Moonshine Vesper 9' 4wt Fly Rod Review (Hands-On)

[@sergtang5593]

I own 3 Vesper : 3wt 10’6’’ Nymphing, 4wt 9’ and 7wt Midnight Special 9’. They are awesome rods, light and beautiful. Casting with these is a real pleasure. I don’t have the whistle problem with #4 and I am using Rio Creek line.

[@riverbanksoutdooradventures]

I had whistling from a new 8wt fly line which was tacky. Rio sent me a line cleaning kit but they also sent me a new fly line which was perfect and no whistling.

[@jeffprice4611]

Casting Tip: Unless your double hauling, keep the line pinned between the cork and your finger. This insures every cast has the same loading power and will improve accuracy. Holding the line statically in your left had allows for slight uncontrollable drift of the line, which changes rod load. Nice review.

[@billturner2370]

WOW! i will be checking out moonshine rods!

[@pierrejoubert394]

Hey Nick, great review. Looks like that 4wt is super versatile too.

[@barry4fish]

Thanks Nick. But, everyone is putting emphasis on the blank quality - in fact, Sage and other companies are doing that too much and ignoring other important stuff. Grip characteristics like cork quality, ergonomics (length diameter, contour and palm support, etc) and durability of high wear areas at the cork ends, and quality of components all must must be there (especially guides and tip top), otherwise many of us won’t buy them. Surely, Moonshine company must know that. I have two Vespers, and love them so far, they have most comfortable cork grip out there. Some single foot guides make a resonance noise (Loomis had problems with this on some of their older rods). I can usually live with it. But when coating wears off the tip (like on the Hardy Zephrus), then that’s a nightmare - they outsourced these components from the wrong place, then payed dearly. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen to these guys.

[@intoflyfishing]

Thanks for the comment and for watching! I think I covered grip and guides in the review too. It’s just that Moonshine has stated many times to us that they spend money and energy where it matters to most anglers, the blank. Not that they don’t have all great components, just that their blanks are incredibly high quality for the price.

[@larryh9525]

Hi, Nice review. As for the whistling noise, I think that's due to the single-foot guides. I've heard that before and seem to remember that's what I determined. Somewhere I thought read that the Vesper is made in the same factory in S. Korea as Hardy and Douglas. The average high-end nano-silica rod is now upwards of $900 - $1000, which is insane. The primary difference is that the other rods are sold through dealers and these are sold direct. I have a Douglas SkyG 905-4 that looks almost identical to the Vesper, especially in the area of reel seat and cork. I agree with you that nano-silica rods are so much fun to fish that it's hard to put them down. While I'm a big fan of Hardy, Loomis, Douglas, and Orvis, the Vesper is likely to be in the same category.

[@FlyingFox007]

The blanks are from China. Probably Ningbo Rod Company. That's where 90% of the CF blanks are made.

[@larryh9525]

@@FlyingFox007 Since my post, I picked up a Lamson Purist 9' 4wt. This is one of the more exciting rods I own. Not only is the rod a steal at $400, but it's also an absolute joy to fish for small trout. The tip is softer than my Ski G, so it takes a bit of getting used to it, but after that, the rod is addicting to fish. I wasn't aware that Chinese rod companies were doing rods with graphene resins.

[@moonshinerodcompany5322]

Stellar review! Thanks for the love!

[@intoflyfishing]

Cheers guys

[@mariojacob791]

Best mullets fishing Bait

[@glenndotter5065]

Wondring how the rod would hande double taper line?

[@m.b.h.c9543]

I ordered A 10 foot five weight from moonshine. They sent me a free canteen but no flyrod. I contacted the company and someone emailed me back and asked for me to send them a picture of the shipping label that the canteen came in. I immediately did so. It’s been over a week and I still have not heard back from them after multiple emails. So I basically paid $200 for a free canteen. The company does not have a phone number for customer support, maybe that should’ve been a red flag?

[@intoflyfishing]

Hey @m.b.h.c9543 . I've emailed my contacts at Moonshine to ask about this. I don't work for Moonshine or anything, but I do have an email or two over there so I shot them a message to check on this. In my experience they've been great to deal with and we even utilized their warranty and had good service so this is weird to me. Sounds like maybe a porch pirate.

[@intoflyfishing]

I heard back from Moonshine. They told me they were off for the weekend and have reached back out to you. I hope this gets cleared up. Let me know!

[@leebdj1949]

Hey, you mentioned no need to over line the rod. I sort of have this problem with my tfo rod. It’s 5w and I had 6w line on it starting out. I switched to 5w airflo line, and it seems more difficult to load the rod. It seems common for companies to have stiff ass rods, that act more like higher weight. I’m no pro, but if I dropped down to a 4W vesper, would I have to blow more money to match line weight, or be ok with the 5w superflo universal taper? This is the most frustrating part of my journey, since fly shops aren’t plentiful where I am to try setups. They only sell certain brands, and if you’re looking for something else, you have to just buy online, and hope it works. The line companies are the same, with actual line weights varying a lot from brand to brand, even though they’re classed the same.

[@intoflyfishing]

I’d be fine overweighting the 4wt too. All good

[@leebdj1949]

@@intoflyfishing thanks, as commented before, got the vesper 4wt, and receiving the thistledown2 line tomorrow, the opening day of fishing season! Hopefully I don’t get April fooled, and have to wait until Monday lol

[@herbert4247]

Im sorry....this comment has nothing to do with your video in particular......just wondering.......why so much detail and critique? I've just started fly fishing, i know im doing it wrong......i still catch small trout and sunnies in eastern Maryland all day long on creeks absolutely no strategy involved.......i feel like i coupd literally grab a stick.....put a fly on...catch some put and release.......am i crazy or just beginners luck?

[@intoflyfishing]

That might be the case in the waters you're curently fishing in, but you'll find as you fish in more places, that's not always the case. Some rivers are super technical, fish are spooky and require precise presentation etc. Having said that, a rod isn't going to catch you more fish. It may help you present the fly better, or fight the fish more effectively (protecting light tippet etc.), but ultimately it'll be your skill that catches and lands fish, not any piece of gear.

[@herbert4247]

*catch

[@bentpolski]

WHERE is it made? CHINA?

[@vreth22]

I can bet that even thegreatest rods out there have parts , especialy grifite in blanks from Kina...🤣🤣🤣

[@moonshinerodcompany5322]

These rods are made in korea!

[@herbert4247]

And fake horse hair!