Being a twenty-something year old, I’ve not yet had the time nor budget to amass a quiver of rods for every occasion, equation and species. I’d love a supple saltwater 7-weight for estuary grunter, a stiff 9-weight to throw sinking lines at tigers, and a staunch freshwater 8-weight for largemouth yellowfish. At the same time, I’d also love to pay rent and buy food.  

Enter the Horizon Nitro 8-weight which, having tested for a few months now, I am confident is an all-rounder that can cover any situation without me feeling like I am lacking the right tool. 

In short, this is a fast action blank offering both a reliable backbone in the fight and a sensitive tip, and, bonus, it comes in at a fraction of the price of high-end, 8-weight equivalents. The rod comes in a verdant green-mamba colourway and features an uplocking aluminium, saltwater-sealed reel seat and a Flor grade cork handle.  

In the hand, I found that the Nitro packs a considerable punch. This is no doubt thanks in part to Horizon’s new NANOHOOP™ technology. Regardless, by the third false cast, I could feel that this rod was hungry to sling the rest of the running line out. It helped that I overlined it with the 9-weight Scientific Anglers Amplitude Redfish (click here for USA) floating line to deliver bigger flies. Speaking of all-rounders, this line is more than capable of covering all your South African saltwater applications, as well as doing surface work on the Orange, Vaal and Zambezi River systems. Sure, you can get specific lines for each and every fishery if you can afford to, but ask yourself this, do you need to?  

As for the fight, hooking into a particularly chubby 17.5-inch spotted bass deep in the Tankwa Karoo, I could appreciate the 8-weight’s backbone. I could also imagine how the fighting butt would come in handy when dealing with bigger species like kob or largemouth yellows. Despite that bass throwing a few violent headshakes, the Nitro’s tip kept the line in steady contact with the fish but could handle a fair amount of horsing when it came time to get it away from snags and into the net.  

‘What about aftercare?’ you might ask. One day, when I accidently but inevitably use my rod as a pole vault or jam it into the blades of an outboard motor and break the tip, I can simply turn to the rod sleeve and rig up again. That’s because the Nitro 8-weight and, in fact, Horizon’s entire Nitro range, comes with spare third and fourth segments. Even if you chew through the spares, Horizon’s got a good rep for prompt and fair customer care.  

If you consider yourself a larnie, this may not be the rod you reach for first on a trip of a lifetime (though it would be for me), but I’d say it deserves to be along for the ride as a backup or even a generalist rig. For my purposes, I can throw Muishonds on the Orange River, Stellas at Sandvlei leeries, turd flies at grunter and even, one day, tiger clousers and a fast-sinking line on the Zambezi with this rod. Put simply, for South African conditions and species (outside of the trout-sized realm), this might just be the holy grail of rods, a true Swiss-Army Knife.  

SHOP THE MISSION

This review first appeared in The Mission Issue 52 (July/August 2025). You can read the whole thing below, for free, forever.

THE MISSION is home-grown and hand-rolled with blood, sweat and beers. You can buy us one on Patreon.