Brian_Miller wrote:
... I found the rod is able to quickly turn a 9" fish darting for a root ball and undercut banks in fast current on a narrow stream. I believe the 300Z is a great compliment to the Hydra for fishing the small streams I enjoy so much.
I finished out the season just before the statewide general stream closure on a local creek with a healthy population of wild and native Coastal Cutthroat that I've fished for many years using western 3 weight graphite or bamboo rod & reel. It's always a surprisingly fast flowing stream coming out of a large lake over a weir, picking up two other similar streams in just 1.8 miles before dropping through a canyon 200 feet in 3/4 mile into a meadow for about a mile more where it drains into the saltwater. I could see that recent rains had swollen the stream into the meadow but the water had receded back within its undercut banks that vary from 8 to 15 foot wide and was deeper and faster than I usually see it. I was able to land several smaller fish but the Watershed 300 was also able to turn and control two chunky 12" and 11" Cutts to land them in the heavy current; keeping the fish away from the snags they were holding behind, the banks, and from heading down into the runs below the pockets.
I do like this rod!