Love the shorter spey/switch rods.
Hey guys,
I have been fly fishing for a few years now and own a spey rod (not really a fan of big rods) but have seen lots of guys with switch rods on my local beach and rivers fishing for pinks and other salmon. I have space for a new rod so heck! why not get a switch rod. lol.
I narrowed it down to a 11ft-11ft6 7 weight for the kind of fishing I do. (beach/river) I have most of the info I need but still need help narrowing down a shooting head that can be used for both saltwater or river and spey and overhead casts.
Also on the topic of switch rod lines my buddies who spey fish mainly use berkeley big game mono as a running line but I was thinking that since I will be doing some overhead casts I might get a running line closer to a fly line than mono.
Any suggestions for lines that can do the job?
Thanks
In a 6 or 7 they will handle almost any fish your likely to hook, well a heck of a good sized King Salmon you'd be 'under-gunned.' :hihi: When it comes to choosing lines I've found (from rod to rod) lines are 'temperamental' on what works vs. what works very well.
Enter Steve Godshall (SGS here) and have him build you a line for your application(s). This can be a 'hole line' but I'd recommend a 'shooting head' system. Running/shooting line is the same (no need for anything different) so the choice is the braking strength of the inner core. These are (lighter lines) likely to be 20 pounds, heavier lines maybe up to 30?
20# doesn't sound like much but it would take one hell of a fish to break that! Up side is with the thinner profile you can really shoot line. The down side is this light line (personal experience) will tend to 'tangle' more as you have it floating in the river in front of you. The other down side (winter) is the thin profile can be a pain to strip in for your next cast.
The one other thing to consider is a 'stripping basket' to hold your line ready for the next cast. With really long casts/shooting line, or fast moving water at your feet, these things are a total joy. :x I've even seen home made ones where the fellow took a small kitchen wash tub, cut slots in the thing for a belt, worked just as well as something you'd drop a hundred dollar bill. Second up side of that is you have a great place to store all your 'loose gear,' fly boxes, extra reel, etc., at the end of the day.>
Takes a bit of getting used to having the things around your middle, but that's a few minutes of learning to get your elbows higher up as you cast. (Which they probably should be anyway!:smokin
Getting your elbows up and away from your chest may sound 'counter-productive' when you watch all the U-Tube clips, but (just trust me on this one) getting your elbows up to the level of your arm pits will add 10 to 12 yards to your cast. Or to put that another way .... 'You are getting 'You' out of the way!'
But back to the shorter rods: They won't tire you out any where near as fast, properly lined you can still belt out 70-80 feet of line/leader/fly. Why more? 90% of the fish you are going to feel/hook are going to be within 20 feet of the beach your standing on.
Ah! Leaders! With little exception, very low/clear water conditions there, 9 - 10 feet is enough from personal experience (not to mention guys who are far better at hooking fish than I am
). In heavier flows I can be down to 6 or 7 feet, just use a heavier fly to sink that hummer.
No! I don't use split shot!!:saeek
You 'miss cast' a 2hander with split shot, hit your rod (you will at some point:crying
you can blow the thing up.
Anyway, match the equipment to the fish and fishing conditions. That's your excuse to have a garage full of 2hander's like me.
fae
