Review: Hardy Aydon Rod

An in-depth evaluation.

Last summer, Outside Bozeman ran a contest where some lucky bastard would win a 9-foot 5-weight Hardy Aydon fly rod and matching Hardy Averon reel; all you had to do was submit a photo in an angling situation featuring a copy of their Cast magazine, and the staff would pick their favorite. One Saturday in July I stuffed a copy of Cast in my pack as I ventured up a tiny tributary of the Gallatin. Lo and behold, posing the magazine next to a cold Bozeman Brewing Hopzone IPA and a wee but brightly colored rainbow trout made me the lucky bastard! I mention this because, yes, I’m reviewing a rod that I won, but I’m going to do my best to pretend I actually forked out the dough for it.

Besides winning the rod & reel, what qualifies me to write a review? I’ve fly fished for (Good Lord!) over 40 years, guided for Gallatin River Guides in Big Sky in the '90s, and currently put in about 50 days per year on the rivers and lakes of southwest Montana. I’ve cast a variety of different rods, mostly Sage and Winston, but also Scott, Redington, and Orvis. I’m not a professional rod reviewer like the folks at Yellow Dog who do awesome analytical videos in awful places like the Bahamas (but once they read this Pulitzer Prize–worthy review, I’ll expect an invitation forthwith). Additionally, I’ve intentionally avoided reading other reviews of the Hardy Aydon so as not to be influenced.

After picking up the rod from the friendly folks at O/B, I paused to savor the moment before I opened the rod tube, which is a fairly modest, utilitarian Cordura case. The tube is square in cross-section, which I didn’t think much about until a few days later when I put it on the back seat of my truck on the way to the river. It didn’t roll off the seat! Genius! I unzipped the case and slid out the cloth rod sack. A glow emanated from the tube and angels sang. The black sack was secured with two pale yellow ribbons, tied in perfect bows. This is in keeping with the longstanding reputation of Hardy as a maker of refined, elegant gear for the discerning angler. I undid the bows and carefully extracted the rod pieces from the four pockets of the cloth bag. To say the rod is a thing of beauty is an understatement. The Aydon is a lustrous olive with subtle light green rod wraps, and the reel seat is an exotic wood that has bands of matching olive running through the gold and brown grain. Gorgeous.

My first test came on the Gardner River in Yellowstone Park during an annual trip to Gardiner to fish and drink with some old and dear friends. With such a new and delicate-appearing rod, I was initially tentative with my casting. I started with a single dry fly, a #16 Coachman Trude. Working out 15-20 feet of line, I made a number of false casts to get used to the new rod, gradually lengthening my cast until I was tossing all 90 feet of line. Just kidding! Once I had about 30 feet of line out, the rod started to load throughout its length. After I slowed my stroke a little, adjusting from years of using a very-fast-action rod, it started to feel good. I soon realized that I was underpowering the rod due to being nervous about how delicate it appeared. Throughout the day as I became more attuned to the action of the Aydon, my casts became more fluid and my presentations more accurate. I was really starting to like the rod.

I’ve fished a double-nymph rig with this rod and it handles two flies with aplomb.

Since that first trip, I’ve put the Aydon through its paces, using it with different fly combinations, on different rivers and in a variety of conditions. On one extreme I was on the Upper Madison in mid-April, and since the trout didn’t like what I was tossing, I tried a couple of large streamers to see how the rod would perform. Both were heavy, wind-resistant flies, the larger one about 5 inches long. I was skeptical that the Aydon could cast these flies effectively and I was correct. The rod isn’t designed for this and my casts were more of a big, slow lob than anything resembling a fly cast, not to mention that I was concerned that this big of a fly could snap the rod if too much force was applied. Relieved that this test was over, I cut my tippet and put the big streamers aside, saving them for my 7-weight. The Aydon can, however, cast a medium-sized streamer, say a size 6 with a little weight—once about 30 feet of line is out, it casts the fly well, as long as you adjust your stroke and timing. Many times, however, I’ve fished a double-nymph rig with this rod and it handles two flies with aplomb. My go-to setup is a #8 Minch’s Bead, Hare, and Copper with a #18 Zebra Midge. I do not use a strike indicator so I can only assume one would impair the cast as it does with any other rod.

