[Rick J]

Just talked to Scott Fly Rods and they will be at the San Rafael sports show in California end of Feb and are bringing their 20' factory to the show. Need to start those curls and bench presses!!

Fred - looks like you may need to start saving for a new toy!!

 

[kush]

20' Hardy

You'll need more than a few curls to hump that rod :eyecrazy: This past fall Scott Baker-McGarva loaned me a 20' Hardy that had been donated to the Steelhead Society of BC to try. Now I am a definite fan of big rods - I once offended George Cook by calling the then new 10151 a light rod! At the time, I was fishing the first of my two 18' Bruce and Walkers on a regular basis. Lately, I've "downsized" to a 16'8" CND, so the 20' Hardy held some interest.

The excitment turned to trepidation as I began to put the rod together :whoa: - the top 3 pieces might have made a good 15' 12wt for chinook - I was almost scared to put the butt piece into it! When I did I knew I would not be fishing it in the early morning darkness - this was a beast!

Steve Choate, noticed the giant stick in my hands and came over from next door. It was truly amusing to watch Steve - who is one of the strongest guys around - flex this rod and upon the forward stop, watch the rod flex Steve! We both had a good laugh and I proceeded to string up the CND. The rod never did get out onto the river:tsk_tsk: I had a bout with tennis elbow last year and didn't want to tempt what very well might be tennis torso!

 

[Moonlight]

20 footers...

Jim Green gave my fishing partner a 20 footer about 15 years ago.Jim made it up for the Thompson something about fishing water that Al Hershey couldn't cover. I imagine Jim used his but my partner still has his sitting in the corner of his Den collecting dust. Last time I saw it, it still had no guides or a handle maybe I should liberate the darn thing when he's ..... Oh well at least I could set it up for him and give it to him some time for a suprise.

 

[fredaevans]

There's "kill"and "over kill." Suspect

something at 20 foot is 'bragging rights' only. Can't think of a single situation that some thing that long would bring to the table.

JoanMeister's check book is safe on my account.

 

[silverdoc]

20'???

Moonlight wrote:

Last time I saw it, it still had no guides or a handle .....

If it's in blank form, you could make a 15' Banty

 

[Dana]

Fred, I can think of one!

Looks like the lads at Scott are looking to take 1st in England next summer!

I wonder which rod Steve Choate will be casting?

 

[fredaevans]

Dana, you may have a point.

Lets see..... NBA ..... 7'1" to 7'5" .... add a 20 foot spey rod. ...

Now that I'd consider buying an airline ticket to watch!!!
:eyecrazy:

 

[pmflyfisher]

I read some where on the web there is a 22 foot spey rod made by some one.

I have trouble getting a 13 footer through our narrow twisting, up and downhill, forested fisherman river paths.

PM Out

 

[Grampa Spey]

Rick J re the telephone pole posing as a Spey Rod

What line weight is this telephone pole, and what does it weigh?

:eyecrazy:

 

[Grampa Spey]

Bob Pauli, this sounds like a rod for you!

Since you really like the long rods, this sounds like your type of rod.

You can take one to S. America and laugh at the 50 mph winds gusting in your face.:chuckle:

 

[fredaevans]

GS: you may have hit on something here!

Since you really like the long rods, this sounds like your type of rod.

You can take one to S. America and laugh at the 50 mph winds gusting in your face.:chuckle:

With a rod this long (and in all likihood a 10 or 12 wt rod) you could cast 1/2" loop chain. But God that would hurt if you busted a cast .... as in you could end up 'in a cast.'

 

[pmflyfisher]

Fred, that 22 footer was quoted on that web site in Maryland on spey lessons you posted up a while back. You know the one we all had a laught over.

Check it out

PM Out

P.S. How would you ever land a fish with a 22 foot rod I have trouble with the 13 footer?

 

[Grampa Spey]

pmflyfisher re landing fish

Everytime I have gone through the process of the actual landing of a fish even with my 7136 or 7141, I have prayed that no one was videoing this ugly event. The first time my wife saw this ugly scene, she laughed the rest of the day.

I, also, learned not to use two flies. If I used two flies, while trying to grab the fish, I would hook myself with the other fly. One time was so bad I had to have another fisher take the fly out of my right hand with my pliers.

