At our stillwater workshop, which took place at the end of March 2024, the participants had the opportunity to get personally acquainted with the new brand of fly rods from New Zealand PRIMAL, which you can now find in the offer of the CzechNymph!
I got my hands on two PRIMAL fly rods, the RAW in AFTMA #6 in 9 feet and the ZONE in AFTMA #3 in 9.6 feet. At first glance, these rods catch the attention of the bold PRIMAL inscription on the tubes and a great gadget – a carabiner for attaching the rod to a backpack, for example. Both rods were still wrapped in a fabric cover, from which the saddles and screwing of both rods were removed.
Primal RAW is a nimble rod with a fast action and is a good choice for stillwater fly fishing or streamer fishing. The blank has a "raw" effect and thus completes the name of the rod. You attach the reel to a machine-cut fitting with a lock nut, in which a beautiful insert made of stabilized wood is removed. A joy to behold! The eyes are snake-shaped and thanks to the titanium inserts in the guide eyes, the line slides through them very smoothly. The bent eyelet for the hook is also excellently designed, so there is no danger of the line getting caught when it is thrown out.
When fishing, I used five-point fly lines, which were not a problem to throw from the rod. The fast rod tip worked great during tackle and the loss of fish was minimal. I appreciated the strength of the rod when tackling doublets!
Primal ZONE is a nymphing rod with a medium fast action with a well-designed design that emphasizes the tying of the eyes with a gray thread. The seat of this triple was designed classically, because the rod can be used for fishing with dry and wet flies. For lower aftma, the saddle is already solved with a "down lock" system for better balance of the rod. In the eye-pleasing screw connection, there is again an insert made of stabilized wood with the PRIMAL logo. The rod was well balanced with the reel and the French leader slipped easily through the single leg loops.
Again, there was a curved solution to the eyelet for attaching the hook, which did not prevent the capture of a fine leader. The rod was very good at casting heavier nymphs, which were needed in fast Slovenian rivers, as well as smaller nymphs on smaller Czech rivers. The strength of the rod was tested by the Slovenian rainbow warriors, and the softness, on the other hand, by the spotted beauties from our mountain rivers.
What is a very significant added value of these rods is the guaranteed PRIMAL QuickFix warranty service!
