it yourself: it's long and light.  Might seem obvious, but remember, unlike a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup these are two things that don't normally go well together... and especially not at that price point. 

Negative: none... at least on the first day.

Potential negative: recovery time.  As one might expect with a rod of this length and weight recovery time is decreased.  How dramatic I don't know for sure as it's one of those attributes you need to A/B against other rods in the category.  What does "recovery" time mean?  Basically, after you cast, when does the rod stop bouncing... at least dramatically.   Side note: personally I believe there's a point of diminishing returns based on our current line of rod material technology when we are considering "recovery".  What does this equate to?  Basically, you can't expect a rod of "appropriate" weight to recover at above average times when it's length starts to exceed 10feet... and this increases exponentially with every successive inch.  Case in point: a flag pole recovers brilliantly... who wants to cast one? 

Length: again, I know I’m hammering home the obvious, but until you nymph with a longer rod you don’t know what you’re missing.  And sometimes a few of us on the comp circle joke: “and I don’t want to know.”  At first I was using 10footers, then the 10 footer felt short after switching over to 10.5 footers.  Now the 11 footer… and I fear the same thing will happen.  You would think it might be a linear curve: “yeah, the extra 6inches is nice.” But it’s more than that, it changes the way you present flies, it changes how much line you need to manage, your rod position, and your setting radius.

The CZN lineup: If I were on the Cabelas marketing team I might withdraw the 10 footers and re-label them “light float tube rods.”  Or something else snappy.  They both feel much more like crisp, lighter action casting rods. 

If you’re in the market for long nymphing rod I think this is worth a shake.  See if it fits your style, and if not Cabelas has that sweet return policy.

[Mark Hanes]

Damit D know I am going to end up buying another rod I really don't need!  Nice review.  My only question is how is it with fighting fish?