Gear and 2 Hander Trout Tactics?

I too started out speycasting with the intention of primarily targeting trout, and only later sidetracked into the steelhead game. So here is my personal experience, thrown out for comment, I certainly haven't figured this out either.

Most techniques you'd think commonly used for trout, I've tried at one point or another with a two-handed rod and/or a spey cast in the mix.

Tops for me, both in fun and productivity, have been soft hackles swung on a down and across presentation.

Second, believe it or not, have been dead-drifted dry flies. Maybe I should say 'damp flies', it takes some patience and creativity to keep them truly dry. But it can be done.

I have spent a lot of time swinging buggers and other small to medium streamers. In some rivers this has been quite productive -- often rivers that host steelhead runs in addition to resident trout. Is it something in the rainbow genetics? In others it has been hit and miss, I suspect I would be better off casting a single-hander and stripping. I'd be interested in others' experience of how different species in different habitat respond to a stripped vs. swung fly.

I have tried casting and stripping, and, with a spey rod, I don't enjoy this much and don't find it effective. Probably the latter is more a consequence of the former than the reverse.

I played around for a couple weeks speycasting an indicator rig. Didn't really enjoy it as the casting aspect is just not fun for me. A short switch rod can also be a very effective tool indicator fishing out of a boat. Easy to flop the rig around and the greater length and line control is nice. Caught a lot of fish this way but did not find this much fun either, past the catching fish part.


My rigs:
ACR 11'9" 3wt + a custom scandi. Favorite trout stick.
ACR 11'9" 5wt + Ballistic Vector 5/6 or a short skagit w/ tips.
Meiser 14'2" 4/6 Highlander + Aero 6/7 or NextCast WA55 5/6 w/ tips.

The last two are more light steelhead than trout sticks and a bit much for most trout, but, make bigger streamers, punching into the wind, or reaching for distance on big rivers easier.

Very happy to add content to this new section of the forum.

ACR 11'7" 3wt
ACR 12'1" 5wt
Redington CPX 10'6" 5wt

I used everything from a skagit switch, Ambush, scandi, to short bellies on the above rods. Low flows, or dry flies, I'm using a tapered mono leader. For shallow water streamers and wets, I might use straight fluoro leaders. For wets and streamers in higher flows, poly leaders all the way up to T-8 work for me.

On my home river, my most used method is swinging and stripping streamers. Love the grab on aggressive fish. The Ambush line works well for this, because I do strip the fly back close to me. Swinging softhackles and nymphs produce well too. I'll cast across, let it dead drift, then swing it out. Most grabs come right when it starts to swing, but I get pickups on the dead drift too. When the hatch comes off, I'll dead drift dry flies. I'll use SA and T&G casts for dries. Key for me is to use powdered floatant to keep the fly on top. I don't catch a lot of fish this way, but it's fun for a change a pace.

briansII

montanafos said:

DH4119 with a 40+ 6

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That is a really sweet combo, montana. I sold my DH4119 when I got ,my 11'7 45 Meis, but I that was one of the first trout wt 2h rods I had. The 40+ 6 is really nice for swinging wets and small streamers, and will carry 5 and 10 ft polys. When I wanted to throw sculpins, I used a 300 grain skagit.

A 4/5 afs is also sweet, but then I think it's the same taper as the 40+.

I fish them the same way I do steelhead, which is swinging to one degree or another. In the right run, cross stream cast, angle determined by the depth I'm after. In the more typical mid-sized eastern streams, I will swing specific spots- eddies, tailout, deeper passes in run. Often times setting up and mending just to have the swing I'm after in a narrow slot or some other location.

Currently have the Meiser 11'7 45, with a Godshall scandit and scandi, a 325 skagit, and a 330 Rage. Love it with all three.
Also have a 10'6 4 Meis I built. Use the 40+ 6 wt, or a 300 gr skagit.

Hoping to get an anglers Roost 12' 2/3 built this winter if time allows.

