Waterworks-Lamson Cobalt Fly Rod Review

The Waterworks-Lamson Cobalt is fit for a more relaxed casting approach. It loads easily, and it loads quickly. This makes it a favorite of ours for sight fishing, because most sight fishing shots occur at distances between 30-50ft, not a very long cast. So you have to be able to land your fly with a minimum amount of false casts, and to do that accurately it’s best to have an easy loading softer tipped rod.

To say the tip is softer is relative – compared to other fast-action rods. The Cobalt is still considered fast-action and the tip is still crisp enough to generate good line speed and fire a tight loop into the wind. It’s just that, again relative, it’s not as efficient at this as other fast action-rods.

There’s always a trade-off. In the Cobalt’s case you’re sacrificing a bit of distance and efficiency in wind and gaining efficiency and accuracy at a shorter distance.

Fly Line Pairing:

To realize the potential gains in accuracy and efficiency in short to medium distance, line pairing is very important. In this case it’s important to break the rod series up into 3 parts. We’ll call them the small, medium, large sizes.

The Small Sizes: 6-7 weights are best slightly overlined (a half size heavy or less). Our favorite line on these is a floating line, the Scientific Anglers Amplitude Smooth Grand Slam in the line size that matches the rod.

Scientific Anglers Amplitude Smooth Grand Slam fly line

The Medium Sizes: 8 and 9 weight are also best paired with a slightly overweight floating line. The Scientific Anglers Amplitude Grand Slam or a one size down AirFlo Super-Dri Bonefish. (WF7F on an 8 weight rod).

The Large Size: 10 and 11 weight also do best just slightly overlined. Underlining one size on the AirFlo Super-Dri Tarpon gives you great feel and versatility. However, these sizes are a bit stiffer up top relative compared to the smaller size and can handle an intermediate or sink tip line.

Upgrades from last generation Waterworks-Lamson Standard Seat:

The taper design and performance of the Cobalt blank is the same as the Standard Seat, which we’re glad they didn’t change. Improvements were however made on the hardware. The new Lockdown reel seat is designed to have the reel seat’s straight edges sit on machined rails. This means the reel can’t wobble at all, therefore it can’t loosen the locking ring. The blank was also treated with a UV resin that will prevent the grey blank from getting dulled by the sun.

Waterworks-Lamson Cobalt Fly Rods
Lamson Cobalt
Lamson Cobalt Saltwater Rod - 9 Foot/6 Weight/4 Pc $429.99 1 available
Lamson Cobalt
Lamson Cobalt Saltwater Rod - 9 Foot/7 Weight/4 Pc $429.99 1 available
Lamson Cobalt
Lamson Cobalt Saltwater Rod - 9 Foot/8 Weight/4 Pc $469.99 1 available
Lamson Cobalt
Lamson Cobalt Saltwater Rod - 9 Foot/9 Weight/4 Pc $469.99 0 available
Lamson Cobalt
Lamson Cobalt Saltwater Rod - 9 Foot/10 Weight/4 Pc $479.99 3 available
Lamson Cobalt
Lamson Cobalt Saltwater Rod - 9 Foot/11 Weight/4 Pc $479.99 1 available
Lamson Cobalt
Lamson Cobalt Saltwater Rod - 9 Foot/12 Weight/4 Pc $479.99 1 available

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