 

[Grampa Spey]

Fred re busted casts with a 20' telephone pole

You posted: "With a rod this long (and in all likihood a 10 or 12 wt rod) you could cast 1/2" loop chain. But God that would hurt if you busted a cast .... as in you could end up 'in a cast.'

I would probably hurt myself with a busted cast with just the 30' leader needed for this rod or just from the torque of the rod by itself.

 

[fredaevans]

GS, think Kush covered it the best below:

"Steve Choate, noticed the giant stick in my hands and came over from next door. It was truly amusing to watch Steve - who is one of the strongest guys around - flex this rod and upon the forward stop, watch the rod flex Steve! We both had a good laugh and I proceeded to string up the CND. The rod never did get out onto the river I had a bout with tennis elbow last year and didn't want to tempt what very well might be tennis torso!"

If that 'thing' would "tork" Steve, God only knows what it would do to a 'lessor human being.'



You SaltGuys: any of you ever gone after Great Whites or Puget Sound Killer Whales? This may be your rod of choice if you 'two hand the salt.':smokin:

 

[pmflyfisher]

Grandpa Spey

There was thread last year about landing fish with a spey rod. Unfortunatlely on the smaller rivers we fish here in GLs we do not have this wide gravel bars all over that you can beach a fish on to.

A matter of fact there are darn few of them. Most of the banks are clay, steep, wooded, and many in river log jams and sweepers you have to negotiate the fish around and not allow them to go into and break you off.

If you don't have a decent beaching location at the end of the fight you are in big trouble with the spey rod. Also the last few years I have fished alone and no buddy to help landing the fish.

Plus I have not carried a net in 20 years.

Oh well I let them all go any way.

PM Out

 

[Grampa Spey]

MJYP, re how to land a fish with a Spey Rod

You posted " Grab your leader lay the rod down and hand line the fish in. Easy as pie..."

Thank you, this makes a lot more sense than some of the other contortion moves I have seen and tried. I will still stick to one fly with your technique.

Thanks!

 

[flytyer]

This 20' 2-hander might be something to consider as a Skagit winter rod. Hmmm..... depends on if it is a typical medium action Scott or if they make it a faster rod. The B&W 18' is far too slow for my tastes, very powerful though it is. Wish I could toss some casts with it. What an awsome big water rod it might be, it should toss the 10/11 GrandSpey like a Windcutter on a lessor rod. Those lies that are 130 or more feet away would be able to be covered effectively.

Any chance Scott may have one at the Friday clave to give test drive?

 

[Per Stadigh]

Oh no!!

To spend money on R&D to develop a 20' rod in this modern era shows either desperation or the need for a good marketing ploy, if you ask me.

When carbonfibre first was available, a bunch of truly long rods were made here in Europe. That was 2o-30 years ago.......

Had they been the key to success - evolution by now should have them well distributed. They are not - instead the trend has worked to increasingly shorter rods. (Bruce&Walker is the only noted exception - but how many "telegraph poles" do they really sell....?) We are many 10's of thousands of vivid double handed users over here, and all of us want to cover water. New casting techniques and better line systems make far away spots easier to reach and fish than what ever was possible with long rods alone.

Besides, how fun is it to try and beach an average 8-12 pound fish on rod that keeps you a block away from your fish? I have done a good deal of fishing with 17-18 footers and don't miss them a bit. Neither does my back.

Per

 

[pmflyfisher]

MJYP

What do you do if the fish does a last spurt while you are handlining and your rod is 10 -15 feet or more away from you?

Also there is a period of slack line to the fish while you put the rod down and then walk to the line beyond your rod tip to begin hand lining .

Plus you have to find a suitable place to place the rod down on our wooded banks.

Lots of additional risk variables with that technique.

With the 13 footer I could just about get them beached, but anything longer would be very difficult unless you were out west or whereever there are long open gravel bars you can walk up onto and/or rivers without all of the foliage we have around ours here in the great lakes.

I am just going to release them anyway and don't need a picture so short releases are find with me.

Per Stadigh

Your right on, glad to hear that coming from an experienced spey fisherman on the lack of benefits of the long spey rods 18 foot and up. Anything over 14 foot is big to me.

I feel better now I am lucid and thinking properly about the advantages and disadvantages of spey rods.

PM Out