Hello,
I am looking to purchase a Multiflex 5.0 but they are unfortunately out of stock until January 2023. I was wondering if anyone had one they would be willing to part with for a fair price?
I live in British Columbia and am looking for a longer rod that is capable of handling some of the larger sea run fish in the larger rivers that we have here. If anyone has any ideas about a rod that might be suitable but is more readily available than the the Multiflex I am open to suggestions.
Thanks!
Hi there, try 72 Fishery. He has at least one. Brand new. I’ve gotten a few things including my Gamakatsus from him. He’s a good guy.
Thanks, Tim
Thanks! Seems like you can’t checkout for some reason. Maybe the site is offline? I sent him and email anyways.
Thanks for the tip regardless!
How big are the fish, what species, and what kind of water?
We have all types. I am mostly interested in trying to target steel head but there are also sea run bull trout and cutthroat around. There are salmon as well but I am less inclined to fish for them as they are not really eating when they enter the rivers. Rivers are mostly large main stems that enter the Howe sound or Fraser river.
I currently use a daiwa keiryu x 45 but am ready to invest in something that is longer, more sensitive, casts more elegantly and is rated for a larger tippet.
If you are just dead drifting or swinging flies long rods are the ticket for big fish. Giant shock absorber…leashing big fish on a long bungie is fun. It also can be more taxing as the fish have the mechanical advantage in leverage.
For more tenkara manipulations I find a 4.5m rod to be the limit but definitely prefer rods sub 4m.
Many folk note larger casting radius with a long rod, but it is not as much as you would expect as it starts becoming uncomfortable and tip heavy over long sessions. Not all the the reach is usable, where a short rod i feel can be held at a lower angle … extending reach without fatigue, thus diminishing the advantage of a long rod.
I think @Brian_Miller fishes for similar species. He may have some insights as well.
On a side note, i hooked a steelhead sized rainbow this year on a 3.8m rod. Biggest fish I ever hooked on tenkara. It was at least 28 inches potentially over 30 inches. I hooked it in a river that normally has 12" trout. I did not land it but it was my fault not the equipment. It really caught me off guard. Sort of cool to see a specimen that big and it had deep color. Just a beast.
I fish 30’-40’ wide upper reaches of PNW Coastal Rivers for Sea Run (Coastal) Cutthroat. But IMHO salmon are pretty ugly by the time they get there and deserve to spawn unmolested. The Cutts are there to gorge on eggs and possibly flesh. They make for good sport.
I can “two hand” cast a weighted fly about 25 ft with a level line the length of my 5.3 m Keiryu rod. A fixed line hasn’t worked well for me from salt beaches where Chum, Jack Chinook, Rezzie Coho, and Cutt hookups generally occur beyond 30’. Carrying a longer line in the air than my 5 meter rod in PNW coastal rivers invites catching a lot of trees, and hasn’t worked very well for me and my skills. My thoughts on longer lines are in this “tapered line” thread.
I am also not too interested in salmon, more steelhead and bulls. I think 5 meters or so is as long a rod as I feel I could fish effectively without worrying about catching too many trees.
Like I said the keiryu x has served me well. I have landed a few larger fish on it including a bull and a coho well into the 20s and it has never felt maxed out. I am more just looking for a rod that can catch these size of fish but also can cast an unweighted fly with a bit more finesse.
Today I actually caught a 15 or 16 inch coho jack on my TB traveller 39 and it handled it very well. These rods are definitely more capable than many think!
Short rods can handle very large fish.
Sometimes a longer rod puts us in higher air currents and can affect presentation. When the wind is up, it can be challenging, and often opt for a shorted rod. The muliflex 5.0 can drop down, which is good, but as you noted you have a 4.5.
Ended up ordering the rod from Platt and it showed up mid last month. Really enjoying it so far. It does feel like the best of both worlds to have the 4.2 but also being able to extend it to 5.0 when needed.
The tip is a bit soft and I did miss a couple hook sets but when I finally did get a good set the rod did its job for sure. As I was fighting this fish I couldn’t really tell how big it was but when I finally got it in the net it was a bruiser. Well into the twenties and had to be over 5 lbs and the rod brought it on 5x. With heavier tipped it seems like salmon and steelhead are definitely possible on this rod 
When we speak about rods we often generalize and seldom do we speak on environments or time of year we use them. Wind, waterspeed, and air/water temps.
Most of my tenkara in the winter and colder times of the year. Recently I have had takes so light and with so little movement that 80% of them were missed. Even when I came tight, they did not register as fish initially and I did not hookset.
Your notes had me reflecting on how different rods may have different utility depending on environmental factors. Softer tips are fantastic and necessary for presentation and manipulations/embellishments. In general, I like softer rods because they are best at fish fighting, but also too soft of a tip is a real issue on hookset if it persists over a season for the type of fishing you do. I sold my kurenai for that reason. For my fishing it was a no go, but others love that rod.
I agree. I prefer a rod with a stiffer tip overall. That doesn’t necessarily mean a stiff rod, just a stiffer tip. I love casting my Oni rods, but for me, I lose more fish on them than any other rods I use. I’m thinking it’s my fishing style, hook set, and how I maintain pressure on the hook during the fight. For my fishing style, the Gamakatsu Suimu 5.0 has nice tip stiffness, and the rod overall has a good flexible action. The 4.0 and 4.5 have much stiffer flex actions and more decisive hook sets.
