Kalyn Hoggard | Monday, 15 September 2025
I suppose that if I took a deep look inside of myself and had to be honest, then I would say that I have a healthy problem with cool fly-casting gear. Just to let you all in the loop here. I do not think there is a fish, a fly, or a habitat that I cannot dust off a fly setup for, but that is intentional. What if I get invited to do Goliath Grouper on fly next week? I am ready. It really isn’t all that bad. Every single rod I have gets used well, and most of them are still doing what they were intended to do. My wife proofreads these…
Being the nerd that I am, I took a long hard look at which fly line I throw the most. I then decided that I needed to quadruple down on rods for that fly line just incase there was something magical that I was missing. I do some instructing and now I do some tournament casting. As you might expect, I’ve got a lot of 8.5ft and 9ft 5, 5.5, & 6 wt rods that I use to throw the Scientific Angler Mastery Expert Distance 5 wt fly line. (I would expect these rods can throw a myriad of other lines well) I am also working on a healthy number of 9 & 10 wt rods for the same line, but that is an entirely different topic.
The ole 5 on 5…
There is something about the 5wt games, and the 5wt rod and line combo in general. It seems like being able to do all the casts with a 5 gets you closer to the spirit of fly fishing, but maybe I’m just a romantic. It also feels like more of an accomplishment when you bag a big unruly fish with a 5. I know I know, everyone reading this has caught a 15-pound brown on a 0wt. I don’t think that it is a stretch to say that learning to cast a 5 wt rod for distance has led to the techniques that some people are using in tournament casting the 5 wt distance game today. For some, maybe that is the only game that really matters.
So the line has already been determined, but for me it isn’t as simple as that. It just so happens that one of the men that heavily contributes to my success in fly fishing world is Bruce Richards. I’m sure you’ve heard me say it before, it’s an honor worth sharing. Given the fact that you are continuing to read this little bit of banter, you may know that Mr. Richards had much to do with the design and creation of the MED line. So. Ha. That’s cool right? My mentor made a line, and it happens to be one I use all of the time. Hard not to be a fan boy of a particular fly line company.
With the line out of the way, a proper nerd would try to find a rod that would bend just right under the influence of the chosen line. This was a fun path. I’ve tried a lot of different rods. I’ve owned several rods that I thought threw the MED well for distance or accuracy or even for single spey, but rarely has one stood out as unquestionably made for the line. In the journey for the perfect MED rod several things happened. I met a new coach for casting. I met Uncle Andy. I began to cast a little differently. Suddenly I needed to go back through all the rods I have used for that line and reevaluate the situation. It just so happened that Unc had a 5 wt blank that was reported to be the best rod in the world for the MED.
The 5 wt blank in question was painstakingly developed by my new casting coach, and now friend, Mr. Paul Arden. Ah the serendipity. I assume you know what is coming. Unc built me a rod. And I hated it. The end…
Well, not exactly. I love the damn thing. It is obvious to me that the rod was made for that line (I’m sure it can throw other lines just fine), and even if there were some happy accidents in there or whatever, it bends right under the influence of the 5 wt MED… So, what do I do? One would think that I would like this match given my instructors, but the fact that I cast it so well is awesome. I have this really cool blacked out HT holding a medalist 1492 & ½ filled with orange fly line. Sexy. So, I had to come up with a decal and a name for my new weapon. THE FLAMING HOT CHEETO. I have asked Unc, Bruce, and Paul if they would allow me to create a decal with their fingerprints and signatures. Obviously, for the decal they would have to be in MED orange… It seems like they have all agreed.
The rod and the journey have been meaningful to me. Thought I’d share.