I own four Ross reels. I’d love to tell you that was a carefully reasoned decision and not a slow slide down a slippery slope, but here we are. The LTX is the one on my do-everything rod — the Scott Centric — and it’s been on there since I built this outfit. I haven’t thought about switching it once.
The LTX is Ross’s large arbor disc-drag reel, built for trout fishing at a weight that doesn’t throw off a balanced setup. It seats on the Centric like it was made for it. Which, in a way, it was — both rod and reel come out of Montrose, Colorado. I don’t usually get sentimental about where my gear is born. But on a South Platte fish that’s been swimming Colorado water since it was stocked, the whole thing lines up in a way that feels right.
The short answer
The Ross Evolution LTX is the reel I run on my do-everything 5-weight — a large arbor disc-drag reel that pairs with the Scott Centric, both built in Montrose, Colorado. The drag applies pressure smoothly without the initial spike that breaks 5X or 6X tippet on a big Deckers brown, it balances the outfit just forward of the grip, and after years of hard use on the South Platte it still works like day one. If the reel decision is keeping you up at night: get the LTX, mount it, forget it.
The Drag
What I want from a reel when I’m fishing 5X or 6X tippet on a South Platte brown is a drag that applies pressure smoothly, without the initial spike that breaks tippet. The LTX does that. It’s precise at low settings and it doesn’t have that stuttering start-stop feel that some cheaper drag systems have.
When a big fish runs — and Deckers browns run — I don’t have to think about the reel. It just handles it. That’s the whole job, honestly: the best reel is the one you forget you’re holding right up until the moment it saves the fish.
Weight and Balance
Paired with the Centric, the outfit balances just forward of the grip. Not tip-heavy, not butt-heavy. After a full day of casting, that balance matters more than the weight number on the spec sheet.
My take
If you’re building a do-everything 5-weight outfit and the reel decision is keeping you up at night, let me hand you my conclusion and save you the spreadsheet: get the LTX, mount it, forget it. Mine went on the Centric the day I built that outfit, and the thought of replacing it has never once crossed my mind — and I’m a man who reconsiders gear the way other people check the weather. Four Ross reels in, this is still the one doing the most work with the least commentary. Boring, in a reel, is the highest compliment available.
Build
The LTX is machined aluminum, anodized finish. It has held up without any issues through years of use on the South Platte — rocks, drops, cold mornings where you bang it on the rod tube getting it out of the truck. I have not been gentle with it, and it has had the decency not to hold that against me. It looks the same now as it did when I bought it.
The Colorado Thing
Both the Scott Centric and the Ross LTX come out of Montrose, Colorado. Scott was founded in 1973 and builds its rods in Montrose today. Ross has been building reels there since 1973. When I’m fishing this outfit, every piece of it was made by someone within driving distance of the water I’m fishing. That matters to me — more than I expected it to, for a guy who swore he didn’t care where his gear was built.
Price: Tactical Fly Fisher
Part of my five-rod South Platte quiver.