Pete Tyjas spills the beans on a new rod purhase the Vision Tane.
Vision have a new entry in what is probably the most competitive part of the fly rod market, the £250 price range.
Nowadays, for that sort of money I’d be expecting a well designed rod that is fully fit for purpose, is well finished, has something a little extra to make it stand out from the crowd and does exactly what it is supposed to when I am casting a fly line to fish.
Enter the Vision Tane. Tane, apparently, is a Finnish term for brown trout but it still translates well to a name for a range of rods for us here in the UK too.
I spend a lot of time looking at rods in these price ranges and am spoilt for choice if I want an 8 1/2ft or 9ft 4wt, my normal river all-rounder. No, when I am looking at this price point I want something that is a little different yet will fit in with the rods I already own and use.
This is when my ears pricked up a little when I noticed one of the rods in the Tane series is a 9 1/2ft 3wt. Now, as a light line enthusiast this really interests me. A rod that will be perfect for fishing pocket water high up on Dartmoor when I am fishing a short line but will still allow me to make great mends of line when I am working a dry on a long drift on my home water of the Taw.
The 3 wt line will also be heavy enough to allow me to fish a NZ rig or Duo style set-up should I want to fish a nymph too.
So, I bit the bullet and bought one.
The first thing I noticed when the rod arrived and I’d unpackaged it was the rod tube. I guess this is the first part of making your rod stand out. It has the appearance of being a premium end rod tube. I also like the way rod sock complements both the rod blank and the tube too. These really are minute details but nice ones. Nice quality cork too.
Vision Tane
Range
8ft 3wt £259.99
9.6ft 3wt £259.99
8ft 4wt £259.99
10ft 4wt £259.99
9ft 5wt £259.99
9ft 6wt £259.99
9.6ft 7wt £269.99
10ft 7wt £269.99
I put the rod together and gave it a quick wiggle. Initial impressions were exactly as Vision describe “smooth medium fast action”.
Casting the rod on grass I strung it up with a RIO LT, RIO Gold and a Barrio Smallstream. For me, the Gold just shaved the Smallstream line but that was personal preference. I spoke to a couple of friends who said they’d been fishing the rod with a RIO Perception and really liked it. Again, with a line through the rod rings I’d agree with Vision's description of the rod action.
The rod performed as I hoped it would both at short range and slightly longer too. I always fight the urge to rip all of the line off of the reel and see how far it will cast as I don’t fish at these distances but did have a little go and it did well.
I have taken the rod on the river and fished it with just a dry and with a nymph hung below the dry too and have enjoyed doing so. Recently I fished with two good friends and we just shared the rod and fished. The response was a positive one from both of them.
There are rods for just about all disciplines in the Tane range from an 8ft 3wt to a 10ft 7wt and I think Vision might have found themselves a nice spot in a hard part of the market place. Well done.
More on the Tane and other Vision products from the Vision website