[DLoop]

Over the Christmas holidays I had the great privilege of sampling not one, not two, but THREE Meiser rods. THANK YOU BOB!

Here was the line up:

* New 10' 6" 8/9 fast recovery progressive Switch rod -- 4 piece
* 10' 6" 8/9 Traditional Switch rod -- 3 piece
* 12' 6" 6/7 medium fast recovery progressive 5 piece

Before I forget, all three rods will be at Aaron's (speybum @ River Run Angler) later this week (the New 10' 6" 8/9 fast recovery progressive Switch rod -- 4 piece--my favorite--is already there)

First, I must say Wow! Bob's Switch Rods are amazing, you have to try these.

The two switch rods Bob sent are dramatically different from each other. The first was New 10' 6" 8/9 fast recovery progressive Switch rod -- 4 piece. Did I mention this was my favorite? Anyway, this is a great rod for tips..heavy flies, which I often fish. The traditional action was more forgiving (I need that).

I suspect that many of you make this one mistake that I make when fishing;that is fishing over and beyond the fish. You know, you do couple obligatory half casts when you first arrive at the river to work the water right in front of you, but you are just itching to quickly strip that belly out and get that rod loaded. Especially if you suspect someone is watching you Gotta get those tight loops going, right?

Well, I wanted a rod that would be a joy for me to me to work water 30-60 feet as well as the water 60-90 feet (OK, OK, I'm not anywhere near 90' but others like Todd Scharff do this with ease with Bob's Switch rods).

Switch rods allow you to work this closer water comfortably, and shoot a bunch when you need to.

I fished most of the time with the New fast recovery progressive 4-piece rod. Here are a few notes from using this rod:

* I started with the SA Short head Spey 7/8. Mine is a floater that I cut back about ~15' but it weighs in at 404 grains (maybe I cut mine at 16' ). To this I added Rio 15' 100 grain tips (type 3, 6 & 8). This gave me 48.5 feet at 504 grains and put me put me at the 500 grain starting point that Bob recommended.

* Next I tried a Loop Adapted head 9/10 ( I think they make two versions of the 9/10, this is the 35.7' 452 grain version). With the same Rio tips as above this put me at 50.7' and 552 grains. With two feet of head still within the guides I found this to be the best for me when wading between my knees and ankles.

* I was surprised how far I could cast. You quickly forget this rod is only 10.5 ' long. I was casting comfortably to 60' range. I like to try new rods in the waters I will be using them (see skykomish picture below) so that's what I did.

* These shorter rods do make you improve your technique in certain areas. For me, the first issue was in raising the sinktip out of the water at the end of a swing. With less rod to work with you really need to raise slowly to gunshot position, keeping tension, then completing the cast. The other was that on a circle cast my fly would pass by much closer to me when the wind was a little squirrelly. Something to stop and think about. You don't want to get bonked with a weighted fly zipping past.

* Bob is quick to mention that these rods will encourage good under hand casting technique, and to work on minimizing your D-Loop contact area.

* Lastly, another area these rods truly shine is when a fish is on! That is why we do this isn't it? (on second thought, don't answer that question. I know that would be inviting too much discourse with this crowd). These 8/9 rods, well are more akin to your favorite single hander. Light, light, light. I was not able to catch a steelie while I had these rods but I did catch a couple dollies and the fish-fighting feel that these rods relay is exciting.

I spent less time with the other Switch rod, the 10' 6" 8/9 Traditional Switch rod -- 3 piece. Bob's use of the word traditional here means that this is his original and much-loved Switch rod model, not to be confused (like I did) with traditional vs european spey action.This rod will be a great dry line companion for those of you that spend time up top. Also for those that mix in a lot of overhand (single hand) casting. Bob said these rods really start to shine when you load them up towards 700 grains (geez). So on this rod I tried Loop adapted head 8/9 33.75' 478 grain (see, shorter, and heavier than the 9/10 loop head). Also, I tried a cut WC 8/9/10 (36' 480 grain). This rod then started to slow down for me, and I liked it this way.

Jim, my fishing buddy, helped me with this testing. He brought along his sage XP 10' 8 weight along for the fun and for comparison. I found the extra 6" in the rod length and the butt handle made Bob's rods much easier to spey cast.

Today I had a few minutes to try the third rod Bob sent. The 12' 6" 6/7 medium fast recovery progressive -- 5 piece. I found it also threw the SA short head spay nicely. I already have a CND 1307 Custom that fits into this slot for me, sorry Bob.

OK, so what did I decide? I will be buying the New 10' 6" 8/9 fast recovery progressive Switch rod -- 4 piece-- in April. Thank you Bob.

If you are anywhere near Carnation, WA, I promise to have these to Aaron this week so stop by and give them a try.

A higher resolution version of the picture can be seen here:
http://dloop.us/meis/switch1.jpg

Dave -- Only affiliated with my wife and kids.

 

[o_clarki_clarki]

great post dloop...

