My Fly Rod Quiver — Five Rods, Five Jobs on the South Platte
What I fish on the South Platte and why — from the do-everything Scott Centric to the Diamondback I now reach for most, as I move more toward euro nymphing.
I didn’t set out to own five fly rods. Nobody does. It happened the way these things always do — one problem, one solution, and then the next problem was different enough that the first solution didn’t quite fit. Five rods later, here we are. I preach buying once and owning less; my rod tube clearly didn’t get the memo.
Here’s what’s in the truck right now, what each rod does, and why I reach for it over the others. No filler — every one of these earns its spot.
How many fly rods do you really need?
Honestly? One good 9’ 5wt covers most of the South Platte. I ended up with five because each one solves a job the others can’t — technical dries, tight creeks, October streamers, and euro nymphing. Five rods, five jobs, no overlap.
Quick summary — the five-rod quiver:
- Scott Centric 9’ 5wt + Ross LTX — my do-everything rod (dries, dry-dropper, indicator)
- Winston Pure 2 9’ 5wt + Ross San Miguel — technical dry fly
- Scott F Series 7’2” 3wt + Ross Colorado — small creeks / blue lines
- Redington Vice 9’6” 7wt + Lamson Liquid S — streamers / October
- Diamondback Gen IV 10’7” 3wt + Ideal Nymph Reel — dedicated euro nymphing rod
Scott Centric 9’ 5wt + Ross LTX
The do-everything rod — handles whatever the day throws at me
This is my do-everything rod. I use it for everything — dries, dry-dropper, indicator nymphing, streamers. If I’m heading to Deckers or the Arkansas and I don’t know exactly what I’ll encounter, this is what I grab. It’s a true workhorse. Lately, though, I’ve been euro nymphing more and more — so the Diamondback below has quietly become the rod that sees the most water.
The Centric replaced Scott’s Radian after an eight-year run, and the difference is immediately obvious: more feel, without giving up any speed. The Radian was fast. The Centric is fast and alive in your hand. It loads deeper into the blank than you’d expect from a rod this quick, then recovers instantly. That combination — deep load, fast recovery — is what makes it feel effortless at distances where a lot of fast-action rods start to fight you.
On the Deckers flat, I’m casting 50-60 feet across the current to rising fish on the far bank. The Centric handles it without a double haul if I don’t need one. Reviewers have called it capable of producing “the flattest loops of any fly rod ever cast” at distance, and from where I stand on that flat at low water, I believe it. What I also noticed — and this matters on the South Platte — is that it stack-mends all the way to the indicator at 50 feet. Most fast-action rods struggle to roll cast without hesitation. The Centric doesn’t. That’s the difference between getting a clean drift and just watching your fly drag across the seam.
In the tight slots of Eleven Mile, the story flips. Short stroke, 25 feet, no room to backcast. The Centric works here too. It responds to just rocking the rod through a compressed stroke — no need to force it. That’s not something you get from a rod that only comes alive at distance.
The hardware matches the blank. Flor-grade cork that feels broken in from the first cast. Titanium guides that don’t grab in the cold. A machined reel seat that locks the LTX without ceremony. The whole rod is 3.17 ounces. I forget it’s there by hour three.
And the thing that makes this outfit mean something to me: both the Scott Centric and the Ross LTX are built in Montrose, Colorado. Not assembled. Built. When I fish this setup on the South Platte, it’s a Colorado rod catching Colorado fish.
The Scott Centric retails for $995. → Full review
The Ross LTX pairs perfectly with it — full reel review here. Fast, precise drag — the kind that doesn’t make you think about it when a fish runs. It just fits the Centric in the hand and in every other way.
Winston Pure 2 9’ 5wt + Ross San Miguel
When the presentation has to be perfect
The Winston is finesse. Old-school feel. When I’m casting this rod, when I’m fighting a fish on it — it just feels like memories. That’s the only way I can describe it.
The Pure 2 is a medium-action rod with a progressive taper that bends deep into the blank before transferring energy smoothly up toward the tip. It doesn’t fold the way the original Pure did at distance — Winston fixed that with a refined taper — but it still has that playful, springy quality that you don’t feel in faster rods. You slow your casting stroke down. You feel the rod load. It’s deliberate on purpose.
What that does on pressured tailwater is change the character of the presentation entirely. Flat water, rising fish, South Platte browns that have seen every pattern from every angle — the softer tip bleeds off the energy before the fly hits the water. It lands lighter than anything the Centric can do. And a 12- to 15-foot leader turns over cleanly on it. You can fish long and fine, which is exactly what those fish ask for.
I use it purely for dry fly. Maybe a dry dropper with a small bead off the bottom if the fish aren’t committed to the surface — but that’s the limit. This rod is not a wind rod, and asking it to fight a 20mph gust is how you end up cursing at a beautiful rod for no good reason. If it’s blowing at Deckers I put the Centric in my hand. But when it’s calm, there’s a hatch, I’ve spotted a specific fish, and I need the best possible presentation — this is the rod I reach for.
Fighting fish on the Winston is its own thing. The progressive flex cushions the runs and amplifies everything. A 16-inch South Platte rainbow on this rod fights like it’s 20 inches. That’s not a bad thing.
The Winston Pure 2 retails for $995. → Full review
The Ross San Miguel completes the picture — full reel review here. Sealed carbon drag, beautiful machined frame, made in Montrose. The machinery on this reel is something else. It matches the Winston’s character perfectly. Precision rod, precision reel.
