Line/Rod Testing Results

[Rick J]

Ron,
Haven't use the short or compact skagits much but if I had to pick one regular skagit line for both, I would likely opt for the 600 - pretty sure Mike M likes a bit more grains on the 1287 than the 550 so while 600 may be a bit heavy it should work. I have actually played around with the 650 on the 1287 and it will cast that line.

I also think you would do ok with the 570 compact. I think the 540 would be light on the 1308 though it has been a long time since I cast that rod.

[NVswitch]

I liked the report on the Anderson 1265. I am a big fan of his rods. I went to his web site but can find the rod you tested listed. Is this an older rod or a new rod? Thanks for all your feed back. Mike

[WinterrunRon]

Mike,

That rod was built in 2004. I believe he changed the color scheme the following year, but may have still made the rod for a year or two more. I don't know about his latest offerings since I'm not in the market for a rod... I'm very happy with that one. Ron

[Terry Thomas]

I would agree with Rick in his recommendations for the 6126. The old green 6126 was my first two hand rod. My favorite lines for that rod were both Scandi type lines. I think John Hazel was the first to really dial in that rod for Scandi use. He took a Vision Ace ST8/9F and cut it back to 380 grains. You won't believe the tight loops that you can throw with that combination! The second line that I ended up using on that rod was the Beulah Elixir Spey 6/7. To me, it had the casting characteristics of the Vision with a little better rear taper. I guess that makes sense since John "hacked" the end of the Vision to reach the needed grain weight. As Rick said, these lines are not meant to throw large flies and heavy tips. They do, however, match up great with poly leaders up to medium density.
T.

[Jasonh]

Hi NVswitch and Ron,

The Anderson 1265 is an older model that was built on a Burkheimer blank if i'm not mistaken. It is a true 5 weight spey and is a nice rod. It can handle everything from little Scandi heads to spey lines in the 52' head range. A great little rod!

Jason

[reel world]

Hello,

The Sage 6126-3 has been one of my "go to" rods for many years now. Summer and fall fish in numerous locations as well as winter fish given proper river size and flows. My prefered line is a Rio Skagit 550 cut back to 460 grains (about 21.5'). Casting the largest winter fly's with T-14 tips to 12' is easy, while floating tip, summer applications borders on the ridiculous.

I was clued into the line formula from some pre-commercialy available Skagits that the Jedi's were using.

While I'm currentley using smaller and lighter for summer work the 6126-3 is still one of my faves for the winter.

[Mike R]

reel,
I too originally got the 6126-3 for a summer rod for the Deschutes, the North, and Grand Ronde but it is becoming the winter rod. With skagit lines and the use of different fly materials, it seems the days of the 15' 10wts are over for me. The rod really seems to be a solid 7 and I haven't hooked anything on it yet that it couldn't handle. It really thumps any fish under 10lbs.

See ya, Mike

[reel world]

Yeah Mike you are spot on,

I personally can't imagine a scenerio where I would like, or even consider a 15' 10 wt. anymore. That being said there are still applications for some of my other "bigs". Namely the 8124-3, 7136-4 (the old one), and the 7136-4 Z Axis.

Keep it light and fun!

[WinterrunRon]

You know, when I started using a two-handed rod for steelhead a couple of years ago, I wanted a good casting rod, but more importantly, I wanted a great fishing rod. By that I mean, a beautifully long cast ending with a good sized steelhead means nothing to me if I can't enjoy the fight of the fish due to the mass or bulk of the rod. I found this to be the case in a lot of the rods I tried before I bought.

And not being a product junkie, I wanted to get as close to one rod that could do it all as I could for under $500. I saw the Scott 1308 on sale one day and bought it, along with the suggested WindCutter 7/8/9. I was told it was a good fit from the American to the Dean. But found it to be more rod than I need for Nor Cal and So Oregon. I've not yet fished it in really big water for really big fish. Perhaps it would be more at home there.

But not unlike my target, I'm not wanting to expend any more energy than is necessary to get the job done. That being the case, I downsized to the 1287, which is a totally different rod that I think is a great one-rod-does-it-all.

Is anyone using a lighter setup than this for the larger rivers in Oregon/Washington/BC?

[SSPey]

it is often said that the 6126-3 is really a 7 wt, but consider the lines that it casts, like skagit 450, or scandi 400. That's 6 wt grainage. What is interesting about this rod, and most like a 7 wt, is the stiff tip. It is fun to manually bend the top 1-2' of this rod side by side with others and literally feel the difference in the stronger tip. With the fast recovery, that strong tip makes it a great skagit rod.

I personally will not use this rod routinely in winter, however, unless small hatchery fish dominate the catch. A high enough proportion of wild winter fish push 12-17 lbs, and using this rod I've had serious difficulty handling those 3 salts in heavy current, confined quarters rivers. However, it is great on those 2 salt brats that are so common in so many rivers.