Photos of the Day: New Helios 2s Put to the Test in New Zealand

Bruiser browns eating cicada patterns off the surface will test your tackel.
photo Dave and Amelia Jensen

We made it a big deal last November when the first four models of the Helios 2 became available. We started with just four rods, but in case you haven’t noticed, there are now 16 Helios 2 rods—from a, 8’6″ 4-weight to a 9- 12-weight—up on Orvis.com. And there’s better news to come. In April, we’ll add another 15 models, for a total of 31 Helios 2s.

Dave and Amelia Jensen of Fly Fish Alberta have been putting some of the new helios 2s through their paces in New Zealand over the past couple of months, and Amelia recently sent me some photos and this email:

It’s raining for the first time in three weeks, and it’s as good a time as any to catch up! The bodies are sore, and we’ve put a lot of miles on river rocks as of late. But we need to tell you, for any complaint of sore knees and tired muscles we might have, it’s a good thing that our 5-weight Helios 2 rod can’t talk because it would be complaining. Loudly.

Dave manages the endgame with a fine trout.
photo Dave and Amelia Jensen

Every fibre in that rod has been worked lately. The sun came out, the cicadas and terrestrials have finally come on strong after a long cool, wet spell, and the fish have really taken notice. But it’s not like big bugs are all we’ve been casting. While the H2 is literally launching thumb-thick cicada patterns across virtually every river we’ve fished as of late, it has also lined up true casts to some large browns in shy water—10-inch-deep slack edges where some big browns rest, waiting for food to arrive.

Amelia puts the screw to a fish, putting a serious bend in the rod.
photo Dave and Amelia Jensen

It’s in these soft waters that delicacy reigns, and we have no worries laying out a light cast. The H2 has led us to some great waters. The flips, rolls, sidearm pops and tucks that we can do with the rod have allowed us to explore many small waters and springs, while its backbone has allowed us to also venture into little traveled canyon waters where a good cast is needed to reach a cross-river pocket you wouldn’t dream of attempting to wade to—one that also might hold that brown of a lifetime. The H2 has carried a lot of action as of late. Very successfully at that.