ECHO BAG and EPR fly rods with a nice catch of Pacific Albacore in Pacific City.
As a total aside, the reels I’ve been fishing with the ECHO BAG and EPR include the
*Nautilus
*Hatch 11 Plus
Both are SUPER FINE – TOUGH – DEPENDABLE fly reels. Note please that I was fishing olcer models of these reels than I have linked to – the old reels still work just fine and I’m sure that the new reels will perform as well if not better.
ECHO Bad Ass Glass fly rod review: I will start by noting that I’ve had a modest level of practical experience with several ECHO fly rods that you could consider power house rods. When I say this I mean fly rods that I would fish for hard-pulling species. Some of these rods accommodate finesse casting, some accommodate chuck-and-duck casting.
The fly rods I’m using as a comparative base include the following:
*Sage Xi3
*Sage Salt
*Sage One
*Sage X
*Winston B2x
*Winston B3x
*Winston B3x lus
*Scott Radian
*Echo Boost
*Echo 3 SW
*Echo Prime
*Echo EPR
*Echo BAG Bad Ass Glass
I will note here that I found all of these fly rods performed well enough, not one of these broke or failed me in any way when put under severe strain. The price points of these rods range from under 300 to over 800 bucks. The finish components of these rods is obviously very different with the higher priced rods outfit with the best reel seats, best guides, and nicest rod tubes.
Things get crazy when you are offshore fishing for Albacore.
When I say that all of these rods performed well enough here is what I mean. As a caster of intermediate skill, I am able to present my fly at a modest fishing distance in the bracket of 50 – 80 ft. All of these rods will also present a fly in the 20 – 50 ft range.
This might seem like a crazy way to introduce a fly rod review, but I’m a little crazy so why the heck not. One issue I have with fly rod reviews in general is that they may leave the impression that the subject of the review is the one and only fly rod that merits endorsement of any kind. I decided to start this review with a very general overview of the BAG:
You can not possibly go wrong with the ECHO Bad Ass Glass fly rod if you want a rod that is
*fantastically strong
*bends super deep into the cork
*looks so hot that it literally shines on the water
*will cast fly lines in a huge grain weight range
*is saltwater resistant
*will execute casts with floating and fast sinking fly lines
*executes casts as short as 20 ft and as long as 60 ft with a 450 gr fast sink fly line
*will probably execute longer distance casts with the right fly line, especially by a better caster
*capable of delivering a huge smile factor on the part of the fly rod user
ECHO Bad Ass Glass in the grass in Pacific City.
Here you go: a nice photo and rod specs for the ECHO Bad Ass Glass fly rod.
This is my brief review of the ECHO Bad Ass Glass fly rod. My written remarks in this post include the reaction of my friend Jack Harrell. Jack fished the 10 wt. for Pacific albacore and I fished the 12 wt. for albacore a few weeks later.
This screen shot from my Go Pro shows the BAG under heavy strain. Unfortunately, my camera was aimed poorly, so the video is nearly a total waste. Big Sigh.
Several very nice Pacific albacore that tested the ECHO Bad Ass Glass and EPR fly rods, both in 12 wts.
Bad Ass Glass and Hatch fly reel under strain offshore Pacific City.
My deepest thanks to my friends Kevin and Ed for getting me offshore (Kevin’s dory; Ed’s tuna processing; Kevin and Ed’s time and effort preparing the dory to fish and cleaning it up after the trip while I napped and tried to recover from the pounding we took in a rough ocean).
The albacore we tussled with this year are large, with many over 30 pounds. These big fish put the strain on our tackle and these ECHO fly rods were up to the challenge of pressuring tuna and getting us back in the water so we could try to catch another.
Jack and I are both impressed with this fly rod and recommend it very highly.
Not much strain in the rod here because the darn tuna was rushing our dory!
Official AIRFLO line recommendations.
AIRFLO line recommendations are shown above.
I fished the
SA Sonic 25 Sink 350 – 450 gr
AIRFLO Depth Finder Big Game 400 – 500 gr
RIO Outbound 10 wt (425 gr)
All of these are good fly line choices.
In closing, let’s look at the following rod chart from ECHO.
this shows the EPR as the fastest most powerful rod in the ECHO quiver, and the BAG is mid range in both power and speed. Here is my take home on this analysis. The EPR will be a superior rod for the angler who is seeking line speed, distance, accuracy and lifting strength in a fly rod. TH
The BAG will be an excellent choice for the angler of beginner and intermediate casting skill level (as well as the most experienced caster) because the glass rod will tolerate a very wide range of casting strokes and fly line weights.
if I were to note one down-side of the Bad Ass Glass rod in the 10 wt and 12 wt fly rods – this is it: The rod is heavier in hand than a fly rod like the EPR, the Sage Salt, or the Winston BIIIX, or the Scott Meridian. All of these fly rods are fast action graphite or composite fly rods that are engineered to be very light and generate very high line speeds.
If you are looking for a rod that will deliver the fastest line speeds, the greatest casting accuracy, and be the lightest in hand for making hundreds of casts in a day, I would recommend the ECHO EPR or another high-end fly rod.
This ECHO chart reveals the power versus action matrix for the range of single hand fly rods.
