I thought I’d just about seen the best of the best in fly rods over the years but along came the Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) custom BVK series rods and I had to rethink the whole matter. These rods are fantastic; they are lightweight and well presented, with have good casting capability and power.

My old long serving #8 weight rod and I parted company with a bad breakage recently – my fault entirely, as usual – and having read some absolutely glowing reports about the new BVK rods (designed by fly fishing hall of fame member Bernard ‘Lefty’ Kreh hence the initials BVK) I subsequently ordered one.

First impression was simply amazing. The 9ft four piece rod weighed but 80g and was feather light, beautifully balanced, in the hand. A couple of casts in the yard impressed me with the new #8 weight’s fast action, instant recovery from each casting stroke plus its ability to cast a long line with a very tight loop. This is a true distance style of rod yet it was so light in the hand it was hard to fathom where the performance came from.

None of these attributes came about by accident, as the rod uses new materials that dramatically reduce weight while creating a perfect blend of power and strength, so important in a top shelf fly rod.

The great man himself, Lefty Kreh, spent a year designing the range of BVK rods which extend from #3 through to #10 in four section configuration.

“You can’t beat the performance, and you can’t beat the price,” says Lefty.

Best of all: the BVK really looks the part of a top shelf item. Rich translucent olive blanks are fitted with quality cork handles, plus a braided graphite reel seat then dressed up with recoil stripping guides and ultra light chromium impregnated snake guides dress up the top sections.

All of these attributes add a certain bling quality yet the rod is not ostentatious in any way or likely to flash excessive, which is a major failing in many modern fly rods, and scare spooky fish.

I field tested my new #8 BVK fly rod in fine style. A calm autumn morning saw the boat off Moreton Island in search of tuna. We found a school of mac tuna, which are notoriously fickle and always flighty, and I fired off a 30m cast right into the school just as it started to sound. The sight of that fly was obviously too much for one fish and he signed on to give me some sport.

With its reserve power characteristics the BVK had the mac tuna boatside in around six minutes, which was a pretty decent effort in my view. It’s always worth noting that I would not normally use a rod as light as this one for mac tuna, I’d usually use a #10.

All of TFO’s BVK fly rods carry a no-fault warranty for the life of the original owner. Should a rod break – and I have found lots of ways to break fly rods over the years – the broken section is simply returned with a small sum ($35) to the distributors, E.J.Todd and Son in Sydney for replacement. When was the last time we heard of a deal like that?

BVK rods are available from quite a few retailers in Queensland and an #8 would likely come home for around $344 from Tackle Warehouse in Brisbane or Tie and Fly Outfitters on the Sunshine Coast.