I mostly swing a small sculpin or a small squirrel leach. Sometimes some traditional soft hackles.

As for gear:

For my trout, grayling and smallmouth needs I'm currently very happy with an Anderson ACR 11'7" 3 weight - what a rod!

I use 240-280 scandi heads, mostly with polyleaders, exclusively on this rod, and feel that is a great range for trout swinging. Airflo, Rio, SGS, and Beulah all make great scandi heads in the 240-280 range. I'm a big fan of rage or rage-type lines on my heavier rods - they are better in the wind or with heavier flies - and I lament that Airflo doesn't make a sub-300 Rage, because I think a 270 rage would absolutely rock on my 1173.

I also very much enjoy my 10'6" Beulah 4/5 wt Classic Switch. I use the same lines as on my Anderson, and I also put 7/8 wt single hand lines on it to overhead cast, which it does very well. I love this rod from a float tube or my watermaster.

Both rods have their own Islander FR2 hanging on them. They may be a tad heavy on these light trout two-handed rods for most folks taste, they feel and look perfect to me.

These rods are so much more fun than the heavier 5, 6 or 6/7 weight rods that I used to use for trout and grayling (although I still use a 6/7 for lake trout).

If I were to add another trout rod to my current collection (which I likely won't anytime soon), it would be an Anderson 12'1" 4 weight or, perhaps, the 12'5" 5 weight. Gary has these trout speys nailed.

Trout and grayling fishing on a two-hander is a hoot. My single handers and my tenkara rod don't see the light of day much, unfortunately.

I mostly swing on moving water, but also love stripping streamers. For the later, I'm interested in the new Airflo lines apparently coming out, although they too don't dip below 300 grains, which is a shame.

I don't do much dry fly fishing these days, but when I do I pull out my 7'9" Sage LL 3 wt.

Tom

I got started from reading the big Trey Combs book a couple years after I got started in fly fishing. Reading the diagrams and took it from there. In fact when I got the decho I stopped using bugs and went to swinging scaled down steelhead flies.
I think if you catch steelhead your set.
I just started using dry flies out of nessecity and foam helps.
I started on the Au sable which is a very large river which lent well to a typical scaled down steelhead rig. Now I fish on smaller river and find short poly leaders work better then long sink tips.
I don't get worked up about match the hatch. Unless I see allot of top water activity.

People on this this site have been very, very helpful.

I'm not certain but I rarely cast big flies if I were going use a Skagit head stay under 300 depending how your going to set it up and size of the fish your after.

My set ups (on Skagits I typically use 10' versa leaders.)
7'6" batson 4wt w/ 6 wt line, 200 grn. Skagit. Great for small stream stalking.
10' Clearwater with 200 grn snowbee switch line & short polyleaders
7'6" 756 Feralite 250-275 grain Skagit
11'7 ACR 3wt Scandi head and polyleaders, 250 grain Skagit.
4/5/6 12'6" Meiser thinking of going back to the CND 5/6

I built the Meiser 11'7" 3/4/5 a couple years ago and ordered the SGS line from Steve to match the blank. I built the rod with a spey configuration with longer bottom grip than the typical "switch" rod. This puts the fulcrum ideal for underhand casting. I use this rod for all of my trout fishing except for small braided water where my 3 wt. 7' Winston is better suited.
I find the greatest advantage is being able to underhand cast in very tight environmental conditions such as our overhanging willows and scrub brush at rivers edge. Easy to reach seams and surface action which would be impossible with a single handed rod using a spey cast because of the difference of the power of the underhand and fulcrum.
I also find it very functional from a drift boat where the length makes mends easier and casting and line control from the bow or stern makes overhead casting unneccesary and safer for the other fishers and oarsman.
I use poly leaders for subsurface flies and haven't invested in a skagit line yet since I limit weighted flies to match the capabilities of the rod. I can't rave loudly enough about the Meiser blank and about its capabilities for trout and about how effortless it is to use.
Hope this adds some to your enthusiasm to utilize a two hander for trout fishing.

Gary....