Can someone talk me through the Ijuin Rod lineup?
I’m wanting a slower rod than Epic or Steffen for a couple little streams I found around my new locale. Tight pocket water, little trout.



I’m thinking 3wt, maybe 4wt. 6’6” - 7’6”.
Yomogi? Are all the Yomogi’s similar?
Hard-para? What’s the functional difference between them?
Is there another option?
(Having trouble getting a clear picture from his website).

From limited experience:

The 7'3" that I have is a medium fast, powerful rod. So much so that it can be fished as a 5wt without issue. The taper is progressive. It's very versatile and I think it's speed would suit higher gradient pocket water particularly well. It is perfectly capable of bringing in fish small and large - it's hard to lose a fish on this rod. It will not get much of a workout on tiny fish.....

The only other Ijuin I know is the 7'11" 4 piece 5wt. It's not particularly suitable to the water you mention but it might represent the slower semi parabolic action Ijuins. The action is medium with good line speed generated and a tendency to produce loops that are not too tight. I have fished it with a 4wt effectively.

The Ijuins feel much more substantial in the hand (heavier) than Epics. On such short, light rods that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The shorter Ijuins if similar to the 7'11" in action would fit the description of the rod you are looking for. Personally for tight pocket water I prefer a faster rod that wants to cast tight loops all day. I also find a fast taper more suited to picking line up from faster moving water and producing a tight loop on the back cast.