Over the last few years, almost anything and everything related to Euro-nymphing has been in demand, as the tight line fly fishing crazy continues to gain steam. Redington’s STRIKE Euro-nymphing rod was no exception, gathering accolades a fairly steady clip following its 2019 debut. But no rod is perfect and Redington went back to the drawing board to redesign a new and improved STRIKE for 2023, which it released a few weeks ago.
The new incarnation of the Redington STRIKE not only introduces new features, it addresses several of the limited shortcomings anglers identified with the previous model. The result, Redington hopes, is a rod that becomes a favorite in the quivers of Euro anglers everywhere. Here’s a look at some of the additions and improvements Redington’s new offering.
Micro fighting butt
A welcome feature for most anglers, Redington added a micro fighting but to help control your quarry.
More Sensitive Tip
According to Redington, the new version of the STRIKE has a significantly more sensitive tip than its predecessor, which should help improve strike detection and tip protection. That’s notable, given that the original STRIKE excelled at both.
New, tip-positioned snake guides
If you’ve spent any time Euro-nymphing, you know that having your fine Euro-leader wrapping itself around your rod blank is a common frustration. To help address this, Redington added snake guides to the tip section of the STRIKE and biased the position of those guides nearer to the tip-top of the rod, in a order to help tame wandering Euro-leaders.
Repositioned stripping guide to reduce sag
Sag is the Euro-nympher’s slack, the bane of good strike detection and hook setting (if you’re not familiar with the concept of sag, check out “How to build a better Euro-leader and detect more strikes” from nymphing guru George Daniel). To help reduce sag, Redington has repositioned the stripping guide on the newly-designed STRIKE.
Lighter with improved balance
There really were few serious gripes about the original STRIKE from most Euro anglers, but if there was one persistent one, it was about the rod’s weight. As we noted in our review of the original STRIKE, the rod felt noticeably heavier in the hand than some competing Euro rods. Redington has made the new STRIKE significantly lighter by reducing weight in the blank and moving to single-foot guides, and they’ve also reshaped the rod’s grip to improve its balance.
Redington also downsized the model lineup, choosing to focus on three popular sizes rather than its previous lineup which included 5 models. The new Redington STRIKE is available in weights 2, 3, and 4, with lengths ranging from 10’ (2 weight model) to 10’6” (3- and 4-weight models).
Stay tuned for our full review.
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