Gary Anderson 1204 spey rod

[Jasonh]

Just got back from casting my new 12' 4 weight Anderson spey rod. While i am a beginning spey caster i thought it was pretty nice. It seemed to cast more line than i had expected and felt great. Think it is going to be an awesome rod for klamath, trintiy, american, and yuba rivers. I think i need to try some different lines with it and find one that fits a little better . This one is ok but i think there might be one a little better. I think it would also be good with if you could attach a poly leader or some kind of light sink tip if needed. Fished a little with it and managed one little bump and that was it. Nice day on the water though.

Jason Hartwick

[Adam Grace]

Jason you and Rick J are dirty dogs, that rod is cool. I'm jealous.

That is a great light spey rod. If I can make it to the micro clave I would love to cast that sucker.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I have a new ACR 13'3" #6 - 3pc but think I will soon add the 12' #4 - 4pc. because I love Halfpounders.

Me with multiple Spey rods....? Who would have guessed.

[Adam Grace]

Bill, I will not let you rest..... :twisted: ....PRACTICE :!:

Practice then worry about your rods :P

[Jasonh]

Practice makes perfect! I went out again this afternoon to work on my casting. It definately sets better the more time i spend on it. Spey casting is so much harder than the sibgle handed cast. Still love my new 1204. Cant wait to hook nto a fish with it and see how it bends!

Jason Hartwick

[rrivera]

Blessed my Anderson Tues. on the Y with this guy. Great rod..!! Even greater when Kieth helped to match it with the 5/6 wind cutter w/ tips.

Great day on the water. Lost 2 hooked pigs over 20, about 9 tail grabs, and lost the feakiest late summer steelie nymphing. This fish was well at 24 inch mark, and the side profile was quite wide and nickle bright. Great day, w/ Good friends Kieth and Cuckie Won.

Good day as well for all fishing diciplines. Caught fish on dries, nymphing,
and on the swing w/ multiple bait and caddis imitations. See ya guys on Sun. -RR

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/rr2k5/8.jpg

[Adam Grace]

I like how you balanced your rod on your shoulder.

I hope to join you guys on the 21st

[Jasonh]

Nice report Ray. Sounds like a grand day on the water with the new rod. I am curious how that rod worked with the windcutter 5/6. I am anxious to try different lines on this rod because i would like to be able to throw some tips and not just a full floater,

Jason Hartwick

[Rick J]

Gary said the new RIO outbound lines are great on this rod - with the 7 or 8 depending on how you like the rod to load - you can put a tip right on this line and the rod throws it very well from what I understand.

I have a RIO steelhead taper that I just started to play with - it is a 9 so a bit heavy but seems ok. I just cut it and turned it around but have not yet tried that configuration - The line has a long back taper and very short bullet taper in front - so as a flaoter use the long taper and as a sink tip with poly leaders use the bullet taper

Gary is having lines made in England - I believe similar to the jetstream by Carron - I have only had it out for a short time and only on still water so looking foreward to the weekend

[Rick J]

Just got the 8 wt RIO OUTBOUND from Bill and took it out to the casting pond. Only had a 10' Trout fast sink poly leader that I looped on it - what a great line for this rod! It was critical however to have some overhang of the fine running line. The head on these lines are heavy (kind of a mini skagit) and if you put the head right at the tip, the soft tip really overloads and you get a much wider loop. A foot or so of overhang and it shoots as smooth as you please. Even as a floater I think it will cast bettter with a bit more front taper and a floating poly leader would probably be a great option for a floating combo

[Forelle]

Has anyone else try the Rio Outbound #8? That's what Steve and Gary had recommended to me as well, but I'm not sure if it's heavy enough for pure Skagit style casting. I've been messing around with a 400 grain shooting head with fair to decent results, finding a 300 grain head too light for my stroke. The #8 is coming in at 330 grains, while the #9 is 375 grains. I'm leaning towards picking up a #9 Outbound unless I'm hearing that the folks using the #8 are successful with Skagit casting. I suspect that folks are using the #8 to cast more Skando style.

