A friend of mine is just getting into the spey thing and is looking for a rod that won`t break the bank. He`ll be starting out with a skagit head, maybe progressing to a Delta later on. Any feedback on these rods would be appreciated.

Thanks !

J.G.

After some thought I decided to put in some extra hours at work to obtain these rods. I'm not a fan of bend in the handle rods so I'm looking at something faster action. I'm hoping they will cast scandi heads and under hand well enough and cross over to skagit sink tip system fairly well with a little heavier line.

The other option is have the switch rod for small water. A light two hander for bigger water scandi and a heavier slightly slower rod for sinktips.

I'm thinking
St. Croix Imperial 11ft 6 or 7 weight
Sage Zaxis 6126
Echo TR 7130

I don't want to end up with two rods that cast in the same grain window. Some overlap is fine. How are the actions on the Sage and Echo? Would one or the other be better suited for scandi or skagit systems. What grain lines work on these rods?

I'm planing on building another spey rod for swinging streamers for trout and smallmouth and maybe have a chance to use it on summer steelhead with skaters or polyleaders on western rivers like the Deschutes or the great lakes tribs. I thought the Rainshadow 12-6 6wt or Forecast 11'6 6/7 would be a good choice. I built a 12'6" 7/8 forecast a year ago and throw a Airflow compact skagit 540 grain line and that seems to work fine for me. I'd like to use an airflow compact scandi head with the new build. From what I gather the rainshadow blanks have a little more progressive taper (slower?) than the forecast is that correct? Would somebody recomend a grain wieght for the airflow scandi heads for these sticks and maybe throw in there two cents on which might work best for the described fishing applications. I assume the longer rod maybe a little easier to cast but maybe that thinking is wrong.
thanks
Joe

Hello all,

This is my first post on Speypages! I'm relatively new to the two-handed phenomenon and was wondering if I could pick some people's brains about my first switch rod purchase. I'm in the market for a medium-duty switch that I can use to chase both summer and smaller winter steelhead in Northern California and Southern Oregon. After some research, I had settled on the Bealah 6/7. However, I recently found a gentleman wanting to get rid of his Orvis Helios #6 switch rod for $400 - and he's going to throw in a matching line. From what I can gather, there's nothing wrong with the rod; he purchased it in the beginning of this year; used about 10-20 times; he just doesn't use it or like it anymore - said he likes the traditional spey rods. I will view it this afternoon hopefully. So, as the prices are about the same, the question becomes brand new Bealah 6/7 or used 2010 Orvis Helios #6?

Thoughts? Concerns? Recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

Hi

15 foot GLX question;

Last May I broke one GLX in Scotland-trip, and later get new one from my region dealer via express-quarantee. Everything goes well.

The broken one was from very early productionline, but it was great rod and really fit to my hand. I have also other one, what is newer, maybe from 2004.

This summer I did use this "New One" in Norway, beside this 2004 model with same lines, but I did feel that "New One" was really different, compared this 2004 model. I didnt get any same feel when casting, compared broken one or 2004 model. Yes, I know graphite change and get tired when using it.

What I want to know; is it same rod, or is there something different on these new ones?

I have use 15 foot glx, black ones, from the beginning, and before that I use IMX rods. And I think I am quite good caster and know lots of these things.

Cheers, Miki

... question for you: I'm looking to build a rod in the 14' - 15' length to fish for Kings; assume that the fish will be in the 30 - 50-lb. range. I was thinking about a Meiser Highlander Classic for 7/8/9 but am thinking that the 9/10/11 in either length might be more sensible. The reason for considering the 15' blank is that it gives me more flexibility in choosing a line to use, since long belly lines can be effectively cast with it. Opinions?

One of my buddies picked up his first spey rod and I am trying to get him lined up with a short to midbelly line.

The rod is a 1978 Orvis Superfine 13'-6" 3 piece and is labeled as a 10wt, but I'm not sure of the grain window.

