well...
Some of the Great Lakes tribs are quite small, and a larger spey rod is not needed. You can get away with 6wt single handers, that is what I use primarily for steelhead, and the 12' 5wt Sage is going to be added to my arsenal for steelhead gear soon. You simply don't need that large of a rod unless you are fishing the larger rivers that we have few and far between of here. I own a 14' 9wt Loop Green two hander, and I rarley use it here. Mostly I use it in the surf for peirheads and deepwater ruks that hold staging fish. I will use it on only the largest rivers here.
Now, another thing is that our summer run fishery is quite different. We have skamania steelhead that run into a few select rivers, many of them small 20' wide ditches consist of limestone but have cool spring water flow. A spey rod here is not even worth a try. Other than that you got the St. Joe, the Big Manistee and a few Ontario tribs such as the Salmon River that support runs. A small run of fish exists on the St. Mary's, but that is a different story. All can be fished using spey techniques quite easily. Still you can't always depend on fishing summer runs like you would traditionally out west, usually it is more hit or miss as well.
I handle kings with my 7wt two hander quite easily, I know people who use 11/12wt two handed rods here in the Great Lakes, when our fish don't get nearly as big as the ones out west. Although they may be capable of casting farther and using heavier lines...I never had a problem fishing Michigan's largest rivers or any other large tribs in the Great Lakes.
The Temple Fork is more of a river rod, I didn't realize you were surfing with it. I used a Redington Two Hander in the surf and it was a great tool, I had the 13' 8/9wt. I could cast that pretty far as well, and it was a nice rod. It seemed to have a flat spot but that didn't affect it too much.
Hope all goes well!
