l. Orivs Helios 2 Switch 11’ 5-weight $885.00 – Now Discontinued!
Good news / bad news here. The Good news is the Orvis H2 switch 11’ 5-weight is easily my favorite trout switch rod for nymph fishing (out of the boat or on foot). The bad news is that it has been discontinued already! And that really is bad news as there are not many of these available on eBay or Craig’s List. If you happen to own one of these, consider yourself lucky!
The 11’ foot length allows you to easily “high stick” over faster currents and enables you to make better mends in order to achieve that perfect dead drift than a 10 foot rod. The beauty of the H2 switch 11’ 5-weight is that it feels so incredibly light yet has tons of power for setting the hook or casting a heavy indicator set up. Orvis claims the H2 line is 20 percent stronger and 20 percent lighter than their previous Helios rods.
Like the Orvis Helios 2 single hand rods, the H2 11’5-weight switch rod has a beautiful smoke blue colored blank with silver trim thread wraps and high-end flexible titanium snake guides. The classy up-lock reel seat utilizes a black and blue carbon fiber style inlay with two solid lock rings to secure your reel tightly. The cork shape and quality are both excellent. A hard case tube and cloth bag are included.
Orvis is not working on any Helios 3 two-handed rods to replace the H2, however Orvis tells us they are currently working on a new USA made two-handed Clearwater rod series. These new rods will be launched at IFTD 2018 and will be ready to ship in October of 2018.
Casting Notes:
Absolute line ripper. Light, fast, powerful, amazing. Casts well in close, cast well at distance. Plenty of butt section power for fast and deliberate hook sets. Casting single hand style this rod felt better than everything and easily throws the tightest loops of all the trout switch rods here.
