Mission Full Spey Vlieghengel

The backbone on this thing is no joke — it turned over a big intruder pattern with barely any effort on my part. After a full day swinging flies on heavy water my shoulder wasn't wrecked, which says a lot.

Handled a windy day on the Skagit with a heavy sink tip and this rod still turned over the intruder without folding. The backbone really shows when you hook into something big and current is pushing hard. Two months in and it's my go-to for the wide stuff.

Cast a full sinking line with a big intruder pattern yesterday and the rod loaded deep without any hint of folding. It's got the power to punch across a wide run, yet I could still feel the fly ticking bottom. Exactly what I wanted for chasing winter steelhead.