A fascinating rod. Straight from the tube this is a four-piece 9ft 6in rod. Greys describe it as a dry fly river rod, the slim, matt dark-olive blank certainly looks the part.

The action feels fast enough and this is not a particularly stiff rod so it loads easily: lovely touch and control at river distances. Press a little harder, shoot a little line and the Streamflex Plus is very capable of throwing a long line, but where it excels is at short and medium range. Looking over the sections, the tip of this rod stands out – very small rings, so that section comes with the minimum of baggage giving a beautifully controlled tip. That cashes out as accuracy and delicacy, even with a long leader I can turn over the whole deal and land a fly where I want. This rod had me smiling – a lot.

The Plus on the end of Streamflex Plus indicates this has something more. Unscrew the extension butt and inside the handle Greys have added an additional, short, fifth section. Pull the first and second sections apart and the extra piece fits between the two to add six inches and make a 10ft rod. The extra section has no rings on it, just alignment marks, so can be fitted without taking the line down, stored in the handle it is quite literally ‘ready-to-hand.’ Noticeably heavier in the hand, the longer rod feels slower, maybe softer or more mellow. Immediately had me thinking of wet-flies, but I think the real aim is short line nymphing, those extra few inches means more water fished with a short line and a team of weighted Nymphs. The shorter configuration casts beautifully, the longer rod casts well, but casting or at least casting fly line is not really what it’s wanted for.

Put yourself in a river, you waded in when fish are rising. The hatch ends. You could switch to weighted nymphs and fish the same rod, or you could wade out and switch to that rod you have conveniently stashed on the bank with your sandwiches. The rod on the bank is longer, better for short-lining simply because it’s longer. Or you could simply add a few inches to the Streamflex Plus rod in your hand, change tactics and carry on fishing.

I’ve used two older rods which can be reconfigured for length, both meant carrying a spare bottom section: reel-seat, grip and all. Greys have come up with a genuinely innovative and elegant alternative – little wonder they have this patented. The 9ft 6in rod is light and responsive, the 10ft rod is … longer!

Anyone who has ever wondered what length does to the ‘feel’ of a rod should cast one of these, 9ft 6in to 10ft isn’t a huge jump and the weight of the extra section is negligible – the change is distinct. Measuring the stiffness for both lengths shows that the longer rod is less stiff, I could say softer or less powerful. However, I believe that what I could feel when casting had more to do with ‘swingweight’ because that increased when the rod was lengthened.

(Note: The method I use for measuring stiffness means the rod is deflected by one-third the rod length using a variable weight. More conventional deflection tests use a standard weight and measuring the deflection – using that method the 10ft rod deflects more.)

If your river fishing includes both surface fishing and weighted nymphs sub-surface the Streamflex Plus is well worth consideration.