Wanted first to say hello to all, been reading the forum for a while and decided to join! This post may ramble a bit, bit stick with me.
I don't yet have a two-hander, but one thing I have noted many times is, "get a rod that matches your casting style." Leaves me a bit perplexed, that advice; I've been single-handing for decades, and I can say that single-hand and double-hand casting shares the same physics: load the rod. But there are so many differences between the styles that I don't see much carryover from one to the other. In other words, to me learning double-hand casting, whether skagit, scandi or tradtional would be like starting over for a single-hander like me. Capiche? So finding a new spey rod should not be a big deal, right? Beats me. Personally, I think I can cast anything EXCEPT superfast jobs, just don't like them, to me they are broom handles.
I have returned to the great PNW for the third time, this time to stay, by God. And I got lucky; after fruitlessly traveling up and down the coast I found a job in Roseburg, OR: meaning my "home" river is the N. Umpqua. Lucky me! However, with luck I plan to retire next June, perfectly willing to take the 25% "early retirement penalty" to live in my van and poke from river to river. This may sound off-subject, but it has bearing on what I'm getting at.
My current steelie rod is a ten-foot, 8-wt Sage single-hander loaded with a Rio Versitip, meaning I already have a set of tips.
So, the question: being both poor and miserly I'll likely only own one double-hander. Seeing as how I could find myself at any time on a stream harboring half-pounders or 20-pounders, that I already have a set of 8-wt tips (15', by the way, floating, int., type 3,type 6, and 14-grain tips 10' and 15' long), and I beleive learning to spey cast is essentially "starting over," what might be the "best" rod for me? 7-wt, and maybe cut the sink tips back (keeping the floater on the single-hander) or 8-wt, keeping everything cool without cutting tips. By the way, I'm looking at the Redington dually, Echo classic, or used.
Yes, this post could go anywhere; intros, crazy ideas, gear, opinions. So forgive my choice of post locale. Hope all goes well for everyone this steelie season. And if things don't look right, forgive; I'm typing this on a phone.
I don't yet have a two-hander, but one thing I have noted many times is, "get a rod that matches your casting style." Leaves me a bit perplexed, that advice; I've been single-handing for decades, and I can say that single-hand and double-hand casting shares the same physics: load the rod. But there are so many differences between the styles that I don't see much carryover from one to the other. In other words, to me learning double-hand casting, whether skagit, scandi or tradtional would be like starting over for a single-hander like me. Capiche? So finding a new spey rod should not be a big deal, right? Beats me. Personally, I think I can cast anything EXCEPT superfast jobs, just don't like them, to me they are broom handles.
I have returned to the great PNW for the third time, this time to stay, by God. And I got lucky; after fruitlessly traveling up and down the coast I found a job in Roseburg, OR: meaning my "home" river is the N. Umpqua. Lucky me! However, with luck I plan to retire next June, perfectly willing to take the 25% "early retirement penalty" to live in my van and poke from river to river. This may sound off-subject, but it has bearing on what I'm getting at.
My current steelie rod is a ten-foot, 8-wt Sage single-hander loaded with a Rio Versitip, meaning I already have a set of tips.
So, the question: being both poor and miserly I'll likely only own one double-hander. Seeing as how I could find myself at any time on a stream harboring half-pounders or 20-pounders, that I already have a set of 8-wt tips (15', by the way, floating, int., type 3,type 6, and 14-grain tips 10' and 15' long), and I beleive learning to spey cast is essentially "starting over," what might be the "best" rod for me? 7-wt, and maybe cut the sink tips back (keeping the floater on the single-hander) or 8-wt, keeping everything cool without cutting tips. By the way, I'm looking at the Redington dually, Echo classic, or used.
Yes, this post could go anywhere; intros, crazy ideas, gear, opinions. So forgive my choice of post locale. Hope all goes well for everyone this steelie season. And if things don't look right, forgive; I'm typing this on a phone.