AIR 2

I love my new Winston Air 2. It is easy to cast and a real treat.

Nice moderate/fast rod. Nicely handles half-heavy lines, but feels great with true-to-line-weight lines. Versatile and classy.

Have you ever had a rod that fits your hand perfectly as you grasp the new cork handle and pull it out from the rod bag? The shiny new green blank compliments the sleek and comfortable cork grip as my new rod escapes the confines of its rod sleeve. Looking at it, I quickly became confident that I would like this rod. Anticipation and lack of patience forced me to take it in the front yard for a few cast. After a few minutes I cancelled my plans for the next day and took it fishing.

I own a cross-section of Winston rods, starting with the pre-Winston Kennedy Fisher rods, the WT Series, and several BII X and BIIX. I like fly rods, similar to how my wife loves shoes.

I didn’t want to write a review of the Winston Air 2 9’ 4 wt fly rod until I could concentrate on fishing it to ensure it has the Winston soul of my other rods. I wasn’t disappointed.

This particular rod was fished often this summer, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Colorado and Wyoming. The more I use it, the more I want to fish with it. The 4 wt has a lot of reserve power and a different feel, but in a good way.

Discussing this fly rod's metrics, swing weight properties and other technicalities is not beneficial in this review, as that horse has been beaten to death on the internet.

What matters to me is performance and fishability. Will the rod make a short roll cast and then stretch the fly line out when called upon while being sensitive enough to feel the fish fight? I wanted to feel the fish immediately in the tip when it struck the fly, and then feel the head shake. I wasn’t disappointed. It quickly became my “go-to” rod.

This rod is absolutely fun to fish with. It casts great, and most of all, it plays fish wonderfully. Even though it’s a 4 wt, the rod has enough backbone to land really nice fish.

I have shared this rod with others to cast and fish with. “I can’t believe this is Winston Rod,” are the frequent comments I hear. Everyone agreed that the new Air 2 is a great fly rod. From nymph fishing to delicate dry fly presentations, this rod is a worthy companion.

My only thought is, if the 4 wt feels this good, I wonder how the 3 wt feels!

A bit of context before the details: My wife (new to fly fishing) and I (50 years since catching my first trout) have elected fly fishing to be our retirement activity together…. We’ve outfitted her from #2 wt creek rods all the way through #8 wt Spey rods and everything in between …

Her single favorite rod of all those expensive rods? Her Air2 9’ #5 wt..

While fishing arguably the best trout streams and broad rivers here in Colorado this rod has been exceptional for both her and I. Wow it really covers so much … paired with Rio Good Elite WF5F we fished it with single dries, dry with 2 dropper, hopper with 2 droppers, 2 hoppers, and wait for it … large indicator with 3 tungsten nymphs. Absolutely a dream from the boot tips out to 60 effortlessly with all those rigs. Shocker. My wife said this rod is more accurate than any other rod she owns “I just think where I want it to go and it does it.” The real shocker for me was roll casting the indicator 3 nymph rig, the flies didn’t plop over they rolled over so smoothly it laid out 3 flies in a beautiful loop. Yeah shocker so suddenly all my 10’ various weight nymph rods come into question as this rod is so effortless and less fatiguing to fish.

Picking the rod up and comparing it to other fast action rods of today you might guess it to not have the power to manage longer distances yet it does …. Ok You can’t jump on it like a few other super fast action rods BUT you don’t need to, this rod finds the line speed for you. And it does so with the smoothness of gentlemen.

The tip protects 4-7X without a thought. The butt had the power to control 22” rainbows in broad current.

I can’t speak to streamers or a Titan sink line - it might do it well…. When I fish streamers I’m a bit more aggressive hard to say if “I” could slow down “just a touch” to let the rod work for me but it just might do a good job there too.

Rapid fire the bank 50’ away with 2 hoppers and the rod picks the line up and right back down without false casting, backcast is the perfect loop every time be that tight or more open. You can control the loop so effortlessly.

The truth is this rod fished way beyond its rod rack waggle suggested in the many shops I found it to be in before purchasing.

Ok now I’ll say it … I agree with my wife this rod is so much fun to fish it is also my favorite rod of all time.

It’s so nice to have the prettiest girl also be the best girl one who will endure for generations. This rod is not only beautiful it’s the one you want to be with. I can’t wait to fish it again!

Paired mine with the Bauer and love it … the wife went rainbow reel … balance was found in both cases …

The fine gentleman at Telluride Angler have been so wonderful at helping us build out my wife’s quiver and their reviews of this rod echo what I’ve found to be true … the fun factor of this rod for both beginner and 50 year veteran has this rod at the very top of the pack in my quiver too. All smiles. I even dreamt about it!

The white river is full of giant brown trout. The air 2 in a 5wt is my all time favorite small dry rod. delicate presentation, accurate casts and enough power to whoop a white river brown trout. The 6 weighs are my go to hopper and general nymphing rods. absolutely in love with this series.