The Orvis Zero Gravity Fly Rod: An Underground Review
By Tom Chandler on Mar 6, 2007 in Review, gear
I’m mostly a bamboo and fiberglass guy, meaning I like rods that bend easily.
I think concerns about weight are way overblown, so as a result, modern, high-quality (and high-priced) graphite isn’t much in evidence in my rod closet.
So when I had the chance to score a high-end Orvis rod (disclosure: a trade) I went for a rod that played to graphite’s better qualities: a big fish/high winds/sinking line/streamer rod.
I went with a 9′ 6wt in the Orvis “mid flex” (7.5 flex), figuring I’d feel more at home with the taper than with the “tip flex” rods which I don’t much care for.
The wraps are simple, and the deep red blank is handsome.
I’ve fished the rod four times under winter conditions (it’s a special-purpose rod after all–if I waited until I used it a dozen times you’d be reading this a year from now), including a couple brief flings with a streamer, casting a dry, and [sigh] nymphing.
First.
I have some serious doubts about technology being the one true path to fly rod happiness, but I will say Orvis got the cosmetics right.
The Zero Gravity comes in a gorgeous, pebbled finish red tube, and the blank itself is handsome, deep red color. Pretty.
The wraps are clean and neat (what you’d expect from a high-end rod), and the guides appear to be standard
The new Orvis reel seats are shapely (and clearly lightweight) affairs, though they’re overshadowed a bit by the 7″ reverse wells grip, which is (to my preference) too long, though the center swell fills the hand nicely.
Of course, that kind of grip is pretty standard on today’s production rods, and if you’re a total pain in the ass about a grip, you’re probably buying custom rods anyway.
Gorgeous reel seat.
Enough About Pretty. Is it Manly?
You knew we’d get around to this eventually. First, this rod is–as advertised–as light as you’d expect it to be.
I know some fly fishers who obsess over the loss of an eighth of an ounce off their fly rod, a practice any bamboo fly rod guy finds oddly misplaced, but then, Sage, Loomis and others have been selling this kind of technology (with great success) for years, so you can hardly blame Orvis for following suit.
According to Orvis, the Zero Gravity rods use a thermoplastic resin, boron fibers and a unidirectional carbon scrim to produce blanks that are “25% stronger yet 25% thinner than comparable blanks, and 40% lighter.”
Clearly, fly rods are growing lighter, and as I understand it, the challenge nowadays is to retain some semblance of strength in the things, which I understand to be the real reason they went to the thermoplastic resin.
All I can say for sure is the rod didn’t break, and an Orvis dealer I spoke to said he had yet to see a broken one. And sadly, I haven’t yet fought a 28″ steelhead on the thing to truly test it.
If I do, you’ll hear about it soon enough.
So let’s just say the rod is clearly competitive on the technology front, give durability a tentative checkmark, and move on.
How Does it Fish?
Simply put, it casts nicely. Given that all high modulus graphite rods feel stiff to my hand, I found this rod a surprisingly smooth caster.
The tip was light enough to fish well at close range, yet the rod was certainly capable of throwing a lot of line. A lot.
My first tendency with a lot of modern graphite rods is to throw a heavier line on the thing to try and squeeze some semblance of feel out of the thing, and I was happily surprised to discover this Zero G rod didn’t need that.
Wayne Eng cast the rod and also felt it was “true” 6wt, so Orvis clearly got this part of the taper right.
Also surprising was the all-around “troubability” of the thing: modern freshwater 6wts are typically only fished over big trout and small steelhead, so you wouldn’t expect 6x delicacy from the thing, though in fact I did land a feisty 15″ trout on a 6x nymph dropper.
Score one for reasonable tapers.
I also threw a weighted streamer for a while, and the rod was certainly up to the job, though I have yet to find a rod where that kind of activity might be considered fun.
Of course, if high-modulus graphite rods have a sweet spot, it’s centered directly over nymphing, and I can say two things with certainty:
- This rod nymphs extremely well–it’s strong enough to pitch a couple shot and excels at setting the hook. If I was a nymph fisher, I’d use this rod fulltime.
- If fly fishing was only about indicator nymphing, I’d take up bowling.