Thank you for your help!!
Frank

What would be some rods that throughout the years, most would agree, have earned the reputation of being a real sweetheart to line, cast, and fish regardless of price, cool factor, etc?

And which ones have turned out to be real disappointments, that were discontinued, or never caught on?

In my limited experience I've known some rods that seemed to cast smooth and easy no matter what line you stuck on them - just not finicky at all- and then Ive had comparable rods that I just kept swithching lines but never felt like it was totally dialed no matter the line. If you did everything "just perfect" you got a decent cast but if not, it told on you.

Outside of personal preference are there some rods that everyone would agree on as being true sweethearts?

Any that might be considered legendary? (to spey guys anyway)

I noticed on MRFC website that they are selling the Winston Ibis blanks for 119$, now, not ever owning a Winston, let alone a speyrod from Winston brings up a few questions, so has anyone ever cast one of these?
I tried to look up info for grain weights for this rod but to no avail, must be an old blank as it's not even listed on Rio's site.
I have a 600gr skagit line already and coupled with the low price for the blank got me thinking that maybe for a few dollars I could put together a cheap speyrod.
Any help/options/advice is greatly welcomed.
Thanks
Rick

I bought my first fly rod in 1969, a fibreglass cheapie from Canadian Tire. I was so impressed with it, I couldn't wait to show my friend how much it bent. SNAP! Hadn't even got it wet. I found a small metal shaft in my stash of bits 'n' pieces that was the right diameter, epoxied it in place, and when I gave the rod away 21 years later, the repair was still holding.

So, on Thursday I'm fishing the Campbell River with Mr. Ogilvie. Don't I get stupid playing a pink and I break my rod right at the second section male ferrule. Sheared it clean right at the edge of the female ferrule. Worse, Courtney only had Skagit stuff with him so I had to fish that way for the rest of the day. EEUUUWW!! :chuckle: Caught a bunch of fish anyway. :) Thanks Courtney and Tyler for lending me their sticks.

The rod has been out of production for a couple of years so the odds of getting a replacement section ain't high. Remembering the Canadian Tire rod, i decide to craft up a spigot to splice the sections together.

Here's the fix. We'll see if it holds up.

I had a few broken tip sections from customer rods (not mine, I only get stupid with rods once every few years). I used a heat gun to soften up the epoxy to strip off the guides, sanded the finish off, cut it up, doubled it, and glued it into the break.

Here are the pictures. I'm using a screw, gently inserted, to pull the male broken section out of the female ferrule. Hand tightened only.

Attached Images

   

Hello out there!

Does anybody use this rod and could recommend a Speyline with a head between 55 and 65 ft?

Tnx very much

Nico

So what is the deal with Guideline? Dealers I have contacted have no idea how they are going to get new product, as Jack is no longer the distributor.

Seems like at least 2 reps have recently left them (also the NW rep, tho that has not been mentioned here). Seems like almost as much drama as T&T gets at times (the temporary shutdown back in March, one of the Maddof relatives having some ownership, questions about the government seizing part of the assets)

Has anyone tried an Explorer by Gary Anderson yet? I'm curious about the 13' 7wt's action. Fast, med fast? Does anyone know which of his blanks he uses for these rods, i.e. EPS or LS? (Gary?)

I would use it primarily as a Scandi rod, occasionally a Skagit.

Thanks for any impressions.


Kevin

I'm interested in the 3/4 Highlander, but I'd like to hear from people that have used this rod or are a bit familiar with it. What kind of trout fishing would you like using it for? Length notwithstanding (ie suppose the length doesn't get in the way with trees and brush), at what point would you wish you had a lighter weight SH rod for trout? The reason I'm looking into this for a light-ish weight rod that can cast as well as have good reach for nymphing.

thanks

I'm grabbing a 2nd hand Meiser S2H10-89 - 10ft 8/9 switch, an 05 model?

I can't find much info at all on what goes good on this, short on msg'ing Bob, has anyone had any experience with this rod & what works alright? I don't need to cast a mile, I'm getting it for our smaller tribs here in BC.


Thanks,


Mike