The Exocett VS The Exocett SS Series: By Joe Goodspeed

Thomas & Thomas offers two lineups of Exocett saltwater fly rods – our flagship 9’ Exocett (6-12wt) series, and our 8’8” Exocett SS (160, 200, 250, 350, 450) grain weight rated series. While these two high-performance lineups of 4-piece fly rods overlap each other in line class, The Exocett and Exocett SS lineups are each designed to excel performing a different range of casting and angling requirements.

A Big Difference

Fly fishing in the shallow saltwater flats presents a unique set of challenges as anglers deliver casts to visible moving targets.  These scenarios require different performance attributes from a fly rod than the majority of other saltwater fishing opportunities, which often occur in colder deeper water with larger flies.  An ideal design for a certain line weight class of saltwater rod to perform with floating lines in flats type fishing situations (or other situations where a standard floating line will effectively deliver the fly to the fish) will have significant shortcomings in many other fishing situations.

Flats Action

The ideal “flats” action requires a rigid backbone and a precise, fast recovering tip that allows for generating high line speeds, cutting the wind, and delivering small to medium size offerings with precision.  This action performs best making quick casts at specific targets with a floating line. T&T’s Exocett Series of Saltwater fly rods are designed for ideal performance in those visible shallow water situations, and general purpose floating line situations where maximizing casting distance is critical.

Sink Action

Many saltwater (or heavier freshwater) fly fishing situations don’t benefit from that ideal “Flats” action. These applications often require casting sinking lines, or blind fishing with overweight floating lines and larger fly patterns.  Those types of lines and bulky or heavy weighted flies all put excess stress on the ideal “flats” action rod, particularly the rod tip and tip-mid.  T&T’s Exocett SS 8’8” has a unique design framework that maximizes overall performance in these fishing situations.  The proprietary taper configuration and guide spacing strategy distributes the casting impact across more of the rod blank – absorbing the shock otherwise distributed between the top sections of the rod and the angler’s wrist with a “flats” action rod.  T&T’s Exocett SS 8’8” rod series has five models specifically designed with this action -- rated for 160, 200, 250, 350, and 450 grains.  These numbers match up with the weight properties listed on modern sinking or special compact fly line products, making it easy to match rods designed for casting weighted lines with the proper matching line products.