I worked the Dallas Boat Show this weekend and last and TFO had a booth there.
They had the prototype of their new Finesse 1/2 wt rod and BVK 0 wt reel with them last week and I got to play with it all day. This is a sweet little 5' 3" 3-piece rod that really cast nice. The reel was loaded with 1wt line (brand unknown) but the rod is supposed to work well with 0 wt line. I am excited about the arrival of the rods and reels in mid March. As soon as I have one in my hands I'll do a full report.

I pried this rod out of Jerry's hands long enough to cast it last week.

This is a nice rod. I've found some of the super light rods to be kind of tempermental to cast well, but this was a smooth casting rod. I liked it. The rod's action had a nice feel to it and the rod was easy to cast. I don't know what I would do with it, but I know some of you love ultra-light rods and this one will be worth taking a look at and casting. It's a sweet rod.

I was very impressed with the reel. It is small and very light weight. Well made tiny reels can be a challenge to find and if you're looking for a really light reel, I think you'll like this one. It looks and functions just like the larger sized BVK reels.

The rod and reel were fun to play with.

Thank you Jerry! That sounds delightful!

Rex, if there are places where bream hold under trees, if there are little creeks, places where it's dink city, or if you were up on Spillway Creek at Broken Bow, those are places where this little od would shine. Obviously not out on Texoma in a boat. Anywhere on Texoma proper actually. Maybe up a feeder creek. They are a hoot! I have a zero weight that Zenkoanhead built and later sold me that I LOVE!

Robin, I fully agree that there are fishing situations where these light rods shine, but I very rarely fishing those places and that is why I made that comment.

I can see using this rod on a little Brook trout stream and I can see it excelling on some of the overgrown urban streams around DFW. If I had one, I'd probably use it to terrorize the Bluegill and other sun fish in the pond near my house. I have no doubt that catching a fish on this rod would be a whole lot of fun.

Recently, I've been playing with heavier rods. My newest rod is a 6 wt TFO Pandion two handed rod. Putting a fly into the next zip code is not a problem with this rod. I'm looking forward to trying it from a boat this summer when the Stripers are blitzing on Texoma. They always seem to surface about 15 feet further away than I can cast...

I think this new half wt rod will be well liked. It was a fun rod to cast. They will probably have it with them at Fly Fish Texas. Stop by their booth and test cast it.

I visited TFO last Tuesday with New Mexican Van Beacham and had a chance to try it out. It impressed Van who commented that it would be a great rod for the Costilla and the Comanche in the Valle Vidal.

I liked the rod.

Les

Here are photos of the rod and Van casting it. Please excuse the poor camera phone photos.



The reel is as alight as my Sage 3100 thaat means it probaly 2.3-2.6 ounces empty. The lightest Non -Sage offering Ive' seen in a few years. Any folks, it's silky smooth...

Ought to be a delight down on the Kee Branch

This one's on my radar.

Wahoo, is all I have to say about that. Well, I'll be getting that 1# finished by mid-March, so I can add the 1/2# to my arsenal. Oh, yes! Thanks for sharing, Jerry, and knock'em dead, Friday!

Thanks Julia!!!
Nice to have you in my corner!!!

Who, other than Sage, has a line that light?

Orvis makes a true one weight and when you consider that 000-1WT lines are within acceptable 1WT range it all fits; however finding one of these as a factory build for under $500 gets tricky. this rod will make a lot of folks happy when paying less than two hundred.

Les

I second that!