[Bigtj]

Hi, I have just spent the last few days reading though the board, about rods, lines, reels, etc. But I still have questions.
#1. I am about ready to begin building a 13' St. Croix rod. 8 weight. And When I get finished, I need to buy reel, and line. I was thinking about the Orvis Large Arbor Battenkill reel. And putting some gel spun on as backing and the double hander line, it is all Orvis. I have a Orvis store about 6 blocks from my house, so I would like to support them. IS this a good combo? Is the Orvis line ok to use? I want to take it to the beach and fish around their, and also when I am going after Stripers in the local lakes.
#2 Can i cut the line and buy Rio sink tips to throw on it? What weight for them? Should I buy 8 weights tips?
#3 LEaders: Should I buy Maxima for But, and middle and then use FC for tippet?
Thanks for any input. Please feel free to any additional commits that you may have
Tony

 

[2tancaddis]

reel

All of your ingredients sound good...I use the Battenkill Large Arbor V on my St. Croix 13 7/8 and it is a great balance.
Tightlines,
2tancaddis

 

[BobK]

Reels in general....

Lots of good choices out there. Virtually all of 'em over $150 are good ones!

Only one thing with reels - keep 'em well maintained, and don't dunk 'em in water (like I see so many fishers do). That is a sure way to get any drag screwed up!

Yeah, I know - some guy will claim he's done it for years. Wait until the first time it hangs up, freezes, or burns out on a good fish!

Just take good care of a good reel, and they will take care of you and not dissapoint you for a long, long time!

BobK

 

[MJC]

Reels

and don't dunk 'em in water (like I see so many fishers do). That is a sure way to get any drag screwed up!

BobK, Isn't the above about like saying "don't drive you pickup and it will last longer". In my view, any steelhead reel that can't be gotten wet (dunked) is just a piece of scrap metal.
Take care, MJC

 

[JDJones]

lines

Why buy the Orvis line and then have to cut it and put Rio tips on it? I can understand you wanting to support your local store but,,,,,since Orvis does not make a spey line with tips, too bad. Just buy the Rio Wincutter line with tips and be done with it. The factory loops are really slick, the line changes color at the back of the head, and you get a wallet for the extra tips. And its probably gonna be cheaper than if you tried to buy the pieces separately.

><///('>
JD

 

[Bigtj]

How about if I made up some Lead Core tips. Would that work as well as the Rio tips?
Tony

 

[t_richerzhagen]

LC-13

Lead core tips work, but not nearly as well as the standard tips. Also they are very fast sinking, and much of the time you will not want that much.

Ed Ward uses fast sinking tips in his Skagit system, but they are only 9' long and on a heavy floating head, so they don not get down too far in the "pocket " water he fished.

 

[MJC]

Tony,
Are you planning on overhead casting at the beach and for stripers? I don't know what configuration the Orvis line is, and if it is for overhead casting or spey casting.
If you get a 7/8/9 Windcutter Spey Multi tip you can remove the center section and have what is basically a shooting head for overhead casting. Then if you want to spey cast at a later date put the center section back in. You can make the same type of line by cutting & looping a Rio WC or Airflo Delta floating spey line in 2 places. If you look at Rio's website you will find the dimensions where their lines are cut. Just follow that.
You can make tips from whatever you like but I would match them +/- to the rod. 15' of LC13 would be to much, at least for me.
Here are the tip specs for 15' Airflo tips:
Tip 6/7 80 grains
Tip 7/8 90 grains
Tip 8/9 100 grains
Tip 9/10 110 grains
Tip 10/11 120 grains
Tip 11/12 135 grains
Have fun!

 

[Bigtj]

Here is my primary uses for a spey rod
1 at the beach. I would like to go down and be able to throw a lot of line out
2 at the resivors. Steep sides, very deep. So I will mostly use it in these two situations.
So Now which line would you recomend.
Beach what ever I can catch.
Resivor Stripers, Large mouth's. Carp what ever I find.
So that is the primary uses of the rod.
Any further sugesstions.
Tony