Vision Grand Mama 9' #9

 

The nine weight GM has proven to be a great allround rod for pike and heavier perch fishing.

General info and appearances

The Grand Mama series is the newest addition to Vision's pike line up. It consists of two rods - a nine weight which I will review in this article and a ten weight. They compliment Vision's existing pike line up perfectly as they are fast action rods that are set in mid range when it comes to price. They retail at 495 € in most fly shops.

The nine weight GM is a true fast action rod meaning the top third of the rod bends more than the rest of the blank. It's also overall relatively stiff so it can handle modern nine weight pike lines with ease. The tip is beefy enough so it won't overbend easily when using big flies and heavy lines. 

The tip section has plenty of beef/diameter to handle modern condensed pike lines and big flies without bending too much  

The rod has a EVA handle that is pretty much immune to wear and tear. It's pretty nice to handle even though after a few years of using primarily EVA handles I still prefer the feel of cork. The reelseat is nicely machined and has a double nut to keep your reel in there tight. The fighting butt is pretty standard size for a nine weight. I would personally prefer a few cm's more on the reelseat or/and fighting butt, but most Scandinavian anglers seem to prefer them shorter so I guess that's why Vision makes them pretty short? The rod weighs in at 116 grams on my scale so we are talking about a super light weight rod for a nine weight. 

These reelseats are care free to use. Ps. I left the dirt on the rod to keep things real...

The blank is deep dark olive which looks almost black in low light and only gives out it's olive hue in bright sunlight. The pink details are a bit cheap looking if you ask me, but they do show up nicely and give the rod a very distinct look. There's dots on the blank to help you line up each section perfectly and very handy build in markers to take a quick measurement of your fish without any extra hassle. The marks starts at 100 cm and go all the way up to 130 cm. The rod has titanium stripping guides and hard chrome snakes. The rod is sold with a pink rod sock and pink rod tube...

These build in markers are really handy. I very rarely take a precise measurement of the fish I catch so just holding the rod against the fish to see how big the fish approximately is usually good enough for me.

Suitable lines, reels and overall performance

I have used this rod with the following lines: Airflo Sniper floating #8, Vision Big Mama #9 in sink3 and SloMo, Vision GD #8 sink 2/4, Vision GD #9 SloMo to Intermediate. All of those lines work just fine on the rod. However if I had to choose a favorite it would be the #9 Big Mama's. They fly like a rocket on that rod.

I recommend you to use a very light reel on this rod. This way you get the most out of the super light feel this rod has to offer. I personally use a 8/9 XLV on it and it's perfect. I think the reel weighs something like 160 grams. I wouldn't use anything over 200 grams on this rod unless I'm using it in SW fishing where I need more backing and drag power.

This combo is so light to handle.

Overall the taper on the rod is leaning towards a traditional fast action rod. The rod has a stiff butt section and a relatively stiff mid section. The rod definitely does most of it's work on the top third of the rod. Pairing up a tip section that's strong enough to not overbend with big flies and heavy lines is no easy task on a rod like this, but Antti and his team nailed it on this one. Taper wise the rod has a lot in common with one of my all time favorites the Sage Salt 10wt. Strong tipped Fast action rod is something that describes it well. If you are a fan of soft rods for pike I would probably steer clear from this one. For me it is the perfect compliment for my 9wt Predator rod and I can use them on the same day without any adjustment in my casting stroke.

For me this is the best 9wt pike/heavy perch fishing one two punch on the market.

So, the big question that most people want an answer to is = is the 9wt Predator worth the extra 300 € compared to the Grand Mama? That's actually a pretty hard question to answer. You can feel the extra euros in the Predators taper. It is smoother and more progressive/uniform in the way it bends under pressure. This makes the Predator a bit more versitale when it comes to different casting styles and a touch better if you need to throw seriously oversized flies. The difference isn't huge though and you shouldn't feel left out of much if you can't afford the Predator.   

The perfect fly size for the nine weight GM

Fishing the 9wt GM is a real pleasure. It casts normal sized pike flies like a dream and is great to use with smaller perch patterns too. The rod is so light in hand that it doubles up as a perch rod like a charm and is especially spot on when your doing mixed fishing and got big perch, pike and zander in the same spots. For huge patterns I usually like to use a 10wt anyway so I don't think it's fair to judge this rod by them. However, like said earlier, I do prefer the Predator if I'm throwing a huge chicken sized flies over the GM. 

Fish fighting and durability

The GM fights a pike just like any other fast action rod does. I usually use a low angle when I fight a pike so the rod doesn't do much work, but the GM has plenty of backbone to bully fish in when the need arises. It has fared well in close combat situations too and hasn't broken on me yet when I need to high stick a bit to get the fish into the net.

My biggest fish so far on the Grand Mama is this 111cm fish that fought like a champion.

Apart from the occasional high sticking I have hit this rod a few times with a weighted fly and it's still going strong. I have to admit that I was a bit worried about the durability of this rod as mid priced super light fast action rods can be a bit prone to snap on you. So far so good with the GM though.

Pro's and Con's

+ Super light in hand and a real pleasure to handle on a long day on the water.

+ Price. Even though it's by no means a cheap rod, it's pretty much impossible to find this kind of performance and lightness from any other rod from this price point.

+ The action. I think the boys from Vision really nailed the action on this one. When you want a true fast action rod that's fine tuned for big flies look no further. The action on this rod will also be perfect for SW fishing so a double thumbs up for that.

+ Seems to be pretty versatile when it comes to line selection.

-+ EVA handles. This one falls into both the pro's and con's column. EVA is super durable and will look pretty much the same as the day you bought the rod after five years of hardcore use. Can't say the same about your average cork, but still I would prefer to use a cork handle on my fly rods.

- Stiffness. As the blank is overall pretty stiff it can lead to some tailing loops etc when you get tired and your casting starts to suck. This happens to 93% of us especially when casting from a belly boat for 8 hours straight. Have a cup of coffee when this starts to happen and maybe a lihapiirakka (meat pie) and you should be good to go for a few more hours!

- The looks. I'm definitely not saying the rod is ugly, but I do prefer more classical looking finishes on my rods. That said, I don't judge the tools I use at work by their looks either so this is definitely not a big deal for me.