Kind of leaning towards giving an Echo rod a try. An Ion XL seems to tick a lot of boxes (full wells grip, fighting butt). Leaning to a 6 or 7 wt and preferably a 10' rod. Fussing whether a 7 wt might be somewhat overpowered for the average fish I catch. The 6 wt I am currently using is enough rod to manage the usual fish, it just struggles on longer casts. (or probably more correctly I struggle with it!) Reviews on the Echo suggest it is perhaps a bit of a cannon but lacks in presentation for shorter casts or longevity of the grips. Same rod (6wt) in 10' version is noticeably more tiring, which is a concern.
Guess I will look at some other brands at a higher price point. I'd love to try a Sage or Loomis!
The only place a 7wt 10ft makes sense IMO&E is from a drift boat. The length gets you out past the oars. I have and use an Echo 710.
