Scott Radian
- This topic has 11 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Nov 28, 2013 at 9:24 pm by
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What’s the consensus from any and everyone that has cast and or fished this rod.
I’ve cast and fished (couple hours on Rims Shoals, White River) a 9’0″ #5 with a RIO Perception line, was impressed to say the least, most responsive rod I’ve ever had in my hands.
I’m looking for feedback on the 7 and 8 weights.
I fish a Scott X2s in a 7 for my boat streamer rod.
I’m going next spring to a series of private trophy bass lakes in LA (lower Alabama) with my FFF club, all the other members use 8 weights on these lakes, I’m satisfied my X2s #7 would handle the Stealth Bombers they throw, heck I throw articulated semi chickens and 250 grain heads on it.
The Radian #5 felt so light in my hand, wonder if I did get a #8, if it feels the same way as the 5 did but up a notch or two being a 8, which I expect it does, would it make me lay the 7 to the side.
David
My only experience with it was with a prototype, which was fantastic. Really, just a very responsive, firecracker of a rod. Basically just a fast action rod with everything right in the sweet spot if that makes sense.
I have a 9′ 5 weight coming this week which I hope to fish in Arkansas in a couple weekends. I’ll report back then.
I have the #6 and #8, and fished the #8 quite a bit in northern Australia last month. The #8 handles toads and whistler style flies in #2/0, and extracted some great fish out of mangrove roots… More importantly, the rod can easilly be controlled for trick casts in under branches etc – smooth, super tight loops if you can drive the rod. I matched it with a Airflo Ridge Tropical Clear Tip floater and it was a really nice combo that was hard to put down. Later at Magnetic Island I fished the flats with this rod, and it handled some weighty crab/shrimp flies well.
A mate fished with the #7 on the flats at Magnetic Island and said it was the smoothest #7 he had ever cast. He thinks its the perfect CI bonefish rod but thats a prett subjective comment.
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Beechy
Any word on whether Scott is going to replace the S4S with a saltwater Radian next year? That’s been the pattern hasn’t it?
JT –
Scott’s basically got the following product categories, historically:
Freshwater medium action trout: G, G2
Freshwater fast action: SES, E2, S3, S4, Radian
Saltwater fast action: STS, X2s, S3s, S4s
*Saltwater “lifting”: Heliply
Fiberglass: F, F2
Spey: T2h, T3h
Then they have their “downmarket” models like the Alpha series (SAS, A2, A3, A4) and the budget-oriented Spey rods (LS, LS2, L2h). Their ultra-premium M series is built on selected blanks from other rod models, while their Scott Concepts are typically re-releases of older blanks with modern resins and graphite, and one-offs like the (shockingly) popular FiberHammer. I have a Concepts Heliply 8’8″ 8 weight which is a great moderate action rod.
I may have a couple of those mixed up in terms of category and I’ll ask Ian to look them over.
Obviously right now, only the “lifting” category is unrepresented. For my part I have been hoping they would build a “Heliply 2” for several years now. The S4s is a fantastic delivery system for striper flies but it’s a mite delicate when it comes to beating around a moving canoe, bridges, logs, structure, etc. I could definitely benefit from a burlier stick even if I had to sacrifice some casting grace, which I can’t muster much of in that environment anyway.
The impetus for getting away from the “S5″ moniker was that it looked like the German SS logo. I imagine the same consideration will be in play for the S5s. S4s has also been much more popular than its predecessors, meaning Scott is unlikely to bag it just for the sake of doing something.
In the last couple cycles, the Alpha series has rebooted, as has the S3/4/Radian, as has the T2h/T3h, and the LS2 is new. I stress that I do not have any insider info on this question, but my money would be on a G3. The G2 was released in 2005 and while it has had necessary incremental updates just because supplies of resin and carbon fiber change over the years, it hasn’t been re-booted in almost a decade. The G series has a lot longer shelf life than most rods (the G2 8’8″ 5 weight has been my primary trout rod for 7 years now), but it may be time.
So my HOPE is that they’re working on an H2. My suspicion is that it’s a G3. The possibility is that they aren’t working on any new series and may indeed just be filling in the existing lines with more models (such as an 8’8” series in the Radian, possibly). The “weird” Scott lengths of 8’8″ and 8’4″ commonly went in their flagship internal-ferrule models like the G2 and Heli-ply, so that last bit may be incorrect as well.
I wanted them to release a distance stick called the District Manager with a spey brother called the Regional Manager in the Concepts series a couple years ago, but my proposal reportedly got laughed down by the reps. 🙂 I still think it’s a great idea. Hahahaha.
Zach
Great info Zach. At some point ill score an s4s but I was going to wait until they close out. Guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer or just pull the trigger.
Just pull the trigger mate, they are good enough to eat!
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Best Regards,
Beechy
Oh, so I did get my 9′ 5 weight Radian this week. I’m going to fish it in Arkansas – beautiful rod!
Zach
Finally got a chance to fish my new Radian this weekend in Arkansas. That is a really nice rod. I actually think the thing I liked most, aside from the light weight and crisp action, was the grip. Not many people have mentioned that; ever since Sage made it okay to put a full wells on a trout rod with the ONE, I have been really pleased to see this trend developing. Scott wisely tapered the grip slightly so that the rod rests in the knock of your thumb and first two fingers. The lower end of the grip is slimmer, which makes for a comfortable cradle and also will help anglers prone to misapplying power by weakening their grip on the bottom of the rod (which can cause some inadvertent creep and thus a tailing loop). Loomis did this same thing a few years ago but only the true technicians really “got it.” (Steve Rajeff and John Wilson, both obviously terrific casters, pointed it out to me).
Super great rod–looked beautiful with my old Ross San Miguel.
Zach
Got a chance to cast the 5 weight today and really liked it, a bit surprised as a Winston/Sage guy traditionally. I was using a triangle taper line which was good but wondering what lines you guys have used on this rod. Maybe a GPX?
Chris –
GPX would work fine for sure, but this rod also excelled at throwing dry flies on a long thin taper like the SA VPT. I saw guys fishing them on the Henry’s Fork with like 16+ feet of leader and turning their flies over just fine.
That’s the future. I bet in 20 years a twenty foot leader for dry fly fishing isn’t considered unusual.
Zach
After hearing months of hype surrounding the Radian series I was chomping at the bit to fish one these rods. I always find it interesting to see if the hype of these new rods/gear is actually justified, and in this case I would fully agree that it is. I finally got my hands on a Radian (a 9′ 5wt. demo rod) for the last couple weekends, and it has immediately vaulted to the top of my wishlist. There is not much to say about this rod that hasn’t already been said, but I will echo two of Zach’s above observations – the two characteristics that impressed me most were the exceptional lightness of the rod, both in physical weight and swing-weight, and also the full wells grip. The componentry and finish are top notch too. Time to start saving my pennies because this will surely be my next rod purchase…
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