Redington’s New 7wt Wrangler Bass Fly Rod Combo

Anglers have so many gear options these days, with retail and internet stores offering the latest and greatest to help us catch fish. From this desk, it’s like the cable TV mess, where so many channels are available offering the same shows, it’s hard to choose one to click on but here, Redington offers the right choice: the right bass rod at the right price. Built for ease of use as a complete package, the Redington Wrangler Bass 790-T, 9’ medium-fast action rod and reel combo is a fine setup for targeting popular freshwater species like perch, large and smallmouth bass, trout and landlocked salmon. Skip the other channels, this is the one.

A seven weight seemed a bit much for pond and river bass but I’ve owned a few Redington rods and have experienced nothing but success, so I put it to the best test. My son and I took it to northern Maine to a long lake with a healthy population of largemouth bass, a few smallies and an occasional rainbow trout washed in by heavy rains feeding swollen creeks. In a canoe, in the woods, without distractions, the Wrangler Bass proved to be absolutely easy to use and quick to catch.

Fly fishing involves lots of gear with lots of knowledge necessary for many of the pieces.

I have been a fan of Redington for several years.

Rod lengths, weights, and pieces, flies for sinking, floating and streaming then all the knots for different situations of weather, wind and target species, that’s a lot. Redington’s new Wrangler Fly Rods combine solid, well-made equipment in easy to understand, species-specific packages. The other elements, like knots and flies, can be handled by your local fly shop.

Redington’s Wrangler Bass rod held up against a big fish

Right out of its nylon carrying case, the Wrangler quickly proved worthy of the Redington name, a company built on quality products at reasonable prices. It features slick Rio Mainstream seven weight line with a RIO Powerflex Plus 0x tapered leader and both slid easily through the guides The rod feels solid and the ferules secure. There is a lot of craftsmanship in these rods. Since they’re marketed to the combination crowd, it’s finely tuned to catch fish right away. We could all use a little more “easy” in our lives.

In a summer grass bed, where bass can lurk right under a canoe in total cover, I cast a Lunch Break Eddy designed frog pattern fly. His art is sharp and rarely fails to call in the biggest fish. Even from my 1926 Old Town canoe, with other rods here and there, and considerations given for my lack of casting skill from small spaces, Redington’s new Wrangler Bass fly rod was easy to false cast, smooth with line delivery and presented even oversized flies accurately. When you’re just discovering fly fishing, you’ll inevitably end up with coils of line wrapped around your everything but I quickly realized how easy the Crosswater 7/8/9 reel was to use. It’s not a high-priced reel but that’s not what you need for this combo. It holds three sizes of line with backing and leader, it’s comfortable on the handle with sufficient carbon disc drag to turn around that salmon. It’s secured to an anodized aluminum reel seat and is surrounded with top quality cork in a full wells grip style with a fighting butt and has a lifetime warranty on the rod.

and there she is

Perched at the stern, casting to that grass field where tangles are more than inevitable, she swung consistently and with proper flex, like a five weight, until the bass slammed into the LBE monster frog.

A classic and daring Lunch Break Eddy mouse pattern

All of a sudden, the four-piece rod stood tall against jumps and dives and circles around mats of Lilypads. In a tangle of weeds, I was able to horse a big largemouth back to clear waters, laugh like it was my first fish ever, regain some line on the reel and enjoy the ride. The fish was a beauty, a fin under three pounds and proved that the Redington Wrangler Bass was perfectly suited for many species, Honesty, I would trust this rod on some schoolie salt pond stripers on a Fall night when I wasn’t willing to risk any piece of gear to lose a fish with winter on the wind. Check out a short video of the battle here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CqMZcMyc0nI

Redington’s New Wrangler Fly Rods Are Worth Every Dime

All pieces collapse back into that case, just like you will when you fall back into your canoe, old or new, laughing about the big bass you landed with ease and a new confidence for your fly-fishing skills. If a combo is right for you, I suggest you test drive the Wrangler Bass or any of the Wrangler models, built specifically for the species you want to catch and release. Redington Rods and reels can be purchased through Far Bank and at fly shops, where you can get some of that local knowledge to seal the deal.

Great rod, great fish