Imago Fly Fishing IPT 5 fly rod review

Earlier this month I received a package from Imago Fly Fishing. In this package were some stickers, Breathe, a buff, and an IPT 5 weight rod. I wanted to put a few fish on it before talking about it. I’ll put a few more fish on it before it heads back home if I can.

I’ve not been able to fish the rod as much as I’d like due to weather and a lack of any rain whatsoever. I checked a local weather site and as of June 21st we’d received 0.22″ of rainfall for June. The last time we received this little rain was in 1988. As of right now, my local creeks and rivers are low. When I mean low, I mean I’m seeing structure I had no idea was there. Droughts suck for farmers and fisherman.

Last week I took the rod out and fished it with a small foam popper. I hooked up and landed one decent fish on it and it had the backbone to fight this fish with ease. In the back of my mind I was thinking these rods were probably 99.9% tested on trout (that’s a wild guess on my end) and now I’m bending it with a chunky small stream smallmouth on it. Trout purists be damned, this rod is a great rod for Midwestern warm water streams. I’ve thrown larger poppers on it and it handled those easy. It didn’t like the clousers I had, but those are usually reserved for a 7wgt and above but I had to try.

I own a few 5wgt rods. From cheap outfits to one expensive one. My expensive one doesn’t get fished much at all these days. It’s whippy in the tip and I just don’t like the way it casts. After casting this Imago, I went and picked that rod up and cast it with the same line. It’s night and day. The Imago cast like a dream comparatively. Where my casts falter on the other rod, they fly on this one. My biggest gripe with the other rod was in roll casting. With the IPT, it roll casts the same line with ease.

I’m no casting instructor so I won’t bore you with technical stuff I don’t understand. What I do understand is the rod feels good. Using it mainly on a small creek, I could shoot the width of the creek which is about 40-50 feet maybe a bit more. I played around with technical casting and it did great. I like a rod that just feels right in your hand. The rod itself is my kind of rod. The lack of shiny finish is awesome. It’s a matte black. It’s unassuming and I like that a lot. The flat black means no telling fishing a mile away where you are. I don’t worry too much about that in 90% of my fishing, but the times I fish for those trout it’d be handy. Everything about this rod says quality. The guides are top shelf and the cork handle feels good like any handle should. One thing that first caught my eye with the Imago rods was the company name engraved near the butt of the rod. That and the logo etched on the bottom is a nice touch that gets people’s attention.

I love this rod and I really like what Imago has going on as a company. If you haven’t you need to check them out. My hope is more American shops get on the ball and stock these awesome rods and the rest of what Imago offers, like the Gaia reel, the wading boots, waders, and wading jacket.