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The Allen Fly Fishing Myth Rod Series

Allen Fly Fishing is discontinuing and thus clearing out a few limited models of their Xa and Myth rods series. Both rods are heavily discounted, with the Myth series slashed to just $139. The Myth is Allen's premier line of rods, which Allen says is "built around precision, responsiveness, and lightness in the hand. It loads up for powerful distance casts, and quickly recovers for maximum power. When brought in for close quarters, it tames itself for delicate, precise work with maximum sensitivity."

The Allen Fly Fishing Myth Rod Series
The Allen Fly Fishing Myth Rod Series

As mentioned, only certain sizes of each rod series are being discontinued and are available at closeout prices. This is limited to rod lengths less than 9' in weights 3 to 5.

Stock is limited and once they're gone, they're gone. So, if you're in the market for a short trout rod or have been considering the Myth or Xa series of rods, now's the time to grab one at a deep discount.

Trout and water temperature: How hot is too hot?

What stream and river temperatures should send C&R anglers home for the day?
Brook Trout experience stress at lower temperatures than other species.

With vast swaths of the country currently in the grips of what seems to be an interminable heat wave, countless cool flowing freestone trout streams have turned into something altogether different. Even freestone streams with strong cold water influences and spring creeks that normally remain temperature stable throughout the year have seen soaring temps with fish abandoning their normal feeding and holding lies in search of cold refuges. Most of us who fish know that when trout streams get too warm, the fishing goes downhill fast.

RIO Gold Fly Line featuring MaxCast and MaxFloat technologies.

RIO, one of the foremost names in fly lines, announced today two new fly line technologies that RIO is immediately introducing into three of its existing product lines. Termed MaxFloat and MaxCast, these two new technologies are the sort of developments that sound like potential game changers, provided they live up to RIO's billing. Given RIO's reputation, there's no reason to think they won't live up to the benchmarks that RIO is setting, but a bit of skepticism is natural when a product boasts the kind of performance enhancements that MaxFloat and MaxCast are touting.

RIO Gold Fly Line with MaxCast and MaxFloat
RIO Gold Fly Line featuring MaxCast and MaxFloat technologies.

MaxFloat is a new tip technology allows RIO lines to float more than twice as high as existing lines without the MaxFloat technology. That's no small improvement. If that wasn't impressive enough, MaxFloat does this without any increase in the diameter of the line, a crucial aspect of castability. RIO tells us these significantly higher floating lines will allow for "reduced drag, longer drifts and quieter pickups". Sounds good.

Sage Introduces new CIRCA Fly Rods

Sage won a lot of awards and lot of fans with its ONE series of fly rods, successor to their long running and wildly popular Z-Axis line of rods. Countless owners have remarked on the accuracy and power of the remarkably light ONE series. Not among those countless owners excited by the punch and power of the ONE series, however, were lovers of rods that speak more in terms of their finesse and feel than their power. Today, Sage has announced an all-new series of graphite rods designed to offer significantly slower action, load down into the butt and handle and a increased feel.

Sage CIRCA Fly Rod

Whatever praise Sage received for their ONE series, the ability of those rods to toss a size 26 dry fly with elegance and grace wasn't part of it. That said, Sage hasn't been alone in their trend toward more powerful, faster action, stiffer tipped rods. The premier lines of fly rod manufacturers such as G. Loomis, Scott, Orvis and Hardy (just to name a few) have also followed a similar trend. As a result, most dry fly aficionados and other slow-action rod lovers have turned to other materials such as bamboo and fiberglass when acquiring new rods or have simply stuck with older models of graphite rods.

With the CIRCA series, Sage aims to capture the action and tempo provided by bamboo and glass, but with the advantages that come with modern materials, bringing a new option to the world of the slow action fly rod. According to Sage, these advantages come mostly in the accuracy department. Fiberglass and bamboo ofter a soft touch and tempo, but lack torsional stability. In other words, as the rod loads and bends backwards and forwards, it also bends side-to-side. This side-to-side movement reduces accuracy. According to Jerry Siem, designer of the CIRCA series, using Sage's Konnetic technology (the same technology used in Sage's ONE series) Sage was able to develop a rod with the action and feel of glass and bamboo, but with incredible torsional stability and thus significantly higher accuracy.

Costa's New Double Haul Sunglasses

Earlier this year, Costa unveiled a new addition to their lineup with their 'Double Haul' sunglasses. As any serious fly fisherman knows, Costa has long been one of the go-to names in fishing for technical eyewear. As a bit of a sunglasses junkie and also considering that I share a name with the manufacturer, I was hopeful that I’d fall in love with pair of Double Haul 580G sunglasses that arrived a few months ago. I wasn't disappointed.

Costa's New Double Haul Sunglasses
Costa's Double Haul offer top-notch polarization, impressive coverage, venting and more.

Upon initial inspection, I was impressed by the look of the Double Hauls, immediately impressed at the coverage offered by the frames and lenses and was stoked to get them out on the water. Given that I'm used to wearing a cord with my glasses I was a bit skeptical about the ability of the Double Hauls to stay in place without one, but having read our own review of the Costa Fantail from our Best Fishing Sunglasses of 2011 Feature, decided to give this pair a shot sans leash. As it turns out, they didn't budge throughout numerous full days on the water and never even so much slide down the bridge of your nose. They feature a Hydrolyte material on the nosepiece and frame that gets tackier when wet and keeps the glasses from sliding down. Like many Costas, the Double Hauls also feature an integrated hinge system which also allows the glasses to stay put on top of your head or hat for those times when you want them off.

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