What size is your two-handed fly rod?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Basically all Spey and Switch rods are just different length and different line size Spey rods to me.

The length of the Spey or Switch rod correlates to head length.

Shorter rods = shorter heads and longer rods = longer heads.

Shorter system for shorter casts (smaller water/brushy) and longer rod & head for longer casts (larger open rivers).



Its all good......

Then grain weight is actually what means the most as far as rod size/power goes.



I think I might end up with about 4 different size two-handed fly rods?

~300 grain little rod for trout= 10'9" #4 Switch

~400 grain for light steelhead = 12' #5 spey

~500 grain for medium steelhead= 13' #7 Spey

~600 grain for really big stuff like winter on big rivers = 13'6" #8 Spey.

This is just for an example._

__________________________________________________ ________________

Just like in single hand fly fishing, the line size relates to the fly size or the tip and fly combined weight in two-handed (=Junk).

Small flies (small projectiles) = small line/rod size.

Large flies and heavy tips (large projectiles) = larger line/rod size.

.

[Mark Kranhold]

Light - heavy
ACR -11'7" 2 wt 227gr SGS skandit
ACR -12'1" 4 wt 330gr SGS skandit
ACR- 12'9" 6 wt 475 skagit/400 scandi
ACR- 13'2" 7wt skandit 540 skagit/457 scandi
Meiser MKS- 13'6" 8wt 600gr skagit/587 scandi

Maybe a King rod in the future, but that Meiz should work being I don't do a ton of King fishing. Rods become like crack!!... You just can't get enough:D

[Bruce Slightom]

Bill, being a tackle junkie I have way too many rods.

Scott 15' 9 wt 700 Skagit Flight

Loop 12'4" 8 wt 625 Skagit Short cut back

Anderson 13'3" 8 wt 625 Skagit Short

Scott 12' 8" 7wt 625 Skagit Short

Sage 11' 7 wt 425 Skagit Short for light fles and tips 475 Short for heaver tips and flies

Anderson 12' 4wt 375 Skagit Short

TFO 11' 4 wt 375 Skagit Short

Sage 11' 5 wt 375 Short or 350 Steelhead Scandi

Anglers Roost Blank 12' 3wt single handed 275 Skagit Short cut back.

[Bruce Slightom]

Forgot one Sage 12' 6" 6 wt 425 Skagit Short fir tips 420 Rage for floating line.

[burl51]

meiser 10' system 2 220 gr scandi
arc 11'9" 4wt
meiser 12'6" 4/5/6
cnd 13'1" 6wt
arc 12'9" 6wt

Not enough

Burl

[flyguy1]

Echo TR 1205, Airflo scandi, 360
Scott ARC 1287, Airflo compact skagit 510/540, Airflo scandi 480
SGS 1387 (more like a 8wt), anderson blank, compact skagit 570

All are great rods, but I think my favorite to cast is the Echo 5 wt.

[Dan LeCount]

12'6" 6 weight Sage mostly for summer and fall fishing. Rio windcutter 2 for dries and grease line types of stuff. I might get a skandi/skagit setup for it though, it does cast a lot better with those,(with tips at least) but I dunno, I dont really like the shooting head feel as much if Im not using heavy tips. Getting a bigger stick this winter for going to the Olympic/Grand Ronde and whatnot and def getting a skagit or a skandi for that, so maybe Ill keep the other for summer/shallow stuff and get something like a death star, meiser or whatever for throwing tips in narrow/deeper rivers.

[Idaho steel]

The length of the Spey or Switch rod correlates to head length.

Shorter rods = shoter heads and longer rods = longer heads.

Shorter system for shorter casts (smaller water/brushy) and longer rod/head for longer casts (larger open rivers).


Well that's it in a nutshell, isn't it? Find a line that suits your water, and then pick a rod to lift it. And you're right. It's all good.

The real trick for me is finding that balance between a long enough line to adequately cover the water, but not so long that it's a hassle in close quarters. And despite the "myth" of the Clearwater, the majority of the runs actually have willows/big rocks/cut-banks & trees just waiting to reach out and foul your D-loop #-o I guess I'd rather "choke up" on the line a bit when necessary than bugger around with a bunch of running line.

Since I personally dislike monkeying around with more than fifteen or twenty feet of running line, (thirty at the outside,) but also dislike rods over fifteen feet long... I've kind of settled on lines between 55 and 65 feet as an average, with (generally) fourteen to fifteen foot rods to throw them on.

I've been collectiong rods and tackle for thirty years, so I won't bore anyone with a full account. But I gotta mention three perennial favorites:

Meiser highlander classic 15' 7/8/9 with a Nextcast FF-70 8/9

(the war horse) St. Croix Imperial 9140 with a 74' Bill Drury "impact" spey 10/11

Echo Classic 8136 with an Airflo Delta 7/8

These three will do it all, and do it well. It's funny, but the humble Echo remains my all time favorite two-hander, despite the Meisers, Sages, CND's, T&T's...If Timmy had spruced up the hardware, and put some nice cork on 'em, I think folks would have taken them a lot more seriously. Sounds crazy, but I've learned that fly rods are like cars, and most people are startlingly superficial on both accounts.

[Rick J]

I was talking with Mike McCune the other day and he said he has gone mostly to no heavier than 6 wts even for most winter fishing - after all, a 6 wt spey probably has as much power as a typical 8 or 9 wt single hander and you should be able to handle most steelhead on a rod of that size. He can vary what he throws from a longer typical skagit line around 425 to 475 grains for standard tips and flies. For heavier stuff, he just cuts back heavier skagit lines to short heads that can throw heavy tips and flies by just increasing the grains per foot. Of course he goes down in size for much of his fishin - in summer he will be using 5 wts and less.

