I have, probably, too many Fenwicks, mostly vintage, but also representatives of the models that appeared about 25 years ago and the most recent Fenglass line. There are some favorites at 8’; the FF807 is a workhorse, the FF79 is great with dries and lighter flies, and the FF80-4 kind of slots in between them, with portability to boot. I feel the swing weight on some longer rods, a 6/7 FF85 and an FF858, but they have their niches. And that’s one of the nice things about old rods, they’re cheap enough that I can hold one to some for limited roles.
Most of my favorite fishing is smaller trout streams, and 7’ 5wts have a lot of virtues there. I’ve come to grab the FF70 over the FF70-4, FG704, and FF705. Not sure there’s an objective reason, it just pleases me more, and the others certainly have enough differences to keep around as niche fillers, loaners, and backups (I’ve broken rods in this fishing a few times, mostly falls). Shorter than 7’, I like the 5’3” 5 wt from the late ‘90s, but that’s a real small niche. Recent acquisitions of FF60 and FF605 need further use to decide on preference, etc.
A couple of others come to mind. The FF756-4 is wonderfully versatile, but kind of relegated to the backup role; in the portability realm, I prefer both the FF70-4 and FF80-4, and the 7’6” length is a good compromise, but if going to use a Fenwick in that length, I’m more likely to grab a FF786, which seems to do better what I want a 6wt in that length range to do.
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