nativetrout wrote:
this has been a pretty empty thread.....LOL. Id love to know more about these as they are one of the more attractive glass rods Scott ever made IMHO. i literally read through 5 pages and got very little actual info on one of these that someone has handled.
I recently had the opportunity to cast four of the new F series models, all but the 723-5. I've listed my thoughts below. There's been lots of comments above about the color, cork quality, finish and seats and so my focus is on how the rods cast. I'd also note that if you scroll up a few pages that DavidFin reviewed the 662-4 and 663-4, Aurelio posted comments on the 583-4 and 663-4 and a number of people have discussed the 724-4.
Disclaimer/Limitations: I cast each rod with a SA Mastery Trout in the corresponding line weight with a small yarn ball as the fly. I did not cast any of the rods side by side and because of lines at the casting pool there were sometimes gaps, though not long, between turning one rod back in and being able to cast the next. With a couple of the rods because people were waiting for the pool to open my test session was very short but I made more casts with some others as no one was waiting. But regardless, my time spent with each rod was brief. The rods are listed in the order that I cast them. With all that said...
622-4: I've only cast one other 2 wt in my life and so I don't have much to compare it to, but I liked this rod a lot. It felt nice in the hand, had a soft/slow action and made a delicate presentation. To me the sweet spot was in the 12-20' range. I could hit the first casting hoop which I'm guessing was at about 30', but my accuracy suffered--not wildly off the mark, but not as good as at the shorter distances. I'm not sure how this rod would handle anything more than a single dry, but I think it would be great for that--subject to the wind of course, but that's true with any 2 wt.
583-4: When I first read about the new F series, I kind of laughed when I saw Scott decided to make the 583. I fish a lot of tight waters, but 5'8" just seems almost ridiculously short. I then read how much Aurelio likes his, but I was still skeptical. But after casting it....what a sweet little rod! Despite the very short length, it felt like a normal rod. I can't believe how well it roll cast for being such a short rod. And though it does great at short distances, it's also a little rocket launcher (for a 3 wt). I loved it at 30-35.' A total winner.
663-4: I have a hard time saying why, but this rod didn't wow me. I was surprised because I know most people consider a 6'6" 3 wt to be the sweetheart of Scott's glass offerings, certainly it was widely considered the gem of the F2 series. While the rod is by no means heavy, it did feel noticeably heavier than the 583 which I had just cast (not surprising given the seat hardware and the 10" difference in the length), and maybe that had something to do with my reaction. Though as I said the rod is not heavy and after a couple of casts I forgot how light the 583 was and the 663 felt fine/normal. I certainly don't think it's a bad rod and as mentioned above I have a hard time pinpointing the specific reasons for my reaction, but when I was returning both the 662 and the 583 to the display rack I was thinking whether I could justify paying so much for the rod (each being such a short, specialty stick) and with the 663 I was just thinking about the next rod.
724-4: I had previously cast the 724 a couple of times and even fished it for about an hour maybe a month ago. So I made just a few casts with it the other day so I could compare it to the others. I continue to really like the rod. I don't know that any 7'2" rod can qualify as an "all around" rod, but I do consider it a terrific "all around small water rod." I've cast it with dries and a dry dropper and based on how it handled the dry-dropper I think it would do fine with small/light streamers.
If I Could Have Just One Rod in Series: I'm going to hedge here and also remember I have not cast the 723 and that with the exception of the 724 I only spent a couple of minutes with each rod. My hedging has to do with what I'd be looking for the rod to do. For an all-around rod, I'd go with the 724. I generally like to fish the longest rod the conditions allow (better line management, better reach if rock hopping and dapping). I fish a lot of tight streams and rarely find a 7'2" rod to be too long. The 4 wt is IMO the most versatile rod, will do the best in the wind and even a 5" trout will put a decent bend in it. If I was looking for a small stream rod for dries and wasn't worried about wind, I think the 622-4 would be terrific. But if I wanted a short/small stream rod that had more power (so longer casts and/or larger flies) but was still nice in close I'd go with the 583-4. For me, the call between the 724 and the 663 is much easier than the call between the 622 and the 583.
Of course, YMMV....
Posted: 17 Jan 2019, 19:42 • 
