By Magnus Angus
Fascinating rods. ArcticSilver is a young Scandinavian company starting into fishing tackle with single-handed rods. Look at the grips and clearly ArcticSilver plan to innovate. Work from the tip down and these are modern fly rods, well built and well specified. The upper three sections have some attractive details and the build is conventional: smooth, slim blank, matt olive paint, lined butt-rings, snake intermediate guides, alignment marks.
Then the butt section and that unique grip. The grip is a high-quality molded composite with an integral reel seat. The handle is hard with a rubbery skin, smooth and secure in my hand. Obviously the grip is unconventional in several ways; more oval than round, none of the swellings and tapers I know from cork. Thing is, this grip is comfortable and natural, I normally hold a rod more of less thumb on top so this works for me, the grip size and shape means my hand is relatively open, so my elbow, or at least the tendons in my elbow seem more relaxed than usual.
The reel seat is cast aluminum, screwed to the handle. Fit the front of a reel foot into the fitting and push the reel towards the blank, the sprung fitting at the butt slides and the reel clicks into place. To remove, push the reel along the rod towards the butt, the spring slide backs up and releases the front of my reel foot. I have (once) used a sprung reel-seat on a stylish Italian-built rod, this is not like that fitting. I have to say I like the reel-seat a lot, much simpler than a conventional screw-fitting, my reels were completely secure, fitting and removing reels with cold or gloved hands is dead easy.
The spring-loaded Quick-Lock reel seat – as near plug-and-play as a reel seat gets.
Then look at the front of the grip. Conventional grips, usually cork, are fitted snug around the base of the butt section, glued in place the full length of the grip, similarly, a conventional reel-seat is glued to the blank. The Arctic Silver blank is attached deep down in the fitting near the seat, the idea is that the blank can bend deeper and freely inside the grip, the makers call this Free-Flex.
Being a little curious, I tried casting with my forefinger on the blank of the 5-weight, during normal casting the butt bends! Actually it bends significantly. Clearly these blanks were designed to load deep, the #5 seems to me to load deeper than the #7.
Three first casting impressions: that hard grip gives me immediate, intimate contact with the blank, I can feel any vibrations in the rod; with the 5-weight line-choice seems important; on the scales, these are heavy rods, in the hand that seems a lot less important, compared with a conventional rod all the extra weight is in the grip/seat.
9ft #5 4pce
When I measure this ArcticSilver model, the action figures say this is a mid-flex rod and the stiffness figure says it is a low stiffness 5-weight (both tips). From the objective to the subjective, mid-flex gives good feel, good touch. Where a fast-action rod has a hard, almost rigid, butt-section which tends to insulate me from the line, a deeper action like this offers more sense of the rod loading and unloading as I cast. Relatively low stiffness means easy loading, again gearing this rod towards those of us who appreciate feeling a rod work as we cast (pick up a stiff, fast rod after this and it feels like a broom handle.) The grip size and shape seem to protect my elbow, always a good thing.
10ft #7 4pce
This feels like a more conventional rod, it handled all the #7 lines threaded up it with style and threw an #8 line with ease. ArcticSilver describes this as a salmon rod, it can certainly function as a single-handed salmon rod. In this country, I think we would more likely use this as a heavy trout rod. In my opinion, and in my hand, this can do all I want of a rod this length and line-class. Overhead casting with floating and sinking lines I had no quibbles at all. Then switch to Spey casts and, until I have a stupid length of line on the water, the rod is in command of the line – and casts well.
Build quality is high.
The measurements for this ArcticSilver model say the action is a just a little deeper than a typical, modern, fast-action rod and the stiffness puts it at the mid to low end of the stiffness range for rods this length and line-class; in very good company, similar to several top-class 10ft 7-weights I have handled. Again, I tried casting with my forefinger on the blank, I could feel it moving, bending at the grip but the flexing was slight.
The grip on this rod is the same unit fitted to the 5-weight. Again it feels exceptionally comfortable in my hand, and my elbow is relaxed. Again, thanks to that grip and seat fitting this is a heavy rod, but as line-class and rod length increase so that weight becomes less significant. I’d happily fish this as a boat rod or as a salmon/sea trout rod.
ArcticSilver have developed a genuinely innovative grip and reel-seat unit and fitted blanks specially designed to work with their grips. The Free-Flex idea is intriguing, with a deeper loading blank it seems to offer unusual touch or ‘feel’, which I like, it seems slightly less convincing with a more powerful blank for higher line weight. The finished rod is well made, packed in a stylish bag and tube and certainly looks different.
specs
ArcticSilver rods
Sections: 4
Handle: Composite
Fighting butt: n/a
Cork quality: n/a
Reel seat: Integral, sprung
Blank: Matt olive
Thread: Olive
Build quality: High
Rod bag: Canvas
Rod tube: Nylon covered
Arctic Silver 9ft #5
Action angle: 65 degrees
Stiffness: 98.1g (Fast tip 99g)
Weight: 161.8g
Rings: Two lined butt rings,
single-leg snakes
Price: $702
Arctic Silver 10ft #7
Action angle: 68 degrees
Stiffness: 151g
Weight: 175.6g
Rings: Two lined butt rings,
single leg snakes
Price: $720
From: At the moment
Arctic Silver rods are available online.
www.arcticsilvershop.com