I am curious if you can expand on why. I dont know all the details about how you fish.
To expand on my own comments and the 80% conversion issues on recent outings. I fish a sato for most of my fishing. It is moderate all around and not a high end tool. Compared to a traditional flyrod all tenkara rods have a bit of a softer tip, but some are much much softer. These fish were in cold water and slow, on a dead drift with some very subtle embellishment. There were no tells on strike, i suspect my presentation was perfect and they may have only moved a few inches to take. I saw no movement of tippet nor could I see the fish. So lethargic that they would not turn and fight when i came tight, unless I buried the hook. In some spots I just am careful on a powered hookset as I know it will often result in a fly in a tree when they are slow like this. Rather loose a fish than a fly. Just knowing there was a fish tight is entertainment/validation enough. I like getting fish to hand but often landing fish is a boring and tedious excersize.
When fish are active a softer tip can be less of an issue. Like if they will move more than a foot and/or at speed…they will hook themselves.
A lot depends on how they are feeding and where in the column we are presenting.
My preference is for rods that have stiffer tips. This typically causes the rod to have a Rod Flex Index around 5. I prefer this in my fishing as I like the way they set the hook, maintain hook penetration and control trout in high gradient, fast flowing western streams. Why? I’m not sure, it’s what works for me.
In my limited experience I would agree with Tom. I also have a TB traveller 39 and I prefer its action for contact nymphing. It is just much more crisp to cast and hook sets are almost instant. It sounds like the action of the 4.5 is more in line with that rod.
However the trade off that you get with the softer tip of the Suimu 5.0 is that it is actually enjoyable to fish a Kebari and other unweighted flies on a rod that has the length and power to land a very large fish. It’s also by no means “too soft” and I am sure my hookset rate will improve the longer I spend with the rod. It’s really a joy to fish and I can’t wait to see what else I can hook into.
Thanks again for the guidance and happy fishing out there
It has been a while since I have watched your videos, but when I did I always enjoyed them.
Your water is much different than my water and I would assume some things about it and what little window I have seen in your fishing. Please feel free to correct me or even say I am full of baloney…hahaha. I am mostly writing this to pry a bit more into your mind.
I see you fish what I am guessing is snow melt and probably more importantly up stream presentations. Cold water, fish tend to be deep and possibly slower. Up stream can be really challenging presentations/hooksets. A stiffer rod reduces the slack and time to get a good set.
I absolutely understand I could easily be wrong.
In general there is something in each of our approaches that probably links us to our equipment, especially someone like yourself who is operating with so much skill and experience.
I hate to say this, but I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one who feels like slower tips cost landed fish. I’ve been trying to assign blame to a lot of aspects of my fishing style, from weighted nymphs to a lifetime of Bass fishing, but it bothers me that I can’t explain why. Hearing others feel like they loose more fish on the ONI rods does make me feel a little less crazy though…
When I’m not blaming myself, I generally feel like the Oni rods don’t recover fast enough for my style of fish fighting; but they are fun to cast.
I also seem to land more fish on Keiryu style grips than cork. I hate to say it, but for me, feeling the individual head shakes helps me give a little with my arm on the more forceful movements from the fish. A counterpoint to this is that the cork rob I fish the most is the ONI Honryu 450…
I definitely think rods with faster tips like the Traveller and Kaname give me better hooksets when I’m nymphing; this is definitely more of a winter activity for me, so maybe that is a factor like Gressak is theorizing…
I have been eyeing the Multiplex 5.0 and the Sawanabori 53 to give me a little more reach than my current favorite Contact Nymphing rod the Kaname III FP 43.
But, to be honest, after not liking either the Fine Power 66 or Kurenai 63, I have been hesitant to buy a 5m rod. I can handle the 6m length, but I felt like even on 18" plus browns and Rainbows, I was only fighting fish with the tip half of the rod.
Do you feel like the Multiplex 5.0 will bend down to the handle on decent fish or will it have several lower sections that don’t deflect much?
I love the Traveller 44, it was my favorite nymphing rod until I experienced what could be done with the Kaname. The Kaname is a bit faster than the my Traveller, but the added power gives me way more 7x tippet protection than the Traveller; this was super apparent last week when I broke the #3 section of the Kaname and switched back to the Traveller. But, the Kaname isn’t as easy to cast unweighted flies with light mono level line.
Hearing the Multiplex tip is a little slower than the Traveller, I may have to order the Sawanobori…
It does indeed have a very stiff bottom 2 sections (one of which is the zoom section). This fish didn’t put a bend in the last section but I could tell if I had stronger tippet on those sections could be used to really steer a big fish. That being said it would probably be a bit overkill for 18” fish.
If you are looking for a rod specifically for contact nymphing you are probably better off with a faster action rod. The 5.0 definitely leans more towards casting long level lines and fly manipulation in my opinion.
I personally dont mind missing fish, and am sure you are going to get that rod dialed in. I was mostly noting that it is still winter and sometimes a challenge with a softer rod. Hell, I let fish go, so when they elude me it always raises a chuckle.
I will be curious on how you find the rod after a season. Keep this thread alive!!!
BTW, I will send out some positive waves you connect with a real beast soon!
I don’t know about the slower fish, but your other assumptions are correct. Not counting the tailwaters I occasionally fish in winter, most of my streams are snow melt water sources. Freestones. And yes, I fish upstream. I need to resolve to practice downstream presentations more. Thank you for the motivation to do so!
