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A few weeks ago on the Russian River, I tried to Shad fish with Bob Meiser's 5/6 106 Switch Rod and my old 7136.
The Russian River Shad seem to have half the battle that the American/Sacramento Shad do. Still, neither rod in my hands could handle the Shad after they were hooked. They would go deep into the hole and break the tippet off on the volcanic rock shelf get into brush to break the tippet, or they went to the bottom and bull dogged me until the hook came loose. .
I was offered a good deal on a new unfished Sage 6126, and I ordered it. It arrived Tuesday, and I took it Shad fishing on the American River yesterday. I fished from about 1 pm to 7 pm with River Left and with a strong downstream wind or swirling to behind my right shoulder and out across the water.
I used my Mid Spey 7/8 with tip one an two replaced with the tip compensator and a sinking tip 6 or 8 with about 2' of 10# test Seaguar FC tippet. I put the line on my Orvis 9/10 Large Arbor Reel with about 130 feet of backing. It was a good balance. The flies were beaded salt water hooks size 8 to 4. The slot where the Shad were was about 50' to 60' out. With the wind and the way the current was flowing, I double speyed most of the day.
The 6126 and I had no problem of lifting the compensator, sinking tip and all of the head a few feet out from the reel. The mend reach was not quite as good as with my ARC 1409 or Sage 7141, but it was more than adequate.
Yesterday, I hooked and landed 12 nice sized Shad on the American River, 3 very large males (just under 2') and one very large Sacramento Sucker Fish (streamlined carp) with my new Sage 6126.
With in a couple minutes I had all the fish under control and headed for the shore or on the shore to unhook and release them. The Sacramento Sucker took about 4 minutes. A good fly fisher across the river from me with a 7 weight single handed rod was taking 2-4 times as long to land his fish. There were several dead shad on the bottom probably from the real sportsman who use too light of a rod to get them in quickly.
The lower handle on the 6126 is more than adequate for me, and I wear XL gloves. I use Simon's and Bob Meiser's technique of casting where I only hold the very bottom of the grip and pull it up into my gut/chest at the end of my cast.
I cast my MS 7/8 with the tip compensator with either the type 6 or type 8 sinking tip for over 6 hours. As noted above, I replaced tip 2 and 1 with the compensator and sinking tip. All day I was casting the full head just outside of my reel. I'm sure that I could have easily shot a rod length of line, except it wasn't necessary to get into the slot. I got the basic distance that I get with my Sage 7141 with about 1/4 of the physical effort.
I didn't tape the rod, and I only had to tighten the section above the reel section a couple of times. The top section was where I put it and stayed there all day. Inspite of the temp getting in the high nineties, at the end of the day all 3 sections came apart with no problem.
My legs were more tired at the end of the day than my shoulders and arms. As usual with any spey rod, I was not having to wade as deep as other fly fishers. Most fishing was just over knee high with a couple of areas being waist high.
I'm very impressed with my first day of fishing with the Sage 6126. The Mid Spey 7/8 with tip compensator and sinking tips worked really well. The Orvis Large Arbor 9/10 is a great reel, and it balanced the 6126 for me. The 6126, Orvis Large Arbor and the Mid Spey 7/8 setup will probably become my late spring, summer and early fall rod for medium to large rivers. Shad fishing and landing Shad to me is an ultimate test of a rod. It got an A+ from this old man for its results yesterday.
The Russian River Shad seem to have half the battle that the American/Sacramento Shad do. Still, neither rod in my hands could handle the Shad after they were hooked. They would go deep into the hole and break the tippet off on the volcanic rock shelf get into brush to break the tippet, or they went to the bottom and bull dogged me until the hook came loose. .
I was offered a good deal on a new unfished Sage 6126, and I ordered it. It arrived Tuesday, and I took it Shad fishing on the American River yesterday. I fished from about 1 pm to 7 pm with River Left and with a strong downstream wind or swirling to behind my right shoulder and out across the water.
I used my Mid Spey 7/8 with tip one an two replaced with the tip compensator and a sinking tip 6 or 8 with about 2' of 10# test Seaguar FC tippet. I put the line on my Orvis 9/10 Large Arbor Reel with about 130 feet of backing. It was a good balance. The flies were beaded salt water hooks size 8 to 4. The slot where the Shad were was about 50' to 60' out. With the wind and the way the current was flowing, I double speyed most of the day.
The 6126 and I had no problem of lifting the compensator, sinking tip and all of the head a few feet out from the reel. The mend reach was not quite as good as with my ARC 1409 or Sage 7141, but it was more than adequate.
Yesterday, I hooked and landed 12 nice sized Shad on the American River, 3 very large males (just under 2') and one very large Sacramento Sucker Fish (streamlined carp) with my new Sage 6126.
With in a couple minutes I had all the fish under control and headed for the shore or on the shore to unhook and release them. The Sacramento Sucker took about 4 minutes. A good fly fisher across the river from me with a 7 weight single handed rod was taking 2-4 times as long to land his fish. There were several dead shad on the bottom probably from the real sportsman who use too light of a rod to get them in quickly.
The lower handle on the 6126 is more than adequate for me, and I wear XL gloves. I use Simon's and Bob Meiser's technique of casting where I only hold the very bottom of the grip and pull it up into my gut/chest at the end of my cast.
I cast my MS 7/8 with the tip compensator with either the type 6 or type 8 sinking tip for over 6 hours. As noted above, I replaced tip 2 and 1 with the compensator and sinking tip. All day I was casting the full head just outside of my reel. I'm sure that I could have easily shot a rod length of line, except it wasn't necessary to get into the slot. I got the basic distance that I get with my Sage 7141 with about 1/4 of the physical effort.
I didn't tape the rod, and I only had to tighten the section above the reel section a couple of times. The top section was where I put it and stayed there all day. Inspite of the temp getting in the high nineties, at the end of the day all 3 sections came apart with no problem.
My legs were more tired at the end of the day than my shoulders and arms. As usual with any spey rod, I was not having to wade as deep as other fly fishers. Most fishing was just over knee high with a couple of areas being waist high.
I'm very impressed with my first day of fishing with the Sage 6126. The Mid Spey 7/8 with tip compensator and sinking tips worked really well. The Orvis Large Arbor 9/10 is a great reel, and it balanced the 6126 for me. The 6126, Orvis Large Arbor and the Mid Spey 7/8 setup will probably become my late spring, summer and early fall rod for medium to large rivers. Shad fishing and landing Shad to me is an ultimate test of a rod. It got an A+ from this old man for its results yesterday.
