I usually don’t try to promote or push certain gear as such in order to keep this site on an even keel without too much commercalism involved. Also the fact that I’am a Scott Rod dealer has nothing to do with it—–well maybe just a little bit.
There are numerous salt water rods on the market, some are good, some are junk but still cost like good. Scott has come up with their new X2S salt water rod and this is a dandy. It blows the doors off their old S3S as it loads easier and has the power of the old STS. That rod combined with Rio’s newer “Coral” salt water line is in my opinion a perfect match. This new line unlike their older bonefish taper line which retained memory worse than a roll of old rusty barb wire retains very little memory. At first I was not real impressed with the color which they call Coral (looked awful pink to me) but after being in the sun for awhile it turns to a more ivory color which I thought matched the flats much better. With all the salt water lines I have tried this one is the best.
Last summer an old client of mine from North Carolina called me and asked what salt water setup I thought would be the best for fishing for redfish in his area. I told him that X2S 8wt with the Rio Coral line and you can’t go wrong. Now this guy is a hard sell and is a skeptic and very critical. But he has known me for a long time and knows I don’t bull shit about such important matters as ones fly fishing gear. He already had a salt water rig that he brought to Andros last year. He asked if I would try it and give my opinion. I tried it and handed it back to him without saying a word—he knew. With his new setup he says his performance while casting to reds and stripers has improved 100 per cent. We’ll see what Herman thinks when he goes out with him in January.