Scott F Series 7’2” 3wt + Ross Colorado
Blue lines and E-glass
This rod comes out for the blue lines — the small unnamed creeks where you’re making 15-foot casts through overhanging brush and a 6-inch trout feels like 18.
It’s E-glass, not graphite. That’s not a marketing angle — it’s a fundamentally different material. Scott calls it elastic glass, and elastic is exactly right. The blank loads at distances where a graphite rod barely notices the line. Under 20 feet, where the short-creek game actually happens, the F Series is more accurate and more forgiving than anything I’ve thrown that’s made of carbon. You’re not forcing the cast. You’re responding to the rod.
The action is slow. Genuinely slow — not slow by fast-action-rod standards, actually slow. Scott recommends a true-to-weight double taper line, and that pairing works exactly the way it should. You feel everything. The load, the stop, the transfer. On a 20-foot presentation to a fish holding in a pocket behind a boulder, that feel is the whole game.
The five-piece design is what makes this rod make sense for how I use it. Scott engineered an internal ferrule — four of them in the 7’2” — and it is one of the most seamless rod-building solutions I’ve seen in glass. The rod packs into an 18-inch tube that slides into a carry-on. That matters when you’re hiking to water nobody else is fishing. No checked bag, no rod case drama.
The trout on those small creeks haven’t seen pressure. They’re not Cheesman fish. A 10-inch brown on 6X on a 3wt glass rod fights like a different animal than what you catch on the South Platte. That’s the point.
The Scott F Series retails for $695. → Full review
The Ross Colorado is click-pawl — full reel review here. Just like the San Miguel does on the Winston, it matches the look and feel of what this rod is. Beautiful build, great reel. I love all my Ross reels — and this one fits the F Series like it was made for it.
Redington Vice 9’6” 7wt + Lamson Liquid S
October. Streamer season.
This comes out in October. Brown trout go pre-spawn — aggressive, territorial, and willing to move for a big fly. Big rivers, big fish, heavy streamers thrown tight to the banks. That’s what this rod was bought for.
Here’s what nobody tells you about this rod upfront: don’t try to fish it at 30 feet. Too stiff, doesn’t load, feels clunky and heavy in your hand. That’s not a defect — that’s how it’s built. Get out to 40, 45 feet, throw a bank shot on a big October river, and the Vice becomes a different rod entirely. Tight loops, repeatable accuracy, and it handles a 5-inch articulated streamer without a complaint. That’s the game at streamer distance, and it shows up for it.
I’ll be honest about what this rod is and isn’t. It’s the most affordable rod in the quiver by a wide margin. I bought it to play around with streamers, not because I planned to make it a serious part of my fishing. It does the job. But it’s heavier in the hand than I’d like, and after a few hours of throwing weighted flies, you feel it. I’m thinking about upgrading to something that handles the same work without the fatigue. I don’t know what yet.
One thing Redington does right: lifetime warranty. And the money I didn’t spend on a premium streamer rod has gone into better lines, which on a big river with a 7wt makes a bigger difference than most people think.
The Redington Vice retails for $279.99. → Full review
The Lamson Liquid S is the reel on this setup — full reel review here. A workhorse that handles drag duty without asking you to think about it. Exactly what you need when a big October brown is running for the far bank.
Diamondback Gen IV 10’7” 3wt + Ideal Nymph Reel
Euro nymphing, full stop
There’s no way to euro nymph with the Centric. To do it right you need a long rod, light line weight, and a genuinely sensitive tip. The Diamondback Gen IV is all three — and then some.
This rod was designed by Joe Goodspeed specifically for tight-line nymphing, and the first time I dropped a jig into a seam at Cheesman I understood what that means in practice. Everything about how it’s built — how the tip is tuned, where the guides are spaced, how close the stripping guide sits to the handle — adds up to one thing: you are connected to your fly. There’s no slack anywhere in the system.
What that adds up to: I can feel the fly tick a rock at 40 feet. I can feel the current change under the sighter. And when a fish takes — before it moves, before the indicator would have bobbed — I feel it. The take registers as a pulse in the rod tip before it becomes anything visible. That’s not me selling you something. That’s why my catch rate went up noticeably when I started fishing this rod seriously.
It fishes a 6X micro leader with a size 22 midge the same way it fishes a heavy jig with a pile of lead — no complaints either direction. That range matters here. South Platte fish don’t always tell you what they’re doing. This rod doesn’t make you guess wrong.
I’m getting more passionate about euro nymphing every season. No indicator, no split shot, no dead weight between me and the fish. Long leader, direct contact, tight line. This rod is a big part of why.
The Diamondback Gen IV Nymph and Ideal Nymph Reel are matched as a set — designed together, fish together. → Rod review · Reel review
If you’re not euro nymphing the South Platte, you’re leaving fish on the table. This setup is why I say that.
The honest answer
Five rods sounds like a lot until you spend a day with the wrong one. I’ve fished a 9’ 5wt on tight creek water and it’s an exercise in frustration. I’ve fished a soft-action rod in 20mph wind at Deckers and nearly thrown it in the river.
The right tool matters. These five cover every situation I encounter on the water without overlap. That’s the quiver — and yes, I hear how “I only need five” sounds. Ask me again next October when something with a backbone for streamers catches my eye.
Individual reviews: Scott Centric · Ross LTX · Winston Pure 2 · Ross San Miguel · Scott F Series · Ross Colorado · Redington Vice · Lamson Liquid S · Diamondback Gen IV · Ideal Nymph Reel