Moonlit Fly Fishing Company
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Editors Note: I am not an affiliate of Moonlit Fly Fishing and I am not sponsored or paid to state any of the article notes below. This is based on my time, money, and personal experiences with Moonlit Fly Fishing.
For many new fly fishing enthusiasts, finding your first fly rod can be pretty overwhelming. After all it seems like you may inevitably buy a Sage, Orvis, or TFO rod if you truly plan to perfect the art of fly fishing. But that may be years from now or perhaps you don't see yourself spending $500-$1000 on a singular fly rod during your learning curve. At least that's my general mentality!
Working many hours with the Amazon special called Wild Waters for the better half of two years, I felt I was ready to upgrade to a reputable brand and once again found myself in the same pickle. At this time, I had purchased and dazzled with the Echo Ion XL in a 5WT but the action was not my cup of tea and I didn't enjoy it as much as I had fantasized about purchasing it. I went back to the drawing board and didn't want to put myself in the same situation with my next rod to buy/re-sell again. My general requirements for my next rod would consist of:
- A reputation brand
- Good reviews
- Intermediate price $250-$400
- A good warranty
- As universal as possible
Pretty standard stuff if you tell me. Though I wasn't ready to bury the hatchet on Echo, Moonlit Fly Fishing was a new brand that was coming into perspective. The only reason I knew about Moonlit was because their sister company DRAGONtail Tenkara are one of my favorite tenkara companies of all time. Echo seemed like the safer option with a longer history to the brand but I couldn't help myself to avoid conforming to the name brand and I had already disliked my Ion XL so I pulled the trigger and purchased the Moksha 5WT. Moonlit Fly Fishing has a sub brand known as "Nirvana On The Fly"; a known premium sister company to DRAGONtail Tenkara. The Moksha was advertised to perform at twice the value of it's price point and the premium material and craftsmanship would help you find the rhythm of your casting stroke, improving your casting distance, accuracy, and presentation. The standard 9' 5WT was my go to regarding my desire to be as universal as possible.
Picking this rod up at only 2.9oz, I was incredibly surprised by the light weight and how seamless it would cast. I took it to Strawberry Reservoir, a blue ribbon lake in Utah known for big cutthroat and rainbow trout. After a mixed bag of admirable fish, I knew I had found my rod and it was going with me on adventures for years to come. Since then I have laid the Amazon special rod to it's dusty corner in my garage and it's now my 2nd or 3rd string quarterback on the all star fly fishing team of rods.
My experience with the Moksha was so great, I found myself fantasizing about what was coming next. Did I need a 4WT, a 2WT, a 6WT for various applications and species? Sometimes when you are discovering your passion for western fly fishing, the research and literature can be just as fun as the days on the water. I ultimately decided a 4WT was next to mix in with my tenkara creek fishing and generally would consider that to be my bread and butter style. This was when I found the Umbra 5 piece 4WT.
Specs and sizes from Moonlit.
Rods In The Lineup
- 7’6” 3wt 4 piece - 2.3oz
- 9’ 5wt 4 piece - 2.9oz
- 9’ 6wt 4 piece - 4.2oz
- 9’ 8wt 4 piece - 4.2oz
- 10' 3wt 4 piece - 3.1oz
- 10' 5wt 4 piece - 3.3oz
Attributes
The Moksha Series of rods incorporates the worlds leading technology, to create an extremely pleasant rod to cast full of versatility.
- Softer tip for accuracy and feel
- Softer tip with faster butt section adds for great versatility
- Faster action gives great sense of control
- Light in hand with excellent swing weight
Probably my first "true" Moonlit rod, I was humbled enough to demo one from a fan of my YouTube channel; an outstanding guy named Kyle from Tennessee. The rod is built short at 7'6" and as mentioned, built in 5 pieces making this pack very tight for the backcountry enthusiast. Sounds great to me!! I loved the concept of that. The action is much faster than the Moksha and came in even lighter at 2.5oz. My first use with the Umbra was in a very tight creek local to me that holds native Bonneville cutthroat. The learning curve was quick as I find myself at home in small creeks and after a decent day catching Bonnies, I knew I was dreadfully sending this rod back to Tennessee. It didn't take long before I picked up the Umbra first hand. As of writing this article in 2025, I am working on my 5th Utah Cutthroat Slam but this particular one is special as I have done most of them with a tenkara rod. This time though, I wanted to use my western rods entirely and started my slam at the Raft Rivers fishing for Utah's endemic and native Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
Specs and sizes from Moonlit.