All-Rounder
In truth, I was surprised at how nice the rod was, though I’m not busy listing my 5wt bamboo and glass rods for sale.
It’s at testament to the flexibility of medium tapers that this would probably make a nice all-around rod if you primarily fished freestone rivers or lakes, especially in windy/big fly situations.
If you were buying a rod specifically for flinging streamers the size of squirrels, then I’d do what Ian Rutter suggests and get a 7wt.
Still, if you were into high-tech rods and wanted a powerful-yet-all-around 6wt that fished lakes, stoneflies and freestoners (on windy days no less), then I’d have to give the Zero Gravity a thumbs up.
It would make a great windy-day back up to a 4wt that you could keep fishing after the wind died down (on anything short of a spring creek) and not give much away in terms of fishability or even tippet protection.
For a backwards, low-modulus kind of guy like myself, this is clearly a special-purpose rod, but–unlike some of the steeper, faster taper graphite rods I’ve tried–I could fish this one a large percentage of the time and not feel like I’d died and been sent to fly fishing hell for swearing on the Internet.
It’s a reasonable, fishable 6wt that does some things extremely well, which is about all you can really ask from a fly rod.
Orvis makes a damned pretty rod tube.
Technorati Tags: orvis, fly rod, orvis fly rod, zero gravity, zero gravity fly rod, graphite fly rod
Clay | Mar 6, 2007 | Reply
Welcome to the “dark side” Tom.
Alex | Mar 6, 2007 | Reply
Orvis? I thought this was a fly fishing blog?
Tom Chandler | Mar 6, 2007 | Reply
Clay: I’ve been to the dark side, done the high-quality graphite thing (years ago) and returned. The key? Don’t walk towards the light.
Alex: Get ready to have your mind expanded: Orvis is far and away the #1 Fly Fishing company (forget the dog beds and all the other stuff - and they’re still #1).
Cast in, tie on, check out…
Alex | Mar 6, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for the enlightenment. Orvis is like the GM of Fly Fishing. GM makes a ton of cars but I wouldn’t want anything they make. And if they made dog beds I wouldn’t buy any of those either.
ijsouth | Mar 6, 2007 | Reply
I get the Orvis catalogues in the mail, and I find that they have some very useful products; the key is, you have to wade through all the stuff that is aimed at a target audience a few Benjamins shy of Bill Gates. For example - I am relatively new to this fly-fishing disease, so I’m (gulp) exclusively in the dark side so far…eventually, I will want to try out bamboo, and I’m sure I’ll end up buying several - but, there is NO WAY I’ll ever shell out 7K for a rod/reel combo, like there was in one recent edition of the catalog. There are a lot of useless nick-nacks to skip over, but eventually you’ll find some good deals. The basic Battenkill reels are nice, and the prices aren’t bad. Even the rods, for the most part, are in the market range for graphite. Anyway, it’s fun to browse through.
Bamboo Addict | Mar 7, 2007 | Reply
Orvis is a very old company, that make some of outstanding (or have it made) outstanding equipment. Like IJ said it is fun to browse through there catalogues. There warranty and customer survice the best. No I wouldn’t buy a 7K rod and reel outfit from them, or anybody, but some people do. Hell I’ve sold a few flys for $500.00 a piece just to hang on a wall. All that to say this, not all of the equipment is just for yuppys, I have reels that are still with me from High School and are working good and still look great, and that was a long time ago. The Orvis rain jacket has served me well. Those of you that are thinking of getting into bamboo can find some real bargans on e bay on used Orvis rods. A few are quite nice. (I would rather shell out the money for a Chris Raine, or a Jimmy Reames rod) or in that case many of the other CA.,or OR. Builders.
David
Jim Webb | Mar 7, 2007 | Reply
I have an Orvis 7 1/2 ” 5 wt bamboo that is quite nice. I did not pay $7K for it, either. I don’t like the finish on it as well as some of the custom mades, but it fishes nicely, and is perfect for the small stream on which I use it. I also have a Winston 8 ” 4 wt that I am looking forward to fishing on that same stream.
