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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.
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
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'
* 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
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.
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