Help on rod choice?

[nrthcsteel]

Here it is for the thousandth time! I want to get into spey fishing and need a rod. I fish for steelhead on the North coast of california and frequently make trips to the Klamath and trinity and fish the south fork of the eel river also. Other than that I fish smaller coastal streams Navarro Guallala. Ive never even held a spey let alone cast one. The nearest shop is a few hours away so checking out and casting rods is pretty much out of the question, with gas prices I could by a new reel or line! Anyway my main question isnt really about brand but mainly length and weight. The bigger rivers I fish arent really big two hundred plus wide rivers you know. And the fish range from 8-12 pounds on the high scale and anything bigger are few and far between. I cant decide on a 14 foot 9 weight or a 13 foot 8 weight. I almost think the shorter rod may be better for my everyday fishing situations but the 14 footers seem to be a pretty popular size???????? As far as learning to cast Ive checked out a few videos and am pretty good at sticking with something til I get it right so i will probably slowly figure that out. Just thought I would ask before I take the plunge! Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[JasonH]

I would stick with something a little lighter like in the 7/8 wt range. There is not much need for a 14ft. 9 weight anywhere in California except maybe the Smith. I like fishing 6 and 7 wts. on the trinity and klamath. It's no fun to overpower those fish.

Jason

[SpeyDragon]

I use to fish the Trinity a lot, and my rod of choice was the T&T 1107. It's a perfect rod for the Trinity and also the Klamath. Another rod, if you can find one, is the Loop 7116.

Mike

[Grampa Spey]

Any of those rods would probably be more than adequate for the waters we fish. As Jason noted, "There is not much need for a 14ft. 9 weight anywhere in California except maybe the Smith."

All three rods work very well with Rio's Outbound Floating WF lines. I use the Outbound 10 weight floater with the 5126 and 5/6 Switch Rod, and the OB 11 weight floater with my 6126.

A Rio standard 15' steelhead leader is all that is needed with the 5120 and 6126 for most of the season. During high winter waters buy a Rio 12' fast Sinking Leader to put on.

The Meiser 5/6 works better for me with one of Rio's 10' bone fish leaders and a couple of feet of tippet. For high winter waters use a 7' or 12' Rio fast sinking leader. It is a shorter rod and can be used in tight quarters in our smaller and brushy rivers. It works in a boat.

The Sage 5120 and Meiser 5/6 switch rod are great for half pounders and what ever the 1-2 salt smaller winter steelhead in the Gualala, Navarro and Russian are called. I believe the natives call them Bluebacks.

I save a ton of money using the Redington CD 9/10 reels with the Rio Outbounds. The reel holds the Outbound and enough backing to handle most of our rivers. I have the Loop 3W for my Rio 450 Skagit for my 6126 for bigger water and possible bigger fish.

The 6126 is a more powerful rod and could probably handle any steelhead in California with the exception of the big Smith River bruisers. A friend has a barely used one at a good price in the classifieds on this site.

People who own the Beulah (sp?) switch rods like them, and the smaller ones work very well with the Rio Outbound Floaters.

The smallet T&T rods work well and so should the TFO's.

Go with a lighter weight rod, a shorter rod and a lighter reel and enjoy them. Buy Rio's new Spey Casting 3 DVD set to help you shorten your learning curve.

PS: I have heard that some of the dark side demon devils use these shorter rods to nymph and ever worse fish with an indicator and an egg fly. Some will use the evil lob/chuck and duck cast with an indicator and fish these rivers up to 50' up stream to 50' down stream with the same cast. Of course, they will go to Spey Hell to be hectored throughout eternity for using a divine Spey rod for nymphing and worse with an indicator.

[MJC]

If you have no shops that spey "two hander" near by I have some rods in the 12' to 13'-6/7 range that you can try out on your home waters. There is no obligation except the return postage.

www.redshedflyshop.com

[oregon_fly]

I think one of your top choice choices is going to be obvious, a meiser 6/7 switch. A second alternative would be one of Gary Andersons rods. Tod bad you just missed the spey clave on in Medford on sept 30, you could of fished all these rods. For a reel the teton is a cnc'd made in the USA reel that has almost zero start up inertia, great for those fast, hot steelies.

[nrthcsteel]

Hey guys thanks for the advice. Thanks for the offer MJC! Well it looks as though I was right about the lighter weight rod. Ive got an email out on a used sage 7141 and there is a sage 7136-4 on ebay I noticed. Any thoughts on these two models. Keep in mind I will probably be throwing(hopefully I will be casting and not throwing) a sink tip. Thanks again.

[Bill Malin]

I agree that either a Meiser or Beulah switch rod would be a great choice. I think the 5/6 would be appropriate for the smaller to mid size fish, but I usually bring the 7/8 too, because it can deliver fat sinktips and get you down in the fast flows. If this years flows are anything like last year in Jefferson (NorCal) you're gonna need some fat weight to get down. The 7/8 is fantastic with 10+' of t-14 looped on. The 5/6 is at its best with approx. 435 gr floating head and poly sink leaders. Tips made of t-14 don't really get in the groove for me on the 5/6.

My other choice for these rivers would be in between the two switch rods mentioned above. This is the third rod I bring along and gets the most time on the water of any. If you want a really sweet skagit rod, that is a little longer @ 11'6", but not so big that you have problems bringing fish to hand, try the Beulah 6/7, it is a very good fishing rod, not just a great casting rod (OB11 @ 80+' effortlessly). 1/2 pounders are still fun on this one, but it has the type of action that can whip big fish too. I like poly/sink leaders up to 12' on the OB11, but for the faster slots and deeper holes, I would switch to t-14 on a sub 400 gr body. Keeping total head weight with tips under 500gr. You can cover any water on the rivers you mentioned with this rod in all but the highest flows (read as "Dangerous Wading Conditions")

If you will be going to the smith or maybe OR rivers too. Also consider a Gary Anderson 13'3 6, or a Scott ARC 1287, if you want something a bit longer. The 1287 is fantastic for short/long/skagit & tips, pretty much the perfect balance, and people much more qualified than myself have echoed that opinion.

Best Regards,
Bill

[MJC]

Ive got an email out on a used sage 7141 and there is a sage 7136-4 on ebay I noticed. Any thoughts on these two models.

These two rods are complete opposites. The 7141 being a fast action and the 7136 being a traditional action. On the 7141 I waffle back and forth between the 7/8 and 8/9 MidSpeys with the 8/9 probably casting best while I like the 7/8 for fishing best.

Using the criteria you have described, I would pick the 7136 with a 6/7/8 WindCutter VersiTip line. A 6/7 MidSpey is also sweet on this rod.