![]() ![]() The reel seat boasts a California buckeye burl insert – the swirl of colors and patterns looks a little like an exquisite piece of Italian Marble – supported by a black nickel skeleton. It is a beautifully made rod, but that just makes fishing with it more fun. Fortunately, she changed her mind after the first cast. “Too pretty to fish with,” said one tester. It laid out line smoothly and accurately, besting all but the Sage in both distance and accuracy for all our intermediate to expert casters. We found it perfectly suited to pushing line through the stiff winds that scour the basalt canyons of the Yakima River. The Helios 2 puts tons of performance in the hands of anglers. It comes in just a quarter ounce lighter than the Sage One, but that’s nearly a 10-percent weight savings. In short, the H3F proved to me, and my team, that it is truly the master of the Trout Rod category.Orvis’ original Helios rod series the standard for lightweight performance when it was introduced 2010 and version 2.0 moves that mark even further forward. I flung big weighted pat’s stone nymphs, and tungsten-head streamers with good accuracy and distance. The H3F proved equally adept when casting #20 midges, and #4 hoppers. VersatilityĪccuracy is vital in dry fly fishing, but the Helios 3F also helped improve my fishing when casting nymphs, streamers and double-fly rigs (such as my favorite hopper-dropper set-ups for summer cutthroats). I caught fish from a couple inches to couple pounds in size and the rod took care of each of them with ease. The rod has enough backbone to hold and play hard-charging browns and leaping rainbows. When it came to playing the fish once it was caught, the H3 performed admirably. Simply put, I found the H3F the closest thing I’ve seen to the perfect trout rod, and each person on my team of testers agreed. The H3F earned second place honors in casting distance among this class of rods, but it swept the rest of the performance categories with perfect 10 scores. In short, the H3F made me a better angler nearly overnight. I was able to consistently target and catch fish in tight holes that I’d previously see success only periodically when I’d make a lucky cast. I found myself threading flies into narrow feeding troughs under overhanging banks with casts astounded me. The H3F let even imperfect casters - such as myself - toss flies into tiny pockets of holding water with delicacy. The Orvis Helios 3F earned unanimous praise as the Best in Class this season, and over anything, we’ve tested previously. And when not fighting winds, we found we could push line far out into the river, getting even heavy weighted nymphs and streamers across the breadth of the lower South Fork Snake River. With the H3F, we were able to power through the stout desert winds in the Lower Canyon of the Yakima River - we pushed tight loops into the teeth of 15-20 mph winds, letting us get out to fish when other anglers struggled. That said, the H3F threw line farther and easier than any other rod in the class except the Sage Method. The H3 D-series focuses on pure casting distance with good accuracy. This series is designed with an emphasis on finesse and accuracy over distance. In full disclosure, we opted to field test and review the Helios 3 F-series rod. The modified wells grip fits snugly in hand and the balance and low swing-weight of the rod ensured we could cast all day without fatigue. The Helios 3F felt like a true extension of my arm in casting. I found the rod exceptionally accurate whether throwing tiny mosquito patterns a mere 25-30 feet out into an alpine lake or when hucking heavy #4 foam hoppers to big cutthroat in fast western rivers. The designers also incorporate slightly different composite configurations in each rod section to highlight the desired performance characteristics of each portion of the rod. That creates sharp-shooter accuracy even in tough casting conditions. The result is a rod that minimizes vibrations, allowing the rod to track forward and back with little or no side oscillations. The Helios 3F design team used new composites and a wealth of unique research in rod action to fine-tune the structure of the rod from tip to grip. NOTE: The sibling to the F-series, the Helios 3D (F for finesse, D for distance) stiffens the mid-section and gives greater reach, but sacrifices just a bit on delicate touch, so that version would give a point on the distance score, but lose a point on accuracy - keeping the total score at 99! The Orvis H3F focuses its design on precision casting, allowing more mid-flex to handle delicate fly placement. Instead, our Best in Class winner takes home a score of 99 out of 100 points. The Orvis Helios 3F earned just the second-best performance in casting distance in this class - that fact alone kept the H3F from earning a perfect score. ![]()
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