interested in one of these rods for fishing the yakima and for sea runs in the salt. has any one used this rod. what size of reel did you use and what line worked best on this rod?
PM Carl, I think has one. I cast one at the MI clave last year. I believe it had a 340 grain line on it, can't recall the length, felt like it needed a tad more to me, but I like them loaded, great stick though.
I have one, I’m using a Lamson 3.5 LP with Hardy Mach 1 Salmon WF 8/9 (39 ft. head, 324 grains) perfect line combo for this rod. Use it on the GR this summer loved it!
I became bonded to this sweet little stick at one of Aaron's claves. Ditto Brian S' comments about line - the Hardy Mach1 8/9 casts effortlessly with this rod. I can hardly wait to get my hands on it (being built as I type this) for Dollys in the Skagit in a month or so.
Yes very sweet indeed. I will be putting in an order after the holidays for use while beach cutthroat fishing.
I love the hardy 8/9 for overhead work but will be looking at other lines for spey casting. The hardy feels a little light to me. Was just talking with Meiz about this stick and forgot what other lines he was mentioning as being good matches.
The Hardy Mach1 8/9 is nice. I happen to like a airFlo bankmaster line Bob Meiser had at the Sandy Clave a little better fro dry line work. The RIO Atlantil/Steelhead in #8 is also a good dry line for the rod.
For tips, an Ed Ward style Skagit system is hard to beat. It also works well for dry line with a floating tip attached.
For overhead, I have had good luck with a long-belly single hand line like Cortland 444 for 8 wt.
Had a demo last spring, and took delivery in June. Best rod for its size range I've ever used! I use it dry or with indicators with an ASST #8. With sink tips I use a WC 9/10/11 without tip #2, or with Ed Ward style tips made from DT 11 and 10gr/ft Airflo Custom Cut tip (200gr). I haven't used it overhead in the surf, but Bob Meiser would be able to recommend a line for that. I'd probably start with a 9wt (one-hand) shooting head.
Scott emailed me to ask about reel match, so best to post here for anyone else who looks later:
I'm usually using a Ross BG 5 with a Skagit type line, and sometimes the Ross Cimarron 5 with floaters. In general I'd suggest a reel listed for 10wt one-handed lines should be in the park. It depends too on whether you want to load it lighter and cast from the tip, or load it deeper as I find best for Skagit style casting bigger tips and bigger flies (for its size). The rod is both quick and progressive, and excels both with floating lines cast off the tip and with the smaller range of sink tip lines. In that usage it is an awesome rod for smallmouth and steelhead on modest sized rivers that are 50-80 feet across.
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