Rickard Gustafsson | Sunday, 24 November 2024
My most important rod is my Hot Torpedo 7. It is the best rod I have for my main fishing, sea trout fishing on the Swedish west coast. It is a good choice for practice as well. If I bring a MED5 and a MED7, I can work on all skills in one session. If I want to do serious distance with my other rods, it is better to bring two rods then. It is fitted with ceramic rings, so I don’t have to worry about wear on the rings when casting on grass.
There are more things that are great with this rod. But there is one thing that really stands out: it put me in touch with Paul.
The road to my HT7 started when I was looking for information regarding fly casting. It started on a Swedish forum where Sexyloops was referenced as a good source of information. So I looked at this Sexyloops thing. One of the first things I remember seeing was a discussion about the Rat Snout. Very not useful and confusing information for a beginner. The other stuff about distances cast were more intriguing. Crazy distances were mentioned. I guess that was one thing that kept me around.
Apparently, they were selling rods here as well. Bloody expensive things, maybe good but probably not for me.
I kept coming back to Sexyloops more and more. After a while, information started to appear that Paul offered lessons via Zoom. The videos he provided were good stuff, so that might be something to consider. The idea to sign up for lessons with Paul kept growing on me. Seeing the curriculum made it even more interesting. If I could learn all those things, I would be a bloody good caster.
The rods they offered started to become quite interesting as well. I had already started to build on my collection of 20–40 rods (I didn’t know it at the time, but now it is official information). I had dipped my toes into the premium rod category with a second-hand Orvis Helios 3. Not much difference to my reasonably priced rods, but still, an itch needed to be scratched.
I was going around contemplating for a good while if I was good enough to “need” a Hot Torpedo and also contemplating if I really needed so many lessons, if I really was interested in the full curriculum. During this time, my boss wanted to reward me with something special for a lot of extra work I had been putting in, so he asked me what he could get me. He actually asked me if he could get me a really nice fly rod or something. I needed to think a while. I was quite sure I was going to choose either a fly rod or lessons from Paul. I already had a nice rod, the already mentioned Helios 3, so maybe the lessons would be a better choice? Do I really need another rod already? But taking the lessons would take a lot of effort. I did already do some practice and was making progress on my own.
The rod would come with one lesson, so I might as well start there. So I ended up getting the HT7.
When the HT7 arrived, I took it for a spin directly. In the first minutes casting it, I knew I was soon going to sell the Helios 3. As I wrote to Paul after testing it, “This rod makes me wish I was a better caster, and also makes me a better caster.”
Now, when we’ve cleared that I have a HT7, how I ended up getting it, and that it is a great rod, we can talk about the important stuff. The included lesson—that was the start of something great. It got me to sign up for the whole package with Paul. I thought that I was a decent caster before meeting Paul. Working through the curriculum with Paul made me a decent caster. Continuing to work with Paul after finishing the curriculum has made me, let’s say, better.
Now I really can judge the HT7 and tell you that it does everything that Paul says it will do.
PoD: The HT7 chasing sea trout