A fast-action, four-piece carbon fiber rod that Redington sells at $279.99. Hatch Magazine was hard-pressed to find fault with it after using the 9-weight on Louisiana redfish, reporting tight loops, accurate casts at 30 to 60 feet and performance that held up even with a poorly matched line. The reviewer's one quibble is its weight.
Full review
What Hatch Magazine tested
Hatch Magazine's review, which sums it up as 'win, win, win, win', is of the 9-weight Vice, used for two days of redfish fishing in the Louisiana marshes after several afternoons of backyard casting practice. Reviewer Johnny Carrol Sain agrees with Redington's description of the blank as fast but manageable and sums up the action as refined power.
Casting
With a RIO Winter Redfish line, Sain reports acutely tight loops when he pushed the rod and softer, more open loops for short-range work. In practice, hitting a hula hoop at 30 feet and in was a gimme, one false cast reached 50 feet and two reached past 60.
On the water in wind strong enough to raise whitecaps, he writes that the rod shot spoon flies and heavy shrimp patterns into the gusts with little problem.
With the wrong line
After losing his fly line to a trolling motor, Sain finished the trip with a general-purpose floating line he considered wrong for the conditions. He reports the Vice performed to nearly the level of the previous day and landed an 8-pound redfish on a 40-foot cast.
Weight, build and price
The one fault the review raises is weight: the Vice is not as light as more expensive fast-action rods and has a beefy feel, though Sain says it was never a hindrance over two days of hard casting. He describes a green blank with gold lettering and black anodized snake guides, and notes Redington builds it with saltwater-grade hardware.
Hatch Magazine quoted a $199 price in its review. Redington's store now lists the 9-foot 9-weight at $279.99, the same price as the 9-foot 5-weight.
Strengths
- +Threw tight loops when pushed and softer open loops at short range, per Hatch Magazine
- +Accurate at 30 feet and in, with 50 feet reachable on one false cast in the reviewer's practice
- +Shot spoon flies and heavy shrimp patterns into gusts with little problem
- +Performed nearly as well with a general-purpose replacement line as with the matched one
- +Saltwater-grade hardware, per Redington
Watch-outs
- −Not as light as more expensive fast-action rods; Hatch Magazine describes a beefy feel
- −Hatch Magazine's review covers the 9-weight only, so its findings may not carry over to the trout weights
How it compares
The Vice is the fast-action choice on this page; the Redington Classic Trout is a medium-action rod and the Orvis Clearwater medium-fast. At $279.99 it costs more than the Classic Trout and Echo Carbon XL (both $199.99) and less than the Orvis Clearwater ($298).
Rating sources
Our 4.5 score is the average of these published ratings. Ratings marked * were derived from the reviewer’s written analysis or video transcript — the publisher didn’t print an explicit numeric score, so we inferred one from their own words. Click through to verify. More about methodology.
