9' 6 wt comparison - Fenwick Aetos vs Eco Carbon XL

[SurfnFish]

My most used boat rods. Both budget rods at $200, edge goes to the Fenwick Aetos because...
-casts/tracks better having a bit crisper blank and snake guides vs the Echo single foot guides
-after two seasons the cork on the Fenwick is holding up better
-Fenwick provides a divided compartment rod tube vs a pull out sleeve/open tube
-Instead of two dots to line up sections, Fenwick employs a dot/line combo that nails center on the slide in

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

Line / dot combo.....haven't seen that before. Sounds nice. Love dots to line up sections.

 

[SurfnFish]

Line / dot combo.....haven't seen that before. Sounds nice. Love dots to line up sections.

 

[RCF]

View attachment 65629

Great idea! Easy to see too.

Question? Are they lined up in your pic?

 

[SurfnFish]

Great idea! Easy to see too.

Question? Are they lined up in your pic?

yes, lined up and seated

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

Makes me wonder, why not just do two lines instead of two dots?

 

[cedarslug]

Makes me wonder, why not just do two lines instead of two dots?

Whoa whoa that would remove all tradition of this great sport /s

 

[Wetswinger]

I prefer single foot guides..

 

[jact55]

I think its rude when there isn't dots or some sort of lining help. I really don't want to put the work in to eye the whole damn pole. A sage foundation I was recently gifted doesn't have dots, and it pisses me off lol

 

[mcswny]

I think its rude when there isn't dots or some sort of lining help. I really don't want to put the work in to eye the whole damn pole. A sage foundation I was recently gifted doesn't have dots, and it pisses me off lol

You can always add them, Ive been meaning to do that on a couple rods.

 

[RCF]

2 white lines to make sure things are aligned makes sense to me.

 

[SculpinSwinger]

I usually look at the guides alignment from the backside of the rod, just as effective as the white dots.

 

[Jacob Watrous]

The Aetos is a great rod for the price, and outperforms many much more expensive rods. It was a little too fast action for my then 6yo, so he went with the Carbon, but if I were buying for me I'd get the Aetos. Thanks for the review!

Drift:
Alignment dots on the same side of the rod as the guides confuse me. When I set up a rod I’ve got the reel on and the butt and second sections naturally pivot in my hand to face the ground. When I go to stick the other section/half of the rod on I’m looking at the back of the rod and if my rod has them the dots are facing away from me. So I look at the guides.

Most of my rods travel rigged, but I’d probably use the dots if they were actually facing me when setting up a rod and glow-in-the-dark. Actually, why aren't they glow in the dark? That'd be fantastic! I'd use the heck out of them if they glowed. (I'd also like to see glow-in-the-dark guide wraps and more glowing fly line options than SA Magnum and RIO Gold, but that's probably just me hitting the water before dawn/fishing past dusk)

Off to go paint glow-in-the-dark nail polish dots onto my rods,

J.

 

[DerekWhipple]

I think its rude when there isn't dots or some sort of lining help. I really don't want to put the work in to eye the whole damn pole. A sage foundation I was recently gifted doesn't have dots, and it pisses me off lol

It's a cost savings measure. I heard dot painters at Sage are paid $800 an hour.

 

[ColinShots]

I think its rude when there isn't dots or some sort of lining help. I really don't want to put the work in to eye the whole damn pole. A sage foundation I was recently gifted doesn't have dots, and it pisses me off lol

Here’s my foundation with added dots. I just used a silver sharpie and then added a bit of uv resin over the top.

 

[dirty dog]

I loved my old fenwick glass rods, both spin and fly.
They kicked ass on big fish.

 

[SurfnFish]

The first fly outfit I ever cast was a white fibreglass Fenwick with a mounted Pflueger reel. Wish I had it today.