Where the Aydon rod really shines, and what I’m guessing it was built for, is to cast a single dry fly. I recently spent two days on the Gallatin where the conditions aligned with cool weather, overcast skies, and clear water, making it ideal for the spring Baetis hatch. This is my favorite hatch to fish. If you hit it right, the long slick pools boil with eager trout, and after a long winter of throwing nymphs it is a treat so see a dry fly bob along the surface again. Despite the near-perfect conditions, the hatch both days was pretty sparse. Nevertheless, I was able to cast to a few individual risers and presented my #16 Sparkle Dun accurately throughout the day. The rod performed spectacularly. Stiff enough to toss a tight loop, soft enough to delicately land the fly upon the water, it was an absolute pleasure to cast. It’s a cliché, but the Aydon has become an extension of me; I no longer have to think about my cast, I focus on the rise and somehow the fly lands where it should.

Fghting fish with this rod is a whole helluva lotta fun.

The nemesis of fly fishers is wind. Super-fast rods have been marketed as the solution for this and they certainly excel in this role, while perhaps sacrificing a little delicacy. The Hardy Aydon, while not as fast as my old Sage RPL+, does very well in windy conditions. As frustrating as the wind can be, it is the caster more than the rod that is key to overcoming these conditions. A short single haul on the forward cast works wonders to send a tight loop into the face of a strong gust. The times I have been out where the wind has created difficulties would have been almost as much as a problem with a stiffer fly rod.

While the Gallatin doesn’t produce a lot of large trout, I did land a handful of chunky, leaping rainbows during the Baetis hatch, and it was a ton of fun fighting them with the Aydon rod. The softness of the rod protected the tippets, and it had enough backbone to land the fish in short order for a quick release. I longed, however, to hook a bigger fish to really test out the rod’s fish-fighting abilities. Fortunately, after a slow start on the Madison, the river came alive for about an hour in the late afternoon and I tied into several good fish. One was a 17 ½-inch rainbow that ate my X-Caddis and was hell-bent on reaching the other side of the river. It leaped so high I gasped audibly, then it found fast water and tore downstream. I kept pressure on it, the rod flexing and cushioning the 5X tippet until I steered the fish into slack water at the bank and released it after a couple of quick pictures. I also landed a fat 16-inch rainbow that leapt three times and kept the outcome in doubt until I twisted to hook free and it darted back into the depths. The overall impression I have when it comes to fighting fish with this rod is that it is a whole helluva lotta fun.

The Aydon is impeccably appointed, as you would expect from Hardy, as beautiful to look at as it is to fish.

The Hardy Aydon retails for $575. That is about half the price of the top-end rods by the major rod manufacturers of quality rods, including, indeed, Hardy. So what do you get for this price? Amazing value. Can this rod do it all? No, but in the 5-weight you should not expect it to toss big, heavy flies. Use your 6- or 7-weight for this. But it is incredibly versatile, handling moderately heavy nymphs all the way down to tiny dry flies. It is impeccably appointed, as you would expect from Hardy, as beautiful to look at as it is to fish. Honestly, Hardy was not on my radar as a fly-rod company until I won this rod, but man was I missing out. The Hardy Aydon is the perfect rod for someone who is ready to trade up from their starter or intermediate rod without going broke. Experienced anglers will also appreciate its performance and aesthetics. This would also make an excellent present. Every time I open up the rod tube it’s like opening a present (which it kind of is for me as I won it), so I can only imagine how thrilled a recipient would be to unwrap this as a gift.

If you're interested in checking out the Aydon head to a local fly shop and ask to cast it. Give yourself a few minutes to get used to it, work out the amount of line you typically cast, and ask questions. I'll bet you’ll come away with a positive impression.

The Aydon and other Hardy rods are available at most local fly shops. For a full list, navigate to the dealer-locator page at hardyflyfishing.com.