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I have a soft spot for Echo products because they were a steady brand in the fly shop I used to work at growing up in Montana. Their products were affordable, yet great quality. Their customer service was fantastic. Even here in Iowa, our local fly shop Rod & Rivet carries Echo rods and reels, and these items are great sellers.
Initial thoughts: TR2-4113
The color is sweet. It's a glossy dark olive color with a subtle orange accent in the thread wraps. The TR stands for Tim Rajeff, the visionary of Echo Fly Fishing.
If you've never held a trout spey or traditional spey rod before... they are long. If you do something so bold as assembling this rod indoors - be sure you have plenty of room, and I would not advise doing that at all. Wait until you get to the water.
The rod comes with a rod sock and a nice rod tube that is labeled with the rod's specs. While this isn't a huge deal to some, I'm a big fan of having this protective addition included in the purchase of the rod.
Physical Specifications
The TR2-4113 is a longer 4-weight trout spey rod than most on the market. It is, according to Echo, a "medium-fast+" action rod, and it also considers this "Tim's fast-action rod."
The rod is a four-piece rod that has orange dots on each blank for proper guide alignment, which is a great feature that many of us appreciate.
Performance
My first experience using this rod was fishing for trout in west-central Montana. There are some larger trout rivers around Montana, and this rod is well-prepared to handle bigger waters. Despite not being a true fast-action rod, it has enough backbone to handle some windier conditions, as well as some larger flies.
I typically am swinging streamers that are woolly bugger-sized or possibly a little larger. I also do swing a few soft hackles, but all of the fishing that I do with this setup is fishing swung flies.
In Iowa, we have a different species variety than in Montana. While unconventional in Iowa, we still do swing flies here when we can find current that suits this setup. The TR2-4113 has been able to land smallmouth bass, catfish, walleye, and I have even landed a few smallmouth buffalo swinging flies with it. These fish can get large, and fighting fish up to 10 pounds isn't at all impossible with this rod.
In terms of matching shooting heads with this setup, make sure to consult with your local fly shop to figure out exactly what will work for you. According to Echo, this rod will throw a Skagit head in the range of 360-390 grains, and a Scandi line in the 360 grain weight.
With that said, I've been throwing a Rio SkagitMax Short 325 grain with an AirFlo Impact 30lb running line and T-8 MOW Tips from Rio, and I find that to be a good setup. I have another reel rigged with a Rio Integrated Trout Spey at 365 grains that I have been using for more Scandi-style casting. I have also tried a 275 grain OPST Commando Smooth (integrated) line, and while I love that line with another two-handed rod I have, I haven't found it to work well with my TR2 in my experience. Again, check with your local fly shop and if possible, test out some lines and see what works for you.
Using this on smaller waters and/or for smaller fish (fish under 14" or so), I have found the TR2-4113 to be a bit overkill, and I think that the TR2-3110 might be a better fit, or potentially checking out the Trout Spey model of rods that Echo offers.
If you're used to fishing single handed rods, one thing to be aware of is that with a longer rod like this, the tip is much more fragile and must be treated more delicately. I've broken the tip section of my TR2-4113 twice, but it was because I was being too careless with my rod. Once, I had a fly snagged in a branch and tried to use the rod tip to dislodge it. Bad idea. Second, I was swinging in sub-freezing conditions and had ice build up on my rod tip. Hooked a fish and somewhere in the ensuing battle, the stress on the rod tip combined with the ice buildup caused the blank to snap near the tip top.
Usually, I am very good at not breaking fly rods; I think I haven't broken a single-handed rod in over five years. When it comes to the TR2, these breaks I experienced were no fault of the manufacturer, and I only tell them to you to illustrate to you that longer rods need their tip sections treated carefully.
Warranty
Echo rods have a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects. They will repair the rod if damaged by normal use for a service fee, and they actually will allow you to purchase a tip section separately (without having to return your rod) if you broke part of your tip section. I have experienced this myself... (twice...) with this rod due to user error. The return process has gone smoothly, and I have received my new tip section within the expected time frame. I even performed a rough fix of one of the tips sections that I had broken, and I keep it in the rod tube as my backup.
Summary
If you're looking for a mid-size spey setup for chasing smallmouth, mid-sized trout, or other species that generally are under 10 pounds, the TR2-4113 Trout Spey is a great setup. Echo has been a company known for quality and value, and this rod is another great one in their line of rods.
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