Winston Air TH 14' 6" 8 weight Rod Review

January 05, 2021

RL Winston’s Boron III technology combined with its proprietary nano resin formula push the limits of blank strength, taper, wall thickness, and diameter resulting in the powerful but extremely light weight Winston AIR TH. When I first received the AIR TH, I couldn’t believe how light the rod tube was. I thought that they may have forgotten to insert the rod in the tube before shipping.

I planned to test Winston AIR TH (8 weight, 14'6") with multiple fly lines in a Great Lakes tributary for migratory steelhead.

Initial notes: I removed the four-piece rod from the tube and put it together. The finish on this rod is perfect. The impeccable, translucent ‘Winston green’ color, hand inscribed rod information and serial number on each ferrule is a small but personal touch that Winston rods are known for.

The stripper guide is satin finished with a Silicon Nitride ring and the snake guides are hard chrome. All are perfectly aligned. The anodized aluminum reel seat is down-locking and features double lock rings. The flor grade cork grips are as tight as can be and feel smooth and comfortable in hand.

Overall, the aesthetics are beautiful and refined. You can really appreciate the attention to detail the Winston craftspersons put into these hand-finished rods.

On the water: The river was blown out. High, dirty water from previous days rains. My intention was to first fish a 62’ mid-belly floating line. This rod was designed for traditional long belly lines and greased line fishing, but conditions and the long, wide pool I was standing in called for sinking lines, so I began with a 34’, triple density Scandi line with a 10’ sinking versileader and a 3’ leader. Overall length: 47 feet. The 520 grain Scandi line matched perfectly with the AIR TH. It effortlessly lifted the sunk line and fly with a smooth load into the anchor. It performed best with a faster line speed, constant load, and a good bottom hand stroke from the D loop to and through the forward stroke. With the smaller diameter cork grips, you can really feel the rod load from tip to butt. I could feel my way through the entire cast, correcting myself when timing and load was off. When I got it all right, I was consistently launching rockets.

Further downstream was a classic pool with quick current coming in from the head and through the bucket which had many large boulders and, with any hope, a fish hiding among them...

I swapped the Scandi head with a 22’, 540 grain intermediate Skagit head with a 12’ dual density (sink 3/sink 5) tip and a 4’ leader to get a low and slow presentation. A few adjusments to my casting was necessary to avoid blown anchors with the shorter head and longer rod. A slower casting speed and a good sustained anchor helped.

The 14'6" length of the AIR TH was useful when I needed to adjust and mend the running line and skagit head. Thanks to the rod's extremely light weight, my arm did not tire after repeatedly keeping the rod high with arm raised after every cast to get the sinktip down deep before the swing. The low and slow presentation resulted in a subtle but solid take deep in the bucket. The steelhead took line and bent the AIR down to the cork and every head shake was solidly telegraphed by the blank. The TH AIR made quick work of landing a beautiful Lake Huron steelhead.

Further downstream, the pool's tailout had slower moving water and my Skagit setup was a little too heavy, which meant that this was a perfect time and place to line the AIR TH with a 62’ floating mid belly and 16’ leader and do some grease lining.

The rod really shined here: it was a joy to cast! Powerful and deep loading but so light in hand! Single speys, double speys, snake rolls, and everything in between seemed effortless and the AIR'S 14'6" length lifted line off the water for easy mending.

Conclusion: the Winston AIR TH is a powerful, smooth and deep loading rod that amplifies the feel to your casting. It is not a slow or medium flexing rod though. I'd place it in the fast/medium flex category.

Besides its feather light weight, another thing that really stands out is its remarkably fast recovery and little swing weight.

The 14'6" AIR TH 8 weight was designed for longer lines and I found them to be a little more forgiving on timing than the shorter lines, but they all performed well.

After 2 full days of fishing and casting, I came to realize that this may be the most enjoyable two-hander I've ever fished.