Guys,
The frigid cold weather left the southeast and allowed my daughter and I sneak off to the Mitchell river in NC for two days of fishing. Jan. 1st and 2nd gave us two days of 65 degree sunny weather with very little wind. Fishing was tough but we caught fish both days. I focused on using the SoulMateRods SG703-5 pack rod both days. I am happy to report I am very pleased with the new rod. I started with a dry dropper rig and believe it or not I hooked up on my first cast much to my daughter's chagrin as we had a dollar bet on first fish. There was very limited dry action and we spent most of our time rigged with double nymphs. The new rod was able to handle both set-ups. The river is not very wide, perhaps 40' max. I also had time during the warm spell to do some lawn casting comparing the new rod with a 7' 3wt 3pc Haldin S-glass rod. I would say the SoulMate flexed deeper into the blank using Marc's SoulMate glassline wf3 floating line on both rods, more of medium action blank. The Haldin I would peg as a medium/fast action. The SoulMate blank was much better on shorter casts while maintaining the ability to push out to 35-40'. The Haldin blank was better on distance. The idea of the 5pc 3wt pack rod lends itself to getting away to off the beaten path locations on smaller streams and that is this rod's sweet spot in my opinion. If you can get Marc at SoulMate Rods to guarantee a fish on the first cast as I enjoyed you're golden and I would recommend this blank or a build by Marc.
Take care,
Chris
Some images from our New Years trip

Looks like she had a good time, way to go! Gotta take every chance you can get when there is a break in the weather this time of year. Thanks for the info on the rod and taking time to share this with us.