[acrods]

If you are going to use that much grain weight, try the Hardy Salmon/Steelhead ST9/10 .It is 41' and about 395 gr. It is a total rocket on my 1265-3 . The problem with the heavier Outbound is that there is so much weight at the very end of the line that unless you have just a touch and go cast you get way too much stick.
Gary

[Rick J]

I think he is proposing to use the heavy grain weight skagit style so stick should not matter?

Have not heard about the Hardy - is it a head or a full line with running line? Do you attach tips to it? Sounds interesting!

[acrods]

The line is a Euro 41' Shooting head for spey rods. There is no running line, Or tips. Adding a loop and ploy tips should be no problem.
Gary

[Forelle]

Just fog giggles I tried the back end of a 9/10 Midspey, which scales out at 467 grains at 37.5 feet and has a taper similar to the Skagit lines. This rig works nicely, although I wouldn't mind a couple more feet of length. I'm also able to throw 15' 60grain tips fairly well. I would think that the back section and middle (or tip) section of a 9/10/11 Winducutter would work well too, maybe even better because it is 39.5 feet long.

[Rick J]

Boy did I have an eye opener on my trip to the GR with the Anderson 1204. I have been using the custom line Gary supplies plus the Rio OUTBOUND 8 and been happy but not ecstatic. So worked with Mike McCune to try and find a line to use for true skagit style casting. Two lines shine - the WC 9/10/11 and WC 10/11/12. Use just the back section so remove tip 1 and 2 - it is around 24 feet long. I started with a 15' floating tip off an AIRFLO DELTA 7. Then tried a 15' type 3 tip. The rod casts with very little effort even when throwing size 2 cone head leeches!!

The real trick to what these guys ae doing is they cut the running line and are using slick shooter in either 35# or 50#. The thing flat flies with no rod overloading!!! Those really into skagit - you need to try this set up!

[Forelle]

Thanks for the update, that's what I suspected would work well on this rod, when I started having success with the back end of my 9/10 midspey. Which one did you like better the 9/10/11 or the 10/11/12?

[Rick J]

probably liked the 10/11/12 the best - will really throw the heavy stuff with ease

[Jasonh]

So are you taking just the windcutter tips lines and doing this or could i save some money and get the floater and cut it, add a braided loop and attach tips? I am still a little confused. I would really like to be able to throw tips with this rod but have struggled to find a line. Any more help with this setup would be appreciated.

Jason Hartwick

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Up on the Grand Ronde last week Skaget master Mike McCune cast Rick's 12' #4 Anderson and liked it with a #10/11/12 Windcutter (running line and body only) with a 15' tip of any kind.

With one flick Mike cast it all the way across the river with an off shoulder cast.

It was unbelievable.

[Forelle]

I knew that the Rio Outbound #8 was too light, seems like 470-515 grains is a sweet spot for Skagit lines on Gary's 1204-4. It also seems like the taper of the Outbound isn't right for Skagit work. I've dug up a 10/11/12 windcutter that I'm going to try this weekend, as I've said the 9/10 Midspey works pretty well too. I also have a old SA 14-weight, 37' head, floating line that I think will work well as a skagit/indicator line. Thanks....

[Forelle]

The other option is to see if your shop can order just the running portion of the windcutter 10/11/12, Rio is usually pretty good about selling off parts of these lines. I don't know how much they would want for it though, and it might be cheaper to try and find a used floater and slice it up. If you did that you would have more flexibility in tweeking the lenth and grains for your stroke, and you could probably get away with a 9/10/11 just fine. The only drawback is that you would have to buy tips too, but if you already have 13-15' tips in say #8 (109gr) through #10 (150gr) weight from another spey or single handed versi-tip, then it's definitely going to be cheaper to slice up a floater or buy the back portion of a Windcutter Spey. Good luck, let me know how it works....