The sun was beating down on my back, wind blowing 25+ miles per hour. I hear my guide, Calvin, shouting over the wind “school, 100 feet, 10 o’clock, cast, cast …CAST” This is the moment I have been waiting for. After numerous flights, long layovers and months of preparation I’ve made it. I am on Andros Island on the flats with my new Scott Meridian 8 weight. Naturally, when I hear Calvin yelling for the first time I loose my cool, get way too excited and cast like a fool. He looks at me like I have something seriously wrong with me and mumbles…”Breath, calm down -hopefully we will see another school soon.”
A few minutes pass and as predicted I hear Calvin starting his commands again. This time though I let the rod do the work and the Scott Meridian fly rod and I sync. With an effortless cast the line lands right in front of the school of hungry looking bones. Calvin is barking, “Long strip, strip, STOP, fast strip, SET!” Finally the moment I’ve been anticipating for months! I feel the line become taught and in seconds the fish is running, peeling line from my reel.
The new shape of the rod’s fighting butt did not trap any of the fast escaping line as it came up off the deck and was comfortable while leveraged against my arm for support while battling these Bahamian bones.
The Meridian was so accurate and cut through the wind so well that I had no problem overcoming the stiff breeze. After a season of trout fishing I was not accustomed to casting 8 weight rods. Many 8 weights can feel clunky or even heavy yet the sleek, thin blank of the Meridian made the rod light and easy to cast most of my line with minimal effort.
I am obsessed with this rod and can’t wait to head back down to the Bahamas for some more bonefish, to the east coast for stripers and use this rod for all my salt adventures and maybe even some single hand steelheading here in the PNW.
