its a weird little rod, i hated it at first but once you sort of find its rythym, its alot of fun. it completely falls apart for me at maybe 20-25'. its 5'9" fly rod. what are you planning to do with it, but still, completely falls apart.

its short. way short. too short for me, maybe not others.

don't bother trying to feed it any weight, and have a good time with it.

I had the 3 weight model. Finest short roll casting rod i've ever owned.

I just received the 7' 4/5wt for Christmas and can't wait to get it out on the water. Does anyone have any reel suggestions that would balance well with this rod?

BR, welcome, and that dirty water made for a dark bluegill, didn't it.

Please see here for info on converting your Pflueger to LHW. (Those instructions helped quickly convert several Pflueger Gems. Deep link may be gone, but good textual descriptions are still there.)

Very cool, thanks!

I'm not sure what you mean. It's a relatively heavy reel, but at the light rod weights, it doesn't bother me so much. It fits the Cabelas CGR reel seat just fine. It's not clear to me what "old Medalist reel seats" are.

I would like to know what reel seats it won't fit, because I'm considering putting it on a Dan Craft 0/1wt build as a line holder instead of converting it to LH retrieve.

Thanks!

Naw, it's a newer Medalist--bought within the last year or so. Definitely not MIUSA. I'm glad to find out that the older Medalists don't have the same footprint. Is there a reference to figure out the footprint for the various medalist sizes?

Try an Orvis Rocky Mountain 3/4 cassette reel. You can them on eBay for around $50.00. They fit my 7' 4/5 wt very nicely and add a WF-4-F Cabelas Prestige line and you're good to go.

I picked up a 6'6" 4wt and after trying several lines, IMHO, it lawn casts beautifully with a Teeny BS-100.

Nice smooth stroke that's progressively full-flexing without hinges down the entire length of the rod, but not into the handle. Medium to maybe medium-fast would be my best guess. Not too fast and not too slow either. Likes medium-sized loops. Nice recovery when the line is released without noticeable tip bounce. The line slips through the guides to gain distance without significant friction and lays the fly out delicately.

Me thinks it will be just right for tossing size 8 and 10 BH wooley buggers (or cat's whiskers, of course) up against the banks and tree roots under the cypress overhangs this summer.

Bulldog, this is one you'll have to try one day.

Typically, I'd pick a Phillipson MF-70 in this situation. So as a point of reference for those who fish similar situations, I'd say it's not as "punchy" as a Phillipson MF-70. It is lighter, smoother and softer yet is still able to shoot plenty of line well and does so rather gracefully. This one's a keeper. Just be sure to use a light reel with a thin foot.

I'm definately looking forward to getting this one out on the water this summer!

Also, my fishing buddy got some new 1494 Medalists on a Cabela's closeout. He said they came with left hand retrieve. Since he is left handed, he had to change them over, which is easy enough to do. The 1492 is still right hand, so far as I know.

I'm right handed but retrieve right handed. When I started fly fishing, almost all reels were right hand retrieve. I got used to it.

It looks like Cabela's sale is back on ... $74.99 plus $2 shipping (with promo code of 32SHIP)

Those of you with the CGR 7.5' 5/6wt might be happy to know that should you mistakenly grab the Medalist with the 4wt line instead of the Martin with the 6wt, and then choose not to walk back to the car to get the correct reel because you're still wearing your dressier shoes from work and don't want to slog through the mud any more than necessary, all is not lost! Though it prefers a 6wt, and likes a 5wt, the rod doesn't complain to much about a 4wt, and the overall effect is generally the same (much in the way that I prefer Bulleit, like Makers, but won't complain about Wild Turkey, and the overall effect is generally the same!).