Fly Rod Review | Primal Zone 963/4
Top Aussie Fisho, Erhan Cinar, had a blat with a Primal Zone. He wrote all about it in a recent Fly Life magazine and we've stuck here for you to have a read.
The New Primal Zone 9’6ft 3wt kind of fell into my lap when visiting Rick Dobson at Aussie Angler here in Melbourne. Rick knows my style of fishing and he mentioned that I might like this stick. Dobbo knows his stuff, so he threw on a reel and line and out I went for a cast.
The rod felt quite nice in hand and even with the 4wt line he gave me the rod's recovery rate impressed. But more homework needed to be done so I sang out to the team at Manic Tackle Project to see if I could test out one of these bad boys.
When setting up for Spanish Style dry fly fishing I like to underline the rod. I chose a 2wt delicate presentation line to be the perfect counterpart for the days fishing. On the water the rod felt beautiful to cast and handled the 2wt lines well. The action was fast, but the tip soft enough to run tiny TroutHunter 0.09mm or 8X tippet. The tippet protection was evident and with a smooth transition through the blank whilst playing the fish, it all combined to make the rod a dream to use.
The other thing to mention is the cosmetics of the rod. Being a competition angler we can be a fussy bunch when it comes to looks and we all believe there’s a myriad of things that can scare fish. Trust me, there’s lots! Competition anglers are constantly fishing to pressured and easily – if not already - spooked fish, therefore every advantage you can get will go a long way to catching more fish. When it comes to added advantage, the Primal Zone is the perfect weapon with its stealthy matte black finish. For me, and for any competition angler out there looking for an edge of the rest of the pack, this is one of the first things you should consider when picking out your next rod.
I would call myself a bit of a gearhead as I love keeping up with the latest and greatest, but the thing with being a competitive angler is that brand bias is thrown out the window, we only want gear that works and gear that gets us trophies. For me, the selection process for a rod hinges on its suitability for a specific technique and application. For competitions, and for just catching lots of fish, the Primal Zone rod has skyrocketed up the ladder and I’ll pick it first whenever I’m competing or just whenever I get on the river. Honestly, I’d fish this rod anywhere. Small or big rivers, here in Australia or over the ditch in NZ
There’s also the Primal Zone 9’3” to consider. I’ve had a decent play with it and it would be my choice to use it as a single nymph rod on small shallow rivers and for small fish. It’s ideal for using 2mm-3mm beaded nymphs on very light tippet. These two new rods from Primal Zone rods perfectly complete their Euro Nymph rod range, which includes a 10’ #2, a 10’6 #3, and a 10’ #4 covering everything you’ll need for competition style angling.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
That's him, but a bit younger. Erhan is well versed in all forms of fishing and has been a long term friend of Manic for ages. Check him out on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/ecinar_flyfishing/