A very likeable rod. Without a line, this feels light and supple. Fit a #6 line and you realise this is not a dramatically stiff rod; the outfit feels nimble and quick. From the moment I start working line out through the tip-ring the rod loads easily. With just a few yards of line in the air the TrionXT bends and I am throwing neat loops, lengthen the line, and use a fairly long, smooth stroke and relatively wide casting-arc, and it feels tidy and controlled.

For the first few minutes casting with the TrionXT I was throwing textbook tailing loops when false-casting a longish line. Each time I tried for distance I had to get used to the wide arc this seems to need when casting long. At short range I like how this rod casts and handles. At medium range – let's call that normal fishing range – the TrionXT handles well. With a #6 line, accuracy was good at short range, falling off at distance, as I found getting the arc required was a little more challenging, I suppose.

Because this feels light and loads so easily with a #6 it came as no surprise a #5 line works too, in fact the TrionXL #6 casts very well with a #5 line. With the lighter line my stroke was a little narrower and a touch brisker, loop control is better, if anything. I can still feel the line through the rod, still have that sense of the rod bending and straightening against the line, but I seem less prone to misjudge the arc, and throw fewer tailing-loops. More than that, the lighter line seems to give me better accuracy at short and middle range, and at long range I get more consistency, of both distance and turnover.

As should be fairly obvious, I prefer this rod matched with a #5 line. The 'official' rating, #6, may suit many anglers, that rating just not to my taste, unless fishing short. Overall: I do like the TrionXT, it seems bright and nimble in my hand, mending and flicking slack into a line is quick and precise. Get in tune with the stroke it needs and the TrionXT is a pleasing rod to cast and fish.