[fatfish]

Think I have narrowed down my next purchase to a CND Spey Tracker switch rod in a 9'8" 6/7/8. I want to be able to single hand it and spey cast it and throw dry and sink tips. Any line suggestions you may have would be great. Should I go spey line or single hand?

 

[kush]

I have used the 9'8" Speytracker primarily as an overhead rod and have used standard trout lines like the SA XPS. Even though the XPS has a relatively short belly it did make spey casts fairly well.

I think if I was going to use it for stream fishing and single hand spey stuff that I would look toward a line like the SA Steelhead taper or a similar extended belly single hand line. I would suggest that you go with the 7wt line.

When you figure it out I would interested in your conclusions as I think this rod will be an excellent coho rod

 

[fatfish]

Thank you Tyler, I am going to start with a line that Brian Niska is minding up for me, shooting head line and I will let you know how it goes.

 

[juro]

Hi fatfish,

In addition to the great recommendations from Kush, I thought the Rio Windcutter 5/6 and Hardy Mach I 8/9 (not plus) also cast well on this rod in over/under situations spey and overhand.

I try to take advantage of the 'longer' (in this context) head lines when fishing rivers, or in salt high in the column in moving currents (in spots much like Bush Pt, Pt. Defiance, Point no Point, etc) and going with the shorter head lengths when stripping the fly quickly and close to agitate a strike or when fishing high-density sinking lines to get down.

I'm looking forward to fishing this rod for bonefish this year to further test some theories about using spey-setup casts in sight fishing situations on the flats. It's a fun little rod, hope you enjoy it!

 

[t_richerzhagen]

Don't forget

the RIO Steelhead Atlantic Salmon lines. I use a #8 on the Meiser 11' 7" 5/6/7. It does a nice job spey casting and overhead. Though, if it works really well for spey, it is a little too heavy for sey and if it works really well overhead, it is a little light for spey - at least that is my experience.

 

[fatfish]

Thanks for the replies guys. Brian Niska from Whistler Flyfishing set me up with a custom Loop Adapted 7/8 shooting head with a 6foot type 6 tip and a slick shooter running line. The rod casts 90 feet single hand no problem with this setup. Still getting the hang of the double hand, but I saw a buddy cast it 80 feet no problem. I have been attaching different tips at around the 8foot length and they all are handled quite surprisingly well. Caught a nice 10-11lb steel on it this morning and a few dollies and this rod is the business. This is the most versatille rod that I have ever encountered. No use for my 6-8wt singlehand river setups anymore. Doesn't seem to be too many of these rods around and I am not sure why.