The Cimarron LT is what happens when Ross takes the Cimarron back to the frame and starts removing metal. Aggressive porting, a refined anodized aluminum drag knob, and the Cimarron Mountain landscape milled into the frame — classic lines, modern weight. Machined and anodized in Montrose, a few blocks from our shop. This run came in Spruce: one 4/5 and one 5/6. Spruce reads as a deep satin forest green — dark enough to look nearly black in flat light, and unmistakably green the moment sun gets on it.
Why It Works:
The adjustable composite disc drag runs against a stainless steel interface, and the useful consequence is range. It will protect 7X on a technical tailwater where a grabby drag costs you the fish on the hook set, and it will still hold firm on 0X when something heavy turns downstream in fast water. One reel that does not ask you to choose which half of your fishing to optimize for is a rarer thing than the spec sheet suggests.
Product Features:
- Adjustable composite disc drag with a stainless steel interface — protects 7X tippet, holds on 0X, with no fiddling between the two
- Aggressive frame porting — the weight comes out of the frame rather than out of the build quality
- Large arbor — quick pickup on a fish that runs at you, and less memory set into the line between trips
- Cimarron Mountain landscape milled into the frame — the detail that makes people pick it up off the counter
- Anodized aluminum drag knob and escapement cover — hard-wearing where a reel actually gets handled
- 4/5 and 5/6 in this run — balances the modern fast 4 and 5 weights most people are fishing now
Best For / Not For:
Best for the angler who wants the Cimarron look and lineage with a lighter, more capable frame, and who fishes a real range of tippet across a season. The 4/5 for dry-fly work on an 8½-foot rod, the 5/6 if one reel covers everything from midges to small streamers. Not for someone who just wants the cheapest Montrose-machined reel — the standard Cimarron does that for a hundred dollars less. Not a sealed drag; steady salt or sand still points at the Evolution R.
Ed's Take:
The LT is the Cimarron we end up recommending most once someone has held both. The porting is not cosmetic — you feel it the moment it is on the rod, and it is the difference between a reel that balances an 8½-foot 4 weight and one that merely hangs off it. One each in Spruce, and the finish is a seasonal run rather than a catalog color.
Care & Warranty:
Rinse after silty or salty days, dry with the spool off, back the drag off when it goes in the bag. Ross limited lifetime warranty to the original owner, valid only on reels purchased from an authorized dealer, which we are. Service happens at the Montrose factory, usually inside four weeks, and you are welcome to hand it across our counter instead of boxing it up.
Ed's Fly Shop, 432 E Main St, downtown Montrose, Colorado.
