Five years ago, I fished my first contemporary fiberglass fly rod. The Redington Butter Stick had just received an update. The new rod featured an adjusted taper and a new, soft white color scheme. I fished the 4-weight, and was pleased with how approachable the casting stroke  was after years of faster graphite rods. A few years later I came to own the 1-weight, which has a prominent place in my rod rotation for small-stream trout.

This year, Redington relaunched their popular fiberglass rod series. Along with a new handle and reel seat, the rod returns to the popular yellow color scheme. Also, the rod now comes in a convenient four-piece configuration. Those aspects are all fine and good, but what really matters is how it fishes. I put the new Butter Stick through the paces that any respectable 4-weight should see: panfish and mountain trout.

If the last fiberglass fly rod in your hands was built in the 1960s or cost less than $25, the warm yellow aesthetics might be familiar. But you’ll really be impressed with the responsiveness of this blank and how it casts.

Small streamers and poppers are certainly within the wheelhouse of the Butter Stick. I unloaded line to toss panfish bugs out into the middle of ponds, and I was able to drop marabou baitfish imitations with precision into the next plunge pool upstream. These heavier and bulkier flies necessitate a slower back cast, which allows the rod to load a little bit more for the resultant forward motion. This isn’t a fiberglass fault; it is the necessary implication of fishing with a slower rod.

Where this new Butter Stick really shines is fishing dry flies. Redington calls the taper of the Butter Stick medium action. With the right fly line – something designed for loading at shorter distances – it lays down delicate presentations with ease. Even though it was unnecessary for my approach, I found casting lanes that allowed me to lay out long casts with lengthy leaders. The rod performed incredibly well, even handling a quicker casting motion with the kind of tight loops appropriate for the overhanging tree cover. Even at only 7’6″, the 4-weight Butter Stick would be a great dry fly rod an all but the largest and fastest rivers.

A quick word on the color: it is yellow. Unless you’re holding it immediately above a finnicky trout, you’re going to be just fine. While I don’t disagree that fish see and acknowledge color, your silhouette is vastly more intrusive than a light-colored, pencil-thin fly rod. Plus, it looks cool and retro but in a derivative and unique way. It is a visually appealing piece of gear, and it pairs well with some of Redington’s similarly-colored reel options.

There are plenty of directions that you can go when shopping for a fiberglass fly rod. Small batch, custom rods have quite the following. There are countless vintage options that are both available and serviceable.  Both of those choices are great. But you could do a lot worse than casting the “third generation” Butter Stick. It is a pleasure to cast, and, most importantly, it is a fly rod that is fun to fish.

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Take a look at the current models of the newest Redington Butter Stick on their website. Better yet, find a local shop that stocks them and give one a test cast. As always, feel free to reach out to me with any specific questions that you might have.