Redington Vice 9'6" 7wt Review — Honest Take on a Budget Streamer Rod

I’m going to be straight with you about this rod, because I figure that’s more useful than another glowing gear review where everything is “buttery” and nothing has a flaw.

The Redington Vice is the most affordable rod in my quiver by a wide margin — which, given the rest of the lineup, tells you something about my spending habits. I didn’t buy it as a primary piece of gear. I bought it to play around with streamers, a style I’m still figuring out, and I didn’t want to drop premium money learning on the water. It does that job. It’s not the best rod for the job, and I know it. But here’s what it actually does out there, and why the price makes sense for where it fits.

What It Gets Right

The Vice is fast. It recovers quickly, throws tight loops when you load it correctly, and handles a 5-inch articulated streamer without complaining. At $279.99 with a lifetime warranty, that’s a lot of rod for October.

The key word in that last sentence: at distance. The Vice comes alive at 40-45 feet. Bank shots on a big river, throwing streamers tight to the far bank where the October browns are holding — that’s where it earns its keep. The loops are accurate, the power is there, and the streamer lands where I pointed it.

What It Gets Wrong

Don’t try to fish it at 30 feet. The rod is too stiff to load properly at close range and it feels clunky and heavy in your hand. That’s not a defect — that’s how it’s designed. It’s built for distance work and it makes no apologies for it. But if your streamer game involves swinging flies through close pockets or fishing tight to structure at short range, this isn’t the rod.

It’s also heavy. Not unmanageably heavy, but after a few hours of throwing weighted flies and articulated patterns, you feel it. My arm starts filing complaints by mid-afternoon in a way it doesn’t with lighter, better-built 7-weights. That’s the honest tradeoff for the price.

Is the Redington Vice 7wt good for streamer fishing?

For the price, yes — with one caveat. At $279.99 it throws a 5-inch articulated streamer and comes alive at 40-45 feet, where it lands accurate loops tight to the bank. It’s not built for close-range work under 30 feet, and it’s on the heavy side after a few hours, but for getting into streamer fishing without the buyer’s remorse, it does the job.

The Value Argument

The money I didn’t spend on a premium streamer rod went into a better fly line. On a 7wt, the line makes an enormous difference — how the streamer turns over, how the loop punches into wind, how much energy transfers to the fly. A premium line on the Vice outfishes a mediocre line on a $900 rod.

The lifetime warranty is real and worth noting. Redington stands behind it. For a rod in a category I’m still exploring, that warranty matters.

Where I Land

I’m thinking about upgrading. I don’t know to what yet — there are premium streamer rods I haven’t tried that I want to put my hands on, which is exactly the kind of thinking that got my quiver this expensive in the first place. The Vice will stay in the truck until I find something that handles the same work without the fatigue and the close-range limitations.

But for $279? It does October streamers on Colorado brown trout. If you’re not ready to spend $800 on a streamer rod for a style of fishing you’re still figuring out, this is how you get in the game without the buyer’s remorse.

Price: $279.99 | farbank.com

Part of my five-rod South Platte quiver.