While it may be true, most of the time, that there’s nothing new under the sun, when it comes to the solid graphite fly rods produced by Satoshi Maruyama from Eastwind Artisans, there may be an exception to the rule. Having fished two of Satoshi’s Solid Octagon rods Leonard Flemming explains why. Photos: Leonard Flemming, Jimmy Eagleton, Matt Kennedy, Solid Octagon. As featured in The Mission Issue 47 (Sep/Oct 2024).

Think “bamboo fly rods” and the association you probably make is one of a more traditional fly fishing genre, because the craftsmanship these rods demand dates back centuries. Building bamboo rods also requires skill and takes time, attributes usually reserved for artists. Being such a time-consuming labour of love and skill, good bamboo rods typically carry heavy price tags too.Then there’s the matter of “feel”. The materials that go into making bamboo rods typically make them feel heavier and give them a slower action than modern carbon fibre fly rods.  

“The general human obsession with modernity and progress, something we all do, whether it’s cars, phones or sports equipment.”

On the other side of the spectrum, you get the general human obsession with modernity and progress, something we all do, whether it’s cars, phones or sports equipment. In the production of equipment like graphite tennis racquets, carbon fibre mountain bikes and the latest fishing rods, we’ve “evolved” to believe that the future is about producing lighter things that are faster and give a higher performance compared to their more “sluggish” historical counterparts. I totally get it. Futuristic stuff almost always sounds exciting (save for having bloody AI write you a novel).

While featherlight graphite frames make perfect sense when compared with the burden of trudging a heavy steel mountain bike up a hill, the thought has occurred to me and, no doubt, to many other people, that maybe we Gen Xers, Millennials and Gen Z peeps are missing something with our eternal obsession with wanting lighter, faster fly rods. In my opinion, many of the faster modern fly rods lack casting ability and accuracy at close range. These are exactly the kind of distances we frequently cover to reach fish in our bushed-in rivers.

“Is lighter, better?” 

That was the vital question that jeweller turned rod maker Satoshi Maruyama asked himself when he started to build a solid graphite rod. His goal? To build a rod that, in contrast to the ever-lighter weights and faster actions of modern, hollow, carbon fibre rods, exhibited a casting stroke that closely resembled a bamboo rod. 

As an artist majoring in sculpture at Tokyo Art University, one of the top art schools in Japan, Satoshi took a natural interest both in crafting jewellery and his own fly rods. He’s made a name for himself as one of Japan’s top wedding band makers, but he admits that, “Ninety-five per cent of my brain is occupied with fly rods.”  

Over years spent experimenting with fly rods he observed how bamboo loaded a short line better at close quarters and also how a bamboo rod naturally fought the fish with the bend of the rod and protected light tippets. However, on the downside, these rods were heavy, sometimes a tad too heavy for his liking. So, Satoshi set out to produce something in-between, a Goldilocks-zone graphite rod neither as heavy as bamboo, nor as light and stiff as modern carbon fibre rods. 

“One of Japan’s top wedding band makers, Satoshi admits that, ‘95% of my brain is occupied with fly rods.’” 

He realised that the quality of a product is weight-dependent, and that weight adds power to a tool, like a hammer, but that it should not be too heavy. Either way, being too heavy or too light, it would not be very useful or durable. It should rather be an ideal weight most suitable for its purpose. I like the way that Satoshi compares building hardware with fishing tackle, i.e. fishing tools, and, from what I have experienced fishing his rods, I think he hit the nail on the head with that theory. Although Satoshi’s intention was to construct solid graphite rods for streams, I was also interested in the performance of these rods in saltwater. So, he went out of his way to build two Solid Octagon saltwater fly rods and I was lucky enough to receive the custom 8- and 9-weights to try out. Here’s what happened… 

Flats test 

There are few true saltwater flats areas that are a comfortable daytrip from Cape Town. The vast sand flats along the West Coast are probably the closest thing you’ll find to a Seychelles flat, but unlike the tropics there is not an abundance of bonefish along our Atlantic coastline. So while we are limited to mostly cartilaginous flatfish like the lesser guitarfish, common eagle ray, thorn ray, electric ray and other rays, it is still true flats fishing in the sense that you are stalking relatively big and powerful fish with a 9-weight and thinnish, fluorocarbon tippet.

While fishing the flats, unpredictable, strong winds often pick up during the day so I prefer a 9-weight. The fishing also requires surprisingly quick reactions and accurate presentations otherwise often limited opportunities are easily missed to present a fly at a sighted fish cruising in very shallow water. 

The Solid Octagon 9-weight performed surprisingly well in these conditions. It proved to be a supple but powerful rod, loading a short line quickly, managing both roll casting and longer casts over distances of 15m-plus to cover feeding fish really well. Although not necessarily designed for this, it even handled with ease relatively big, weighted crab flies cast at a fair distance to eagle rays “mudding” behind the wave zone. 

“I really enjoy a rod that detects that ‘pulse’ through the blank.”

