Scott Sector
The new Scott Sector has generated a lot of hype throughout the fly fishing community. New for 2019, this rod is a rebirth of the famous Meridian. This time, the Sector offers better components and material tech than the Meridian, and is a clear improvement. Every single aspect of this rod has been given full attention, and made with the most modern methods currently available.
Like the Meridian, the Sector is built as a saltwater rod. And just like the Meridian, has plenty of applications in freshwater scenarios. With a stiff backbone for the first 2/3 of the rod, and a soft tip, it's a perfect fit for our medium range (30-50 ft) streamer presentations in the Midwest. It's very lightweight in hand, and feels lively when casting. For trout, bass, and pike fishing, this is a seriously nice delivery tool.
Starting at the bottom, the handle area has a lot going on. First off, the reel seat and lock rings are made out of Mil Spec aircraft grade aluminum, and is perhaps one of the strongest materials that can feasibly be used for a fly rod. It takes some serious machinery to carve this stuff to shape, and will withstand nearly anything. Highly abrasion resistant, feather light, strong, it's hard to find a better material than this.
Another nice detail that doesn't exist on many rods, is the "self indexing" lock ring. Meaning the ring that locks onto the foot of the reel slides along a track, and isn't allowed to rotate. So you never have to spin the ring around, trying to find that little notch for the reel to fit into. Sounds like a minute thing, but just another design detail that's helpful.
Aside from that, the cork itself is top shelf. So much so, that the particular cork used on this rod is only harvested once every 14 years in Portugal. Each ring is as consistent as the last, won't pit and degrade, and will last a lifetime. Pretty serious stuff.
Each rod has a quick reference number laser engraved onto the lock ring indicating the rod weight. Helps with identifying which rod is which, especially in low light conditions.
Lots of attention was given to the thread wraps. The Sector has 42-47 individual thread wraps on each rod, depending on the length. Other rods on the market are nowhere near that, falling somewhere in the 25-30 wrap range, often times lower than that. People ask why rods are sometimes so expensive, and this is just one reason. The attention to detail here is unreal.
Working our way up, the stripping guides as well as snake guides are high grade Ceracoil. They are equipped with Zirconia inserts for a slickness that's unmatched. Being Ceracoil, they are a little bit flexible, so they are less prone to spapping and breaking than a traditional guide. Also, all guides are coated with a PVD covering. It's a matte black finish, to minimize glare and increase stealth.
On top of all that, one more thing really sets this rod off; the Carbon Web.
It's hard to see in photos, and can really only be seen in person with adequate lighting, the Carbon Web is a delicate mesh netting that envelops the entire rod blank. It's an extremely thin veil of carbon fiber filaments, providing multi directional strength throughout the rod. If the rod is torqued laterally, or twisted, the carbon web provides torsional protection against splintering. Also helps the rod to track straighter, flexing only forward and backward, without wavering. The Sector is the first rod ever made to implement this webbing. Very cool.
That's just some of the NEW features of the Sector. It still retains a lot of the tech from the Meridan. ReAct Technology (Super Fast Recovery), ARC System (Advanced Reinforced Carbon), Multi Modulus, FiberFuse Resin, XCore, among others, are also built into the Sector.
Offered from 6 weight all the way up to 15 weight, this stick will fill many roles. Also is offered in some shorter lengths, which are gaining lots of traction in the streamer realm. Aside from the standard 9 footers, the Sector is available in 8' 10'' and 8'4" in certain weights.
Specifically, the 8'4" 6wt will be a really fun rod for small streamer games in tight quarters, and the 8'10" 2pc 7wt will be a nice stout mousing rod. These will be elite tools in those shorter lengths, and they are brand new this year designed with the Midwest in mind.
Simply put, this rod is top tier in every department. It would be quite difficult to manufacture a rod that's as sophisticated as this one. Not surprisingly, the Sector rod series won "Best Saltwater Rod" and "Best of Show" at IFTD 2019. From top to bottom, it's a really impressive piece. Get yours below.