Cortland Competition Nymph Rod Review - Housatonic River Outfitters

When Cortland recently came out with their series of Competition Nymph fly rods, I was pleasantly surprised at just how damn good they actually are. At $219.95

(includes a rod tube), you cannot find a comparable specialized nymphing rod at this price point, and in fact they easily compete with rods costing 3 plus times more. They are designed to catch fish, with actions that are specifically tweaked for the deadly technique of Euro Nymphing, enabling you to turn over longer leaders & lightweight flies if necessary, while still giving you tippet protection. They also make fantastic wet fly/soft-hackle rods, due to their extra length & softer tips. These rods are all designed to balance nicely and be light in the hand to minimize fatigue. The #2 and #3 rods are ideally suited to Euro Nymphing, while the #4's crossover into both Euro & Indicator nymphing. To really maximize your rods performance for Euro Nymphing, consider matching it up with a  Cortland Competition Nymph line and make a sighter out of Cortland’s brightly colored Inidcator Mono.

Lake of the Woods musky trip with Cortland Pro, Andrew Ragas

 After last year's somewhat unproductive fishing trip to Lake of the Woods, there was some skepticism on how this years trip would go. As Andrew Ragas describes, "Musky fishing is 10 percent catching and 90 percent mental." The pictures we received over the course of his stay may tell you otherwise!

Q&A with Cortland Line's Product Advisor and Pro Staff Member, Frank Catino

Frank thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. With all of the new changes happening at Cortland Line, could you give us a little information on your new position with the company.

Well after years of being a regional sales representative for Cortland Line in the south eastern US and Florida, I have taken a new position as a Product Adviser and Pro Staff Member. I'm looking forward to the new position and plan to focus on improving and developing specific products.

Cortland Line Pro-Staff: Greg Myerson

While we were attending the 2013 ICAST/IFTD show in Las Vegas, Cortland Line Pro-Staffer, Greg Myerson, was busy putting our 50lb Masterbraid to the test with a 73.54-lb striped bass. on July 11, Greg and his cousin won the boat division of the weekly Striper Cup Tournament on the Long Island Sound. Greg's monster striper came just 8-pounds shy of breaking the striped bass world record he set back in 2011 of 81.88-lb. Here's Greg's version of how it all went down:

Progression

Blog Post By: Loren Williams
Website: http://www.lorenwflyfishes.com/welcome

I have witnessed many progressions in the sport of fly fishing in my 35-years as an active participant.  I started fishing about the time graphite fly rods were coming into the norm and I recall substantial rebuttal from the veterans of the day.  It’s par for the course, and I offer that it is healthy for the sport as anglers, retailers, and manufacturers all benefit-yet we will always have a “comfort zone” where anyone can remain or fall back to should they so choose.

My tenure with Fly Fishing Team USA made me aware of many fishing, tying, and cultural aspects that I may had not been privy to otherwise.  They've made me a better angler, less in a box, and my enjoyment has escalated as a result.

In an earlier blog you can read the words of Joe Goodspeed about the virtues of the Cortland Competition Nymph line as it relates to his methods of nymphing.  In this blog I’d like to offer a slightly different view of the line.

Cortland Brook Series Competition Nymph Rod

Blog Post By: Joe Goodspeed


We are very excited to finally announce the availability of the Competition Nymph rod lineup that has been in the works here at Cortland for more than two years. The 4 piece rods are offered in five different configurations, 9'6'' 2 wt, 10' 3wt, 10' 4wt, 10'6'' 3 wt and 10'6'' 4wt. We recommend pairing one of these new rods with our Competition Nymph Line in both 140gn and 160gn, giving you the ultimate balance to handle various nymphing techniques.  We went through waves of prototypes that saw changes in rod actions, handle design, guides, blank finish, weight distribution/counterbalancing, and other subtle factors…and more importantly spent hundreds of hours testing and tweaking those prototype rods to ensure that each of the 5 rods are the perfect fishing tool for their intended application.

Q&A with Cortland Pro Staffer Andrew Ragas

Andrew Ragas

Cortland Pro Staff

Fishing Headquarters and Ragas Fishing

Websites:  http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/

      http://www.ragasfishing.com/

          http://www.ragasmedia.com

Blog:        http://www.fishing-headquarters.com/fishcast/

Phone: 708-256-2201

E-mail: andrew@fishing-headquarters.com

Andrew, tell me a little about what you're fishing for most of the time? What's you favorite species to target?

I fish for most freshwater species I have access to. But most of the time I am fishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass, and muskies - these are undoubtedly my favorites and my specialties. I tend to dedicate the bulk of my spring and summer months to bass while early summer through late fall go to muskies.

I fish for other species as well which includes walleyes, northern pike, panfish, river redhorse and other cool looking assorted sucker species. To best describe my angling mentality, I am a multi-species angler and couldn't imagine it any other way. Occasionally I will dabble with coldwater fishes such as trout and salmon throughout the Great Lakes region whether it's on the lakes or their feeder tributaries.