The most interesting thing for me was how the solid graphite blank still conducted takes, like an electric pulse travelling through the line and through the rod, one of the key signs to set the hook with a strip-strike with these fish. I really enjoy a rod that detects that “pulse” through the blank, and although the Solid Octagon’s medium-to-fast action may be comparable to helical construction carbon fibre rods, the “pulse” from a fish eat is something I have found helical carbon fibre rods struggle to transfer. I’d imagine that bamboo may be similar or even worse? Nevertheless, you’ll have no problem picking up takes through the Solid Octagon rods. 

As with most tropical fish targeted on vast sand flats, you must let guitarfish and eagle rays do their own thing on the relatively thin tippet. They also run you well into your backing after feeling the pressure of the hookset. It was such a pleasure fighting big fish on the Solid Octagon. It’s more like a bamboo or glass rod and gives with the slightest resistance, protecting the tippet. The rod also bends nicely into the fish and the bend has enough power to guide a fish away from reefs and rocky outcrops that may cut the line. That suppleness means that you can bend the rod with peace of mind when landing big fish in the shore break, often a crucial situation where faster, stiffer carbon fibre rods can snap. 

Pelagic test 

If you read up about Solid Octagon rods and the reason why the designer chose a solid graphite blank, you’ll realise that the intention was not to build a fast-action rod that could potentially cast an entire fly line at fish in the open ocean. Instead, Satoshi strove to produce a slightly “softer” rod that could load accurate casts over shorter distances, such as those required to catch yamame (land-locked cherry salmon) in small streams in Japan. 

So, unlike flats fishing, which is quite intimate and I guess better suited to the purpose of Solid Octagon rods, I took the Solid Octagon 8-weight well outside of its intended limits and targeted Cape yellowtail (aka giant yellowtail or yellowtail amberjack) on an offshore fishing mission with Jimmy Eagleton. We were fishing with clear intermediate lines, 15lb fluorocarbon tippet and #4 olive Clouser Minnows to skittish yellowtail feeding on schooling anchovies swimming close to the surface. This was not exactly the place even for a powerful 10-weight G. Loomis, for instance. 

“Besides the stunning detail in the rod and the very professional finish, it proved itself to be a tough and versatile fishing tool.”

The Solid Octagon 8-weight presented a full Rio Premier AquaLux clear intermediate line with minimal false casting and, instead of a medium-fast action, this blank felt really fast. Though still a supple rod, its casting action was closer to my fast-action Sage rods, like my 8-weight Sage Method. I had no trouble reaching fish rushing past from a few feet next to the boat to an approximate 100ft distance (±30m) from us and, while properly under-gunned with an 8-weight targeting >10lb yellowtail, I was still able to land the majority of fish that I hooked on this rod.  

In short, the 8-weight Solid Octagon really impressed me and, besides the stunning detail in the rod and the very professional finish, it proved itself to be a tough and versatile fishing tool, even suitable for targeting offshore saltwater species. Like the flats fishing experience with the 9-weight in blue water, this rod ticked all the boxes for me. 

Carp test 

Being a carp fanatic I simply had to go and try one of these rods out on a stillwater with a booming population of carp in it. It was already late summer and the dam levels were actually too low, but this did not stop me from at least trying. 

I went a tad against my usual carp strategy and presented a small crab pattern to carp feeding a few rod-lengths from the bank in about 6 feet of water with a clear intermediate line. Only the fizz was visible on the surface where carp were stirring up the bottom as they presumably sucked up silt, dragonfly nymphs and bloodworm.

I covered the fizz with a short cast and, as with the flatfish on the West Coast, the Solid Octagon detected the carp eat exceptionally well and I was quickly into my first freshwater fish on these rods. I fought the fish mostly with the bend of the rod, keeping it close and preventing it from running a “mile”, which is generally not possible when fighting carp with standard carbon fibre rods as they are too stiff and you typically get flat-sticked and see backing almost straight away. 

Final score 

My limited experience with the Solid Octagon rods, and especially with testing different rod weights beyond the potential saltwater range that I was provided with, makes it hard to place them. What I can say about these rods is that they feel and fish like no other fly rod I’ve ever owned or tested. They are unique, possibly not even comparable to other commercial fly rods out there, but lethal tools for the job. 

They delivered beyond expectation and executed the job very well in every scenario that I tested them in. Although the subtle nuances of these rods compared to the more conventional stuff out there may take a session to get used to, you will undoubtedly fall in love with the feel and craftsmanship of Solid Octagon rods. I rate them highly and most certainly recommend owning a few weights in this new genre of fly rod design. 

“Solid Octagon rods feel and fish like no other fly rod I’ve ever owned or tested.” 

Satoshi Maruyama, I salute you! You’ve created something really special here and many of us are looking forward to future developments of the Solid Octagon fly rods.  

Find out more about the manufacture and sale of Solid Octagon rods at eastwindartisans.com. 

This rod review first featured in The Mission Issue 47. Check out the whole mag below – for free.

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