The Orvis Clearwater Fly Rod and Reel Outfit is one of the best fly fishing combos available today — and has been for years. In fact, Orvis has been offering its taper-specific Clearwater series of fly rods and reels for five years.
What do I mean about taper-specific? Each size and weight rod in the Clearwater Rod Series has a slightly different purpose built profile and action. For instance, lightweight small stream rods have medium actions while midrange freshwater rods have a medium fast action. Heavyweight big-fish and saltwater rods have fast actions.
Long-term Update: After fishing with a 9-foot 5-weight Orvis Clearwater Fly Rod Outfit over several seasons for trout, including fishing with the rod alongside other fly rods in my quiver, I still appreciate the value and excellent performance in this fly rod combo. Overall, the Clearwater combo is an outstanding beginner fly rod outfit and a great midrange competitor. In addition to easy casting with very good midrange accuracy, the Orvis 25-year guarantee on the Clearwater rod is a fantastic piece-of-mind warranty. If you’re stretching your budget to get into the Clearwater, the no-fault warranty is a great benefit.
Let’s take a closer look at my experience with the Clearwater Fly Rod and Reel Outfit:
Orvis Clearwater Fly Rod Outfit Review
The best fly fishing combos pair a fly rod with a matching reel, fly line, and backing. The Orvis Clearwater Fly Rod and Reel Outfit is one of the best entry-to-intermediate level fly rod outfits. Priced at around $396, the total cost is more than some competing outfits, but Orvis steps up the build quality to make it a serious contender for beginners. Plus, it’s a solid rod for experienced fly fishers. If you’re looking for a backup rod, a buddy rod, or a special-purpose rod beyond your typical go-to sizes, it’s hard to beat.
The Clearwater Fly Rod and Reel Outfit comes in a mind-boggling 17 different configurations for both freshwater and saltwater use — and even more if you count the two-handed versions. That’s a lot of options. Most entry-to-midrange level combos come in just a handful of the most common sizes and weights.
Many fly fishers will likely never feel the need to upgrade past the Clearwater series
As for overall quality and fishability, many fly fishers will likely never feel the need to upgrade — it’s that good. If they do, the Clearwater combo will likely stay on as a backup fly rod or a rod and reel ready for friends and family. Of course, Orvis makes better fly rods and reels — and offers them in outfits, too — but they tend to cost three times as much.
While the Clearwater series was designed by Orvis’ experts in Vermont, the rods and reels are imported — which is expected at this price point. (If you’re interested in Orvis’ most affordable Made in America fly rod, check out my review of the Orvis Recon.)
Orvis Clearwater Review: The Rods
Orvis redesigned each of the new Clearwater fly rods with purpose-built tapers. You get many different options that are aimed at everything from small stream trout to saltwater tarpon.Let’s start with the Clearwater rods. According to Orvis, the company learned from the development of its high-end Helios fly rods . . . and wanted to redevelop its Clearwater rod series with some of the same design principles.
The result is a set of Clearwater rods that are purpose-built for the type of fishing they’ll most likely be used for. For instance, the previous generation of Clearwater rods all had the same basic taper no matter what length and fly line weight they were made for. This means a 4-weight fly rod essentially cast and fished similar to an 8-weight fly rod. The 8w was just heavier and more powerful.
The latest Clearwater series is different. The smaller freshwater fly rods will tend to have softer, more moderate to medium-fast actions while the bigger saltwater rods will tend to have stiffer, faster actions. In this way, Orvis designed rods that will perform well for 80% of the kinds of fishing most people will need them for — which is exactly what you want out of an entry-to-midrange combo. And yet, Orvis also created rods that are tuned for specific fish. You can choose a Clearwater rod that’s perfect for trout on small waters or a Clearwater rod that’s ready for harsh saltwater and monster tarpon. Orvis even created a rod aimed at musky and pike fishing.
Better yet, all of the Clearwater Series rods are backed by a 25-year Orvis guarantee: If you break your rod, Orvis will fix it. That’s just outstanding for a rod in this price range.
Casting the 9-foot 5-weight Clearwater Rod
The most common all-purpose trout fly rod is a 9-foot, 5-weight. I tend to recommend this size for most new trout fly fishers.
The action of the 9’5w Clearwater Rod seems consistent with most medium-fast actions, but the tip is surprisingly flexible. Short cast accuracy and feels about average to me, solid and predictable. Midrange casts in the typical 30-to-50 feet range felt great — and accurate. While I could squeak some nice long-range casts out of the 9-foot 5-weight Clearwater, I had to pay attention and maintain good form.
On one trip for early-season cutthroat trout, I launched a super heavy jig with a bead-head nymph dropper. I fished this setup to get my flies down in deeper, faster water. Did the Clearwater cast this heavy rig well? Not really — but I’ve also never fished a 5-weight that truly excels in this situation. Casting a heavy nymph rig is more throwing and slinging than tight-loop casting.
Still, what I can tell is you that I could get decent distance out of the Clearwater with heavy flies — I just had to be deliberate and firm with my casting stroke.
I caught a few nice cutthroat with my nymph rig, then spotted a some fish feeding on mayflies. So I switched to a dry and instantly hooked a scrappy 15-incher on the first cast — about 45 feet out to the feeding lane. I was able to deliver very good accuracy at that distance. And I can’t argue with the result! The next fish was bigger but was quite a bit farther out. No problem. I made the cast, hooked him, had him on for about three seconds, and lost him. Not the rod’s fault, though.
The combo outfit comes with a rod, a rod case and a matching sized reel with backing and fly line.Why am I telling this story? After a few hours of fishing, the Clearwater rod was doing what I expected. I believe most people will be effective with it and enjoy fly fishing with it.
In terms of my long-term update, I’ve done well with dry flies at long distances. I could also cast hopper-dropper fly combos at midrange distances easily. I’ve been really pleased with the solid performance. When I hand this Clearwater combo to relatively newbie fly fishing friends, they tend to do better with the Clearwater combo than typical entry-level combos.
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The Clearwater Reel Review
While the Clearwater rod casts better than most at this price range, the new Clearwater Large Arbor Reel really caught my attention. I like this reel. It feels surprisingly solid. The click drag knob feels great and delivers confidence in when I adjust it.
The carbon-to-stainless stacked disc drag system itself is surprisingly smooth. When priced separately, the Orvis Clearwater Large Arbor Reel comes in at $98-119, which delivers an excellent price-to-value ratio.
You get a large arbor design that is better for reeling line in faster than older, more traditional reels. The die-cast construction is airy and lightweight.
Interestingly, the new Clearwater Large Arbor Reel doesn’t appear significantly different from the previous generation. Orvis modernized the die-cast aluminum frame, simplified the drag nob, and moved to a matte gray color. It weighs just a tenth of an ounce less. The older black Clearwater reel was a good reel and I liked it. Still, the Orvis’ designers clearly knew how to tweak a good thing to make it better.
The Orvis Clearwater Combo Verdict
All-in-all, the Orvis Clearwater Fly Rod Outfit delivers quality and fishability well above its midrange price point, making the Clearwater Outfit a can’t-go-wrong combo for most fly fishers. The cost is more than the true entry-level Orvis Encounter Outfit, but the Clearwater’s improvements make the bump a fair trade. Plus, the Orvis 25-year warranty is outstanding. Highly recommended.