Rods In The Lineup
- 7’6” 3wt 4 piece - 2.3oz (376-4)
- 7'6" 4wt 5 piece - 2.5oz (476-5)
- 9’ 5wt 4 piece - 3.2oz (590-4)
- 9’ 8wt 4 piece - 4.3oz (890-4)
- 9' 9wt 4 piece - 4.3oz (990-4)
- 10' 3wt 4 piece - 3.3oz (3100-4)
- 10' 5wt 4 piece - 3.6oz (5100-4)
Attributes
The Umbra Series of rods incorporates the worlds leading technology, to create an extremely pleasant rod to cast full of versatility.
- Softer tip for accuracy and feel
- Softer tip with faster butt section adds for great versatility
- Faster action gives great sense of control
- Light in hand with excellent swing weight
Next up was the new fascination with glass. The Lunar S series from Moonlit arguably seems to be their best sellers and it makes sense. They are affordable and hold beautiful colors to them. Picking up a 3WT seemed a bit too familiar to the 4WT in both length practical approach so I picked up the 2 WT Lunar S. It arrived in a beautiful jolly rancher green rod color. I paired it up with my first Moonlit branded Eclipse reel. This was also paired with all same brand backing, and WF fly line so the entire rod combo was 100% Moonlit from top to bottom! The reel was a bit heavier coming in at 4.2oz which may have been noticed compared to the Umbra but something to note about glass is it's heavier than graphite. The reel paired very well with the 3.2oz 6'6" glass rod from color to performance. I took it to the same creek I debut the Umbra on and had the grandest time with dry fly presentations.
Specs & sizes from Moonlit. Information is updated to the Lunar S 2
Available in seven versatile sizes ranging from a delicate 6'8" 2-weight to a powerful 8'6" 8-weight, there's a perfect match for every angling situation. Premium components include accented wood insert reel seats, accented wood inserts with mini fighting butt, or metal reel seat configurations on select models, ensuring lasting durability and sophisticated aesthetics.
- 6’8” 2wt Wood Insert
- 7’ 3wt Wood Insert
- 7’6” 4wt Wood Insert
- 8’ 5wt Wood Insert
- 8’2” 6wt Wood Insert Mini Fighting Butt
- 8’2” 6wt Metal Reel Seat Full Fighting Butt
- 8’6” 7wt Metal Reel Seat Full Fighting Butt
- 8’6” 8wt Metal Reel Seat Full Fighting Butt
Lastly, I inevitably needed a streamer rod. The Moksha mentioned earlier was too good to me and the Umbra currently did not have a 6WT option. I picked up the Moksha to double down on the brand and almost exclusively throw streamers on it now. Let's just say I went to Henrys Lake in Eastern Idaho and had the fight of my life on a 20.5" Brook Trout. The fight lasted eight minutes and I used Moonlit's Intermediate line to get to the proper depths. Between massive cutthroat and that brook trout hen, I knew I was a Moonlit "lifer" with it already wasn't established!
Specs and sizes from Moonlit.
Rods In The Lineup
- 7’6” 3wt 4 piece - 2.3oz
- 9’ 5wt 4 piece - 2.9oz
- 9’ 6wt 4 piece - 4.2oz
- 9’ 8wt 4 piece - 4.2oz
- 10' 3wt 4 piece - 3.1oz
- 10' 5wt 4 piece - 3.3oz
Attributes
The Moksha Series of rods incorporates the worlds leading technology, to create an extremely pleasant rod to cast full of versatility.
- Softer tip for accuracy and feel
- Softer tip with faster butt section adds for great versatility
- Faster action gives great sense of control
- Light in hand with excellent swing weight
Being able to buy supplies, rods, lines/tippet, and accessories from the same brand seemed risky at first but this brand has not steered me wrong and I still believe I have room for more (looking at you 8WT Umbra!) Moonlit Fly fishing is the best bang for your buck and to say you get intermediate pricing with rods twice the value is an understatement and I praise them heavily for amazing business choices that I would love to see compete at the top tier someday. They seem to know their R&D process and have already made strides to newer versions of rods such as the Lunar S2 series that just came out in 2025 along with some rumored new Umbra models and a future upgrade to the Moksha.
You wouldn't go wrong with Moonlit Fly Fishing...unless you misread the article and made the mistake of buying a Moonshine Rod Co rod; which my uncle who taught me how to fly fish refers to as "the brand we don't mention".
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