Gear Review - Albright Yellowstone"Emergency" 8 wt

[David Lee]

I've never written a gear review before , but Jay Murakoshi asked me for my honest opinion about these rods .... so why not share it with every one here ?? If this is outside of what is acceptable on the board , Bill and Eugene can feel free to delete it .

Albright Yellowstone 'Emergency' 8 wt. - 2 piece - 9 foot (price $50.00)

The rod is the 'bottom' end of the Albright line , I think . Oversized snake guides and tip-top (which I like a lot) , clean , plain wrappings , and a 'graphite' reel seat (could be matt black plastic , for all I know ...) - single lockdown seat . The cork handle and fighting butt are clean and tight , but have been filled . Nice looking rod , but kind of dull (not that looks catch fish , or cast well)

Action best described as the fast side of medium-fast - I used a very old 8 wt. Masterey Bass-bug taper floater on it . No problems loading from 10 to 35 feet , with a good amount of reserve power . I am NOT a fan of 'large' floating lines , I never could cast one worth beans , but using this rod .... I could shoot 60-70 feet without really trying . The rod didn't like to be 'punched' - a SMOOTH acceleration and high stop on the foreward stroke were rewarded with a nice , straight layout (even in the gusting , 12-20 MPH breeze I had) . I didn't use any sinking lines , or roll-cast much - I'll address those things in part two of this review .

For fishing surface flies , or Bass-bugging , I would have to say this is the best rod I've ever had in my hands -I think using a Rio Clouser taper in 8 wt. could make it even better . Over the next week or two , I'll cast and fish it with some different shooting heads to see how it handles sinking line situations . I'm not sure if Kienes fly shop carries them , but I think this rod is a winner in the low-price catagory ..... I can't wait to use it in the Delta this fall !!

looks/fittings -6 out of 10 ..... it IS a plain jane .

Casting - (w/ a floater) -9 out of 10 , shoots like a rocket , just keep it smooth .

Negatives - No tube , or sock .

Overall -Find one and cast it .... I think you'll be suprised .

David (no ..... I didn't get comped/greased/buddy deals for my opinion)

[Jay Murakoshi]

David,

Thanks for the comments. First, the rod is not on the market. I understand when the rods came from overseas, it didn't meet Albright's specifications so it wasn't sold out to the public. They gave a few people in the industry to chance to purchase these rods. It came in a 9' 5wt and a 9'8wt. For the price, I couldn't go wrong. I purchased 25 of them and still have a few left in the closet
I have taken the rod to the lake and threw shooting heads backed with clear amnesia. I didn't have any problems loading the rod and throwing 100'. But like you mentioned, you can't over power the rod.

The rod is definitly a "plain jane" but for the price and using it as a spare rod or a first step rod, you can't go wrong. I will be using the rod for stripers in a couple weeks and plan of using it for shad next season.
I'm going to take a couple to Baja and really put the heat to it and see just how much lifting power the rod has before it splinter's.

I have sold a few to the Kiene board viewers


Thanks again

Jay