Bruce and I just got the Anglers Roost 12' 2/3 wt and I would not hesitate to use that for many summer/fall conditions such as on the Klamath and Grande Ronde. I really got to give it a good test this past weekend on the Klamath and it will launch T-8 MOW tips a very long way!!!

[Digger]

I picked up several Sage weapons when they discontinued their Z-axis line:

Spey Rods
Z-axis 7136 using a Godshall 478 gr/33.5 foot Scandi
Z-axis 8143 needs lines
Z-axis 9146 needs lines

Switch Rods:
Z-axis 6 wt 11', looking for line currently
Orvis Helios 7 wt 11', with a 332 gr Scandi & 336 gr HiFloat Nympher (Steve Godshall customs)


Mike

[Ben J]

Beulah 4/5 10.6 Switch Classic - 270 Scandi Compact
Beulah 7 10.8 Platinum Switch - 425 Skagit Short/ 390 Scandi Compact
Echo 3 8 11.0 Switch - 510 Skagit Switch

Sage VXP 5 12.0 - 360 Scandi Compact / 425 Skagit Short
Redington CPX 6 12.6 - Nexcast Fall Favorite 5/6 , 420 Scandi Compact
Sage One 6 12.6 - Scandi Compact 390 / Skagit Short 425
Sage Z Axis 7 13.6 on the way... thinking Skagit Compact 540

Love the spey game and can't get enough rods... for better or worse!

[winxp_man]

I just got a Sage One 7126-4 and a Lamson Guru 4 reel. For line I'm starting with a Skagit Flight 500gr Vera kit. This is my first spey rod and cant wait to get everything together and on the river.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Well that's it in a nutshell, isn't it? Find a line that suits your water, and then pick a rod to lift it. And you're right. It's all good.

The real trick for me is finding that balance between a long enough line to adequately cover the water, but not so long that it's a hassle in close quarters. And despite the "myth" of the Clearwater, the majority of the runs actually have willows/big rocks/cut-banks & trees just waiting to reach out and foul your D-loop #-o I guess I'd rather "choke up" on the line a bit when necessary than bugger around with a bunch of running line.

Since I personally dislike monkeying around with more than fifteen or twenty feet of running line, (thirty at the outside,) but also dislike rods over fifteen feet long... I've kind of settled on lines between 55 and 65 feet as an average, with (generally) fourteen to fifteen foot rods to throw them on.

I've been collectiong rods and tackle for thirty years, so I won't bore anyone with a full account. But I gotta mention three perennial favorites:

Meiser highlander classic 15' 7/8/9 with a Nextcast FF-70 8/9

(the war horse) St. Croix Imperial 9140 with a 74' Bill Drury "impact" spey 10/11

Echo Classic 8136 with an Airflo Delta 7/8

These three will do it all, and do it well. It's funny, but the humble Echo remains my all time favorite two-hander, despite the Meisers, Sages, CND's, T&T's...If Timmy had spruced up the hardware, and put some nice cork on 'em, I think folks would have taken them a lot more seriously. Sounds crazy, but I've learned that fly rods are like cars, and most people are startlingly superficial on both accounts.

Thanks for the interesting info.....we are starting with shorter lines and then hope to move to longer lines like you use on your bigger water. We think the Airflo Rage is a good starter line for new people around here but then they can get a longer rod with longer lines for the bigger wider rivers like your Clearwater.

One of our staff, Doug Duncan, just got back from a month on the Clearwater where he uses 15-16 foot rods with long heads so it is good to talk with him for some balance.

.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I just got a Sage One 7126-4 and a Lamson Guru 4 reel. For line I'm starting with a Skagit Flight 500gr Vera kit. This is my first spey rod and cant wait to get everything together and on the river.

Very cool...that is a great combo...might have to get one myself.

[winxp_man]

Very cool...that is a great combo...might have to get one myself.


Bill,

Yes this combo is very very nice. I finally got to go out and cast it. All I have to say is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek: Compared to regular single handed rods. even at this though I will not stop using my single handed rods. They have there place in the fly fishing trips :)

I actually got the hang of casting this Sage One 7wt within about 2 hours :) I did watch a few videos but even at that I still had to figure anchor points because its hard to see that very clear in the videos.

I was able to get 80ft casts pretty decent not 100% pretty but I will get better hopefully as time goes on and as I practice :)

[hwchubb]

Meiser 13' 7/8 Clearwater with SGS Skagit and SGS ISkandi heads for bigger water / fish (in theory, anyway) and throwing heavy tips / flies with a minimum of body piercings
Meiser 11' 4/5 Switch with SGS Skandi and mini Skagit heads for summer steel, skating caddis for shad and Lower Sac rainbow, and Rogue and D salmonflies (and bobbering) - or, for that matter, anywhere else that I can make an excuse for fishing this toy.

[Adam Grace]

I only have one spey rod. I feel so out of touch when compared to the majority of you guys and your impressive arsenals. I need to find a good job so that I can buy some more spey gear, lol. I have only owned 2 spey rods. My first was a Scott 13' 8wt SAS; a fast and powerful rod that I quickly left by the wayside once I bought my 12'8" 7wt Scott ARC. I love my 1287 ARC but I wouldn't mind a smaller rod for "finesse" spey fishing for light steelhead and bigger trout water like the Yuba. A 12' 5wt or something smaller sounds nice.

Rick, I would like to try your 2/3wt spey whenever we find time to fish together again. That size spey rod sounds very intriguing.

[Siskiyoublues]

Beulah 11'6 6/7 has been the bee's knees for me on the big K. I prefer this size to my 12'6" 7wt that just seems like a bit too much rod for most of our fishing.
Also have a Beulah 10'6 4/5 for some trout spey.