I have been interested in the switch rods for a while now just to toy aropund with them. i may have to play around with them this week when i get out there on thursday.

vinnie

 

[JGS]

Switch 8/9 Traditionals

Is there a difference in the 4 pc. 8/9 switch traditional and the old 3 pc. 8/9 traditional? I noticed that on Bob's web site, the 8/9 traditional is listed as a 5 piece.

Bob, any comments on the differences in the actions of these 3 rods?

Thanks, John

 

[DLoop]

John, my mistake. The original switch rod model that Bob sent (Bob refers to this as his 'traditional' model) is a 3-piece, the newer fast recovery switch rod is 4-piece. I'll correct my original post.

 

[scottd]

switch rods

looking forward to test driving the switch rods at aarons on saturday. thanks for the feedback on lines. just talked to bob yesterday about these rods.

 

[Robert Meiser]

Hi Dave,

Thanks much for sharing the report on those switchers. You had a 3 pc Traditional, and a new 4 pc fast recovery both for 8/9 wt.

I always learn a lot myself from you guys about the lines that you use on them....Your feed back was really helpful.

I've got to learn more about the Loop lines, they seem to fit into the family really well.

Euro and UK guys are building very similar lines for the Traditionals.

A German fella by the name of Stefan Sherf came up with a very similar grain window as yours, although he was using 16' of Loop LCT11 at 233 grains, and 18' of T-14 at 252 grains. Netting 485 total.

Most of his fish this Summer were Kitimat Salmon, including some pretty hefty Chums.

...With most of his deliveries in the 50/60 ft range.

His underhand must be very economic, and would love to see him deliver...Stefan, if you read this I hope I got this correct !

The original Traditionals were 3pc.

I will always build the original 3 pc Traditionals, but do now also have them in 5 pc as well. The new faster recovery rods are all 4 pc.

Thanks Dave.....

P.S.

My wife printed the same image through photoshop, and it is now hanging right in front of the wrapper.

Classic PNW water...Keeps me on the river even when I'm working ...};^)...!!!

Meiz

 

[Stefan S]

Meiser 106

@ Bob
Thanks for your warm words about my casting skills … I hope you wouldn't be disappointed if you see me casting.

Let me give some impressions from my point of view.

I bought my 106 (3-piece, traditional action) for 9/10 for a BC trip last summer. The first thing attracted my attention when I bring the rod first time to the river for some test casting was the ease underhand/spey casting this rod with my limited casting skills. It has a nice overall smooth yet powerful and forgiving action. I fished my old Sage spey rod only one time on my trip because it was so much easier and more fun to fish that "little" Meiser. When I switch from a longer spey to the 106 I can't believe that it is a 9/10 and little more than 10'.

Like Bob mentioned I landed lots of hefty Kitimat chums including some bigger ones. I didn't weigh the fish but think the biggest were clearly more than 20lbs … absolutely without overextending the rod. So I can confirm the fighting abilities as very good. Although mine is a 9/10 I'm sure the 8/9 should have no problem to land 20lbs fish. Although the 9/10 is not a small fish rod smaller fish (e.g. sockeye) don't let the rod feel as a broom stick … very good all around characteristics.

First let me say that the idea for the self made line system I build for the rod wasn't mine but slightly modified from Todd Scharff. The system based on a body made from a Loop Custom LCT12 floating shooting head with T14 tips in different length from 12' to 24'. I decided the 12wt because this has a specific weight very similar to the T14. I cut off the tip from the Loop line and cut the belly in two different length. The idea is to combine different length of bellies and T14 tips to get sink tip lines with an overall relatively similar length and weight. The system works overall good but I feel to want more (longer) belly sections especially for the shorter T14 tips. For me a length (body + T14 tip) of around 35' and a weight of around 500 grains works best. I decided for the Loop LCT (it was the old white line) because they have a short tip with a long parallel belly section and I got them for a very reasonable price.

The weight of my line system is very similar to that DLoop mentioned although my 106 is the 9/10wt. Maybe the reason is casting style or just personal preference. As my line length with around 35' is much shorter than DLoop's I'm not sure if that could be another reason for that. But that's out of my experiences and knowledge of the context of line weight and length.

To sum up … I would buy it again.

Stefan

 

[DLoop]

Hi folks, after a fun chat with Bob tonight I was able to get my rod information straight so I edited my original post above. Turns out it was the new 4-piece model that I enjoyed so much.

Please re-read my original post in this thread. I think I have it right now.

 

[Big K1]

Hey Loop!
Lay off the sauce!!!
I hope third time is the charm on your post. :razz:

 

[DLoop]

Tell me about it It's like my casting; one out of three is a keeper.

 

[Big K1]

1 out of 3. Damn, your almost a pro!
Nice report on the switchers by the way.

 

[DLoop]

Ok, I kept my promise. All three rods are at Aaron's now. Boy, am I suffering from a large dose of separation anxiety, however.

If you have an opportunity to be at Aaron's "Day on the River" this Saturday be sure to try them out. And be nice to Aaron. He's got a real sore shoulder.