Orvis Superfine Touch #1 rod review

I think you all remember the Orvis Superfine Touch rod I built a couple of months ago. Here is what Charles, the owner of the rod (thank you so much for the kind words and review), has to say about it:

 "George hi again and I trust you are well.
Having come back from 4 days of fishing in South Africa, I thought that I must write you an email.

This was a trip that I do every two years with a great friend of mine on a private water (stream) in Dullstroom, Republic of South Africa. The farm has a beautiful stream that runs through which the owners have carefully  and cleverly damned in certain places so that there are some six or seven deeper pools and two larger pools which are good sized small lakes actually. Every few years the waters are stocked with rainbows but there are plenty of over wintered and larger fish ranging from 1lb to 6 or 7lb. We and my father  were the only three fishermen and the first to fish for some weeks on this water.
I took 3 rods for the trip. A 6wt. Eagleclaw Featherlight with a Barrio WF floater in orange. A 4wt. Dave Lewis Sage build with an Orvis Battenkill and a 4wt. Sci Angler floater in olive. The 1wt. George Minculete Orvis Superfine build with a Hardy Flyweight reel and a Barrio 1-2 wt. floater in ivory and a 8 ft tapered leader.

On the first morning I fished the Eagleclaw and caught a few on nymphs - damsels tied by me. In the afternoon, I fished the Sage and  caught lots of fish both below and on top.

On day 2 in the afternoon, after having casted the Superfine on grass (and it casts fantastically!!!), I tied on a small 16 Klinkhammer and took a 1.5 lb rainbow at the edge of the large pond.  My first fish with my new 1 weight and  it was great! 

I then walked to two smaller but deeper pools at the top of the stream and tied on a PT nymph. Four casts in the first pool and I caught four rainbows all around the 1lb mark! I was now very very happy and loving the Orvis! 

At the top pool, 3 casts for 3 fish and then I managed another 4  before calling it a day.  12 rainbows on the rod's first trip out !!!

On day 3 and the last day, I left the Orvis in its tube until late in the day. We were back at the large pond. I saw a rise at the inlet stream to the pond and decided to take out the Superfine. I tied on a 14 Stimulator, ginked it and walked to the head of the lake. The fish rose again from some 20 - 25 ft. Standing back on the grass verge, I casted the fly and landed it exactly where the trout had just risen. A massive whirl and splash and I was in! The fish took me straight under the stream bank and broke me in less than 15 seconds!
Undeterred, I tied on a two tone coachman / gnat in size 16 and walked a few yards up the stream and cast blind to below a log crossing. I hooked, fought and netted a fish of about 2 lbs! 

The rod was / is amazing! It casts with accuracy and pleasure, it has the backbone to hook, fight and land fish to 2 lbs plus (read on below) and is a work of art!

 

While the others drove to a lower pool for a last few casts before dark, I chose to walk down carrying the Orvis. When I arrived at the large pool, my friend and my father were fishing opposite banks. I was at the top of the pool where the stream feeds into it. I pulled off 15 feet of line and put a cast out to the mouth of  the slow flowing inlet stream. A large splash and I was into a rainbow of 3 lbs on a 1 weight 7'6" Superfine rod !!! Obviously the battle lasted longer than a 5 weight would have and I did have a passing thought about the sporting element of fishing a 1 weight with large fish. But long and short was after about 7 min's I netted  a superb 3.5 lb hen rainbow ! A great fish to an awesome rod.

Once again, many many thanks to you for building me such an excellent rod. Everyone who has seen and cast it (yes I did allow a few people to cast it) all said that it was a work of art !

I will have a lot of fun with this rod in the months / years ahead!

Cheers, 

Charles W J Weller"