5 wt spey rod for trout?

[Jasonh]

I am considering a five weight spey rod for trout in california and here in texas. We have a great tailwater fishery down here where the rainbows love zonkers and buggers on the swing. I think a five weight would be nice. Any suggestions? I have heard good things on the sage 5 wt and i also know gary anderson makes a 5 wt as well. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Jason

[Moose]

I'd shy away from the Sage 5120 only because you mentioned Zonkers and Buggers. The sage is a pretty soft rod and not the easiest to throw tips or big flies on. Anderson makes a great 5 weight, I believe it was a 13'3", I may be wrong about that. There are several models. I cast this rod once and noticed right off how much stiffer the upper reaches of the rod were. Threw a Windcutter 5/6 and could easily have handled the 6/7/8. I'm sure Jeff or Adam will know which one it was.
I personally split the difference and have ordered a Meiser 12'6" 4/5/6. Much quicker than the Sage but not as fast as the Anderson. It will handle the Hardy Mach 1 Plus @ 64' and 324 grains for smaller shad flies and caddis imitations and the 5/6 Windcutter w/tips for heavier stuff. .

[Cal]

I think the Sage 12' 5 wt spey was designed primarily for skating dry or swinging damp flies.

You might also consider the Loomis 11'6" that is rated for an 8wt trout line. You can make really long casts with a steelhead taper WF line and it also will cast Teeny type integrated heads or shooting heads long distances. Can be cast one or two handed depending on your wrist strength.

Unfortunately, it only comes as a GLX version and is pretty pricey, but no worse than the Sage rods.

[Adam Grace]

Jason, I agree with Moose about the Sage being a little soft for the zonkers. I am not totally sure that it will not cast the zonkers but I think that you might struggle with the light Windcutter 5/6 line pulling the zonker out of the water. I haven't tried yet.

The anderson rod is FAST! Not too much of a 5wt if you ask me. I think that it would cast a 6/7/8 windcutter with ease, just like Moose mentioned. Your ARC already casts the 6/7/8 WC, why get another rod to cast the same line.

I think that you should try your ARC on those trout and bass and then start to look for another rod if you feel that the ARC is to heavy.

For a 5wt spey I like the 5120 from Sage. Loomis also offers a 5wt but it feels pretty soft. Both of these two rods feel nice with the 5//6 WC. Either way there might be some problems casting zonkers or similar heavy streamers.

You know Jeff, give him a call and ask him if you could try his 5wt Sage next time you're in town. Then try to cast a zonker with the Sage.

Hope everything is well with you in TX.

See you later - Adam

[steve sullivan]

I am considering a five weight spey rod for trout in california and here in texas. We have a great tailwater fishery down here where the rainbows love zonkers and buggers on the swing. I think a five weight would be nice. Any suggestions? I have heard good things on the sage 5 wt and i also know gary anderson makes a 5 wt as well. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Jason

The gary anderson 5 weight would probably be a good choice (you can get it from kiene's for about $400) and the tfo 6 weight would be a decent rod for $250, and the most awesome customer service

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I just got a #6 Anderson Spey rod for myself and will have to get out with Jeff, Adam, Larry and rest of the 'Spey Nuts' on the American River so I can learn how to use it right.

I did see that Gary Anderson has some new extremely light #3 and #4 weight Spey rods at the sport shows.

Adam, we will have to get them in soon.

[Rick J]

Hope Gary will be in San Rafael with these new rods - should be fun to play with!!!

[Rick J]

regarding these light rods - should be interesting to see what lines really work with them as there are currently no light spey lines out there

[Darian]

Hello everyone,..... I'm curious has anyone considered using a light weight spey rod for the type of high stick, short line nymph fishing done by the late Ted Fay, for places like the Upper Sacramento If so, what were the results

[Moose]

You can get light spey lines from Hardy down to around 300 grains. A lot of guys are using single hand Delta lines with poly leaders and this gets you over the 50 foot mark. Also, the larger Wulff triangle tapers for single handers work well I'm told.[/i]