I have been managing two ‘camps’ this summer for Salmon Junkies – Acha River Explore and Umba River. It was a great opportunity to test a new switch rod from Vision in Finland, the Cult 10’11 foot, 7 weight. Impressive and smooth are the first words that come to mind testing this rod. This rod has a ‘big brother’, the Cult DH 14’7’’ 9 weight standard double-hand rod, which has won several ‘best in test’ awards in fishing magazine, e.g. Chasing Silver 4/2010. So it’s probably no coincidence that this particular switch rod in the product line is such a nice rod to fish with.
In mid-October the season was coming to an end in Umba, and the weather was tough with wind and rain. Actually not ideal conditions to bring out a light weighted Switch rod! But anyway I did just that, and the rod actually performed really well. It was a lot fun using this rod and the hours just seemed to fly by. In general I am a big fan of fishing light, but no lighter than I feel is responsible for playing the salmon hard and short, and for years my favourite double-hander has been a 12’5’’ rod 8/9 weight. I do 90% of my double-handed salmon fishing with this rod, but that may be about to change!
The Vision Cult Switch rod has a very smooth action, much more moderate and deeper than most modern double-handed rods, which usually have a rather fast and crisp action. Great for really shooting the line missile-style over the river, but also requiring very precise timing in the cast. The deeper, slower and more ‘old-school’ action of the Cult rod is actually a pleasure to fish with and a nice change from the numerous casting rockets on the market. And yet it still casts very well and very far, you just have to adjust your casting motion to a calmer movement through the entire cast. A very forgiving rod I would say that does not necessarily require millimetre precise movements. With a well adjusted Skagit style setup, i.e. 400 grain/26 gram 10.1 meter floating shooting head, I was putting cast after cast out over the river in what felt almost like effortless energy coming from the rod. Another advantage of this rod is that the full flex type action handles a wider range of line weights allowing room for personal adjustments. All in all pure casting pleasure, and even though I did not have time to fish for long as I had to tend to guests, it seemed like an easy feat to be fishing with this rods for days without ever getting tired or sore.
The Cult rod series from Vision comes in 11 different versions, all 4-piece rods; from ultra-light and increasingly market popular Switch rods to the heavy stuff for cold spring rivers. The casting action is deep, almost a traditional ‘full flex’ action and the beautiful and detailed finish is just splendid, making this rod not only great to cast, but also real ‘eye candy’ for the passionate salmon fisher. I can really recommend it. Light, balanced and easy!
Jan Delaporte, camp manager