Temple Fork Outfitters Mangrove Coast 9-wt review

Posted on March 17, 2023 by troyleebasso

After a bakers dozen trips to the Treasure Coast and Everglades I felt like its time to talk about the Temple Fork Outfitters Mangrove coast 9-wt rod. The Rod has become a staple in my rod box for all things inshore related, I have landed Redfish, Sea Trout, jacks and some very good snook on this rod. It has handled like a much higher priced rod and has never made me feel tired, even after some 6-hour days throwing big flies at heavy cover. Over all this rod is my favorite in the Mangrove Coast Series. The 7 & 8 are both wonderful rods but the 9 is where the proverbial sweet spot is.

Fit and Finish– The Mangrove Coast series has the fit and finish of a much higher end rod. Its beautiful straight out of the box and does not loose any of its appearance attributes after 100’s of hours in the salt.

Weight–Considering its a 9-wt the rod is very light. I fished it for several trips to the Treasure Coast of Florida and never found it laborious to cast, even on full day excursions.

Accuracy– I found the Mangrove Coast series to be extremely accurate to 70-feet and moderately accurate out to 85-feet. I used the Rio outbound lines on this rod. I also tested the Rio Flats Pro and it handled equally as well inside 50 feet but exceled at longer casts.

Action– The action was a solid medium with just enough softness to make it deadly accurate on short cast to laid up fish. This was paramount fishing docks at night because the ability to feel every step of the cast made for some truly glorious moments in the dark. After landing some 34+ inch fish I can say the power and lift of the rod make handling larger fish a dream.

Price point– I don’t know why this rod isn’t much more but, thankfully it retails around 329.95. I have always been a champion of good mid priced equipment and the Mangrove Coast truly sets the bar in that regard.

If there was one thing i would like to see on this entire series of rods it would be a little larger fighting butt.