Winston Saltwater Air 9′ 7-weight

Reviews

1. Rated 5 out of 5

   Here’s a really good 7-weight from the Winston team. The AIR Salt 7-weight is an excellent flats rod for a caster with a more refined technique. I liked the Rio Bonefish WF7F on this rod. The rod formed solid loops immediately and the feeling transmitted to the caster increased with the amount of line out. I really liked this rod in the 20 to 75-foot range. It is intuitive, accurate and pretty darn casual at these distances. This rod isn’t a rod for the staccato stroked caster and it prefers a more casual and calculated casting stroke that places a good deal of emphasis on the line hand. Despite my preference for a slightly relaxed stroke, you can really step on this rod without folding it or causing the loop to tail. The AIR Salt 9’ 7-weight does a wonderful job of following through with the cast to complete the loop and turn the leader over. It does this equally well at 30 feet and 90 feet. The action is friendlier to an advanced caster than the AIR Salt 8-weight and the 7-weight AIR Salt would be my top choice for a Winston flats rod.

   Richard Post (Telluride Angler)

2. Rated 4 out of 5

   The Air Salt 7-weight has a nice, even loading profile. It’s an easy rod to cast, but lacks the feeling of supreme lightness found in some of the other 7-weights, including the Meridian, X and Asquith. To me, the rod feels a little sluggish until I’m false casting the whole line head. It excels in the 50-75’ range, however, which is useful for flats fishing. Loop shape and line speed were excellent in this range. This a classic Winston rod: very pretty, a little heavy, easy casting and toward the lower end of the power spectrum for its model class. It throws more crisply with an SA Bonefish Taper than with the Rio Bonefish line, which is slightly more bulky in the head.

   John Duncan (Telluride Angler)

3. Rated 5 out of 5

   This rod had nice feel and range. Accuracy felt good in close and also out to longer distance. At the risk of sounding redundant, this rod had a noticeable lightness in hand and also a nice flex profile. I could see this as a good flats tool.

   Jason Moshonas (Telluride Angler)