The change that Orvis went through some years back is preferable to the one that Abercrombie & Fitch went through. Some of Orvis’ clothing is good value. But, I don’t like their business model, and I stay away from them for most fly fishing items.
ijsouth | Mar 7, 2007 | Reply
The 7K job, to be fair, was a limited edition model…actually, their bamboo prices aren’t that bad either, but of course they aren’t custom-made.
What really floored me in the last catalog I got was the prices for their vacation packages - enough to pay for a decade’s worth of trips to the Smokies.
Jim Webb | Mar 8, 2007 | Reply
The Smokies? Where’s that? Just kidding. My family, I and a friend used to vacation in Gatlinburg. I fished a number of the streams in the park, quite unsucessfully, since I was about 12 years old, and hadn’t a clue about trout.
andy | Apr 20, 2007 | Reply
Nice write up. Fish and Fly just trashed a Zero G 5 wt. I wonder what they were smoking. I fished a 6 wt. 7.5 just like yours from a guide and absolutely loved it. The word that comes to my mind is ’smooth’. I have fished my share of graphite, glass and bamboo. I like them all for different reasons. Like you I enjoy the smoothness and feel of bamboo. However, I liked the Zero G very much. I also once fished a T3 that I liked very much. And Orvis has a great conservation ethic. They may be big and may have made some mistakes in the past, but I do like a lot of their stuff.
andy | Apr 20, 2007 | Reply
In hindsight I should probably give Fish and Fly the benefit of the doubt. I did not cast the same rod they did, so I should not pass judgement on them. All I can say is that the 6 wt mid flex was a nice rod.
Tom Chandler | Apr 20, 2007 | Reply
Fly rods are a wholly personal matter, but I’d be lying if I thought most reviewers weren’t a little motivated by brand loyalty.
Frankly, I’d take my review of this rod with a grain of salt — I haven’t fished graphite rods consistently for years.
One thing is clear; you should always remain skeptical of reviews by fishers who don’t appear to have fished very long. I’m amazed by the fly fishers who have owned or cast only a couple of rods who are posting reviews on the Internet.
Certainly their preference is valid, but until you’ve fished a lot of rods in different situations, it’s hard to invest those preferences with a lot of juice.
Billy | May 23, 2007 | Reply
I have a Zero Gravity 5 weight in the 4 peice 8′6″ and absolutely love the rod. It does everything you want in a trout rod very well. It’s nimble, light, responsive & beautiful. Best of all, I almost got her for free. Orvis customer service is AWESOME!
Tom Chandler | May 24, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for the update. I haven’t tried any of the other Zero G rods.
Brian R | Aug 17, 2007 | Reply
I’ve fly fished a 5wt mid 7.0 T3 and thought it was awsome. I’m looking into a 5wt Super Fine 4.0 Full. I also have my Dads Bamboo Orvis from the 60s. In my mind Orvis makes a hell of a product and backs it up w/ great customer service. They were outa stock on a fly I bought for $2.75. As an apology they gave me 25% percent off any perchase I made within 10 days. I didn’t hesitate one second to purchase the before mentioned T3!
Tom Chandler | Aug 17, 2007 | Reply
Brian;
I’m working on a review now of Orvis’ newest rod — the as-yet-unreleased Helios line. Look for it soon…
Brian R | Aug 17, 2007 | Reply
Thanks,
Just asked orvis about the finish, price, release date of it and they politley went all covert on me
Brian R
Tom Chandler | Aug 17, 2007 | Reply
Yup. The rod I’m testing doesn’t even have the name on it…
Tom B | Oct 30, 2007 | Reply
You said you were interested in the Orvis Superfine 5 wt. For what its worth I have the 7′9″ in the 5 wt and it is one of the best fishing rods you can imagine. I have it paired up with the Abel Big Game Pt.5 (non porterd) and it balances perfectly.
This rod is ok to cast in the parking lot etc, but to really appreciate it you have to have the line in the water….you just wont believe how that rod does all the work for you and is smooth as can be.
Its no problem to do 60′ casts and throw nice tight loops when you want to……
Tom Chandler | Oct 30, 2007 | Reply
Tom B: I cast the 7′9″ Superfine and it was certainly nice, though I’ve got a lot of really nice 8′ 5wt cane and glass rods, so I’m unlikely to make any buys.