The Power Rods are often more versatile 5-weights, and the best have the guts and ability to mend line well when you are fishing indicator rigs, comprised of a wind resistant indicator, two nymphs and even a split shot or two. To my way of thinking, the best Power Rods need to score best at 45 feet, but as you’ll see, there are several rods that scored very well at all distances. For these Power Rods, the scores at 25 feet are not as important as the scores at 45 and 70 feet. For these more powerful 5-weights, we tested them with the half size heavier Scientific Anglers Amplitude MPX lines, which are better at loading these stiffer rods. The best Power 5-weights need to be excellent dry fly rods as well, and the best ones are capable of providing wonderful accuracy at all distances. The Power 5-weights are simply better at this kind of “chuck and duck” casting and mending than the Presentation 5-weights. They also posses the backbone and power to handle multiple nymph rigs with indicators, which require a lot of mending.

These are the more powerful 5-weight rods that you would pick to fish larger and more wind-resistant dry flies. The best ones work very well for nymph fishing and have the power to cast even small sized streamers. Presentation Rods are not just dry fly rods though. They need to be soft enough in the tip to handle 6X and even 7X tippets with ease. The Presentation Rods are going to be used at shorter distances most of the time – roughly 25 feet to 45 feet, so the scores at 70 feet are not nearly as important as they are with the Power Rods. The lighter, standard size fly line, like the Scientific Anglers Amplitude Trout, is the fly line we picked for these Presentation Rods, while the half size heavier Amplitude MPX is a better match for the more powerful Power 5-weights. The best presentations are somewhat a factor of the fly line used. I’m convinced that accuracy is the number one factor in success for dry fly anglers, but a good dry fly rod needs to provide a lot of feel and offer the ability to make very delicate presentations. These are the lighter 5-weight rods, perfect for fishing smaller dry flies, which have the ability to afford the most delicate and accurate presentations.

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