Orvis Helios D 9′ 6-weight

$1,198.00

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SKU: orv-helios-D-906 Brand:

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Product Description

Orvis Helios D 9′ 6-weight, 4-piece fly rod  (4th generation)

comes with partitioned cloth liner and aluminum rod case

Specs

  • Versatile rod for freshwater and warmwater species
  • Ideal for dries, nymphs, and streamers
  • Maximum power for fishing in windy conditions
  • Excellent for floating and sinking line types
  • Full wells grip
  • Matte midnight black finish with black thread wraps
  • Aluminum rod tube
  • Backed by 25-Year Guarantee
  • Made in USA

Reviews

  1. This is definitely on the softer side of what might be considered a modern fast action 6wt. It has plenty of backbone to drive casts into the wind but it’s not a 6wt that will be overly happy fishing streamers. When I think about this rod, I think of a killer dry fly 6wt or a big dry dropper boat rod. This would also work well with a traditional lightweight technical nymph set-up. The rod itself is nice and light in hand and is a pretty smooth caster. It’s a little sluggish in close, but once you get enough line out, the rod starts to come into form. I played around with a few different lines on this rod and in general it prefers something that’s not overly heavy.

    Parker Thompson (Telluride Angler)
  2. A great all around 6 weight for the western trout angler, the Helios D 9’ 6 weight is easy and approachable to anglers of any skill level. This is a rod that an expert caster could have their best day with but feel like they never quite got a handle on the rod. On the flip side, this is a rod that a novice angler could have a day on the water they didn’t believe they were capable of. The Helios 9’ 6 weight never struck me with a feeling of wonder in my palm, but the visual results out of the rod tip were wonderful with perfectly smooth, parallel loops laying out in front and flying back in repose. I just couldn’t get the feedback into my casting hand to match what I was seeing. A good caster can adjust the applied pressure in accordance with their vision and make music. Put a blindfold on that caster and they can still play the symphony but not without exceptional feedback to the casting hand. I believe this rod performs in a manner that puts the rod in the driver’s seat, and that can be a great thing for the right angler. I found the 9’ 6 weight to be a little line sensitive with the Rio Gold being my top choice. In my mind this is a great western trout rod with a focus more on dry dropper and indicator techniques over dedicated streamer fishing.

    Richard Post (Telluride Angler)
  3. This is a tight-loop 6-weight that uses the whole rod to generate line speed, rather than merely casting off the tip, excelling in dry fly fishing with small and medium-sized flies. I would specifically recommend the Helios D 9’ 6-weight for fishing match-the-hatch dries in the Northern Rockies, Northern Patagonia and other places that have too much wind for a 4-weight. This rod is tuned for high performance under the right conditions, but with a tight window for fly line tolerance and with limited applications. Some 6-weights are like offroad pickup trucks. This one is a race car. It casts dry flies magnificently and will handle light nymphs and dry droppers comfortably, but heavy lifting is out of its zone.

    Lines with extra heavy heads throw the rod off axis. For example, it can’t handle a Rio Outbound or SA Titan Taper. Streamers larger than size #10, including all articulate and conehead streamers, will overwhelm the stability of the butt section, resulting in challenging, cumbersome casting. The hardcore streamer rod in the lineup is the 9’ 7-weight saltwater model, but this 6-weight is light and responsive enough to fish with pleasure in situations normally approached with a 4 or 5-weight. My favorite lines are the SA Amplitude Trout Taper, with which it throws immaculate, tight loops at distance, and the Rio Elite Technical Trout, which loads the rod more deeply for fishing a wider range of flies, including hoppers. This rod underlines the reputation of the Helios series as light and sweet.

    John Duncan (Telluride Angler)
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