Spey rods?
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Any guidance on spey rods? I am ignorant on the topic but very curious.
It seems they make sense where there is no room for a backcast. Any other reasons? How do you choose among the various styles and lengths of rods? Any good sites on the topic?
Thanks for your help.
Gentlemen,
I just purchased my first spey rod a few weeks ago, and was able to pick up a Scott A2, 13 foot 8 weight from my local fly shop for a considerable discount.Aaron,
I got my first spey rod this past season – a Redington Red Fly 13 foot 8 weight, paired up with a halfway decent reel.
I started spey fishing last season. It was quite a struggle, partly because I didn’t know what line to buy, even though I watched several videos.
The longer the rod the farther you will cast. I have an Echo 12′ 6″ Classic – great rod for the buck – but didn’t know I had to use a shorter-belly line, no longer than a Windcutter, but since I was fishing stillwaters and wanted to retrieve a lot of line after each cast, I went with a short-belly line like a Skagit or a Rio AFS, shooting head. The shorter the belly the less back cast room you’ll need.
(I guess I like the 4X rule. The belly shouldn’t be
I fish Meiser rods.
Speypages.com is a good resource as well.
Those Dec Hogan Echo rods are pretty nice, I was fishing a 4wt the other day swinging soft hackles for kicks. Pretty cool.
That was a good deal on the A2, those are nice sticks if you can still find one hanging around. I’ve only played a bit with the A3, but they seem ligher in hand and more responsive.
First, you need to go to http://www.speypages.com . This is a great forum site with a lot of guys that know all aspects of using the two-hander. I started fishing two-handers three years ago. My advice before you dive into getting a rod is go check out a spey clave. Here you can find out all the information you will ever want to know.
One piece of advice I will give to you is that if you are thinking about a switch rod, get some what good at fishing a longer rod. Many people think that the switch rod is the best of both worlds, but there are a several big of disadvantages to the rods. To start with you are limited to the lines that you can throw, along with the distance. Also having the shorter rod makes it difficult to use heavier tips.
As for rod selection I would stick with these companies; Sage, Echo, Meiser,GuideLine, and G. Loomis.
I also got the chance to fish the Dec Hogan Echo this weekend, 11’9″ 4wt. Pretty sweet stick that could be a lot of fun if you had the right water for it. Redingtons CPX series is reasonably priced and worth a look too.
JL
Tim,
A skagit 550gr. with a 5ft. cheater for your main line. As far as tips go, 15′ 150-grain type 3, 6, & 8. Also some T-14 from 10′ 15′ in length would be good too. Also if you want you can get the floater tip for a skagit in 8wt. I think Rio does have a skagit 550gr. VersiTip now, so that could work as well.
-Mike
Tim,
To my knowledge you do factor in the sink tip to that 3-3.5 times ideal length.
Also, here a couple of links that you may find helpful. The first is an article and the second is an audio file:
http://flyandfloatfishing.com/spey/lining_your%20spey.htm
http://www.flyandfloatfishing.com/podcasts_episode7.htm
JL
Simon does a great job. The shop I work for had him do a class three years ago. Pretty awesome stuff. It was fun just to pick his brain, not to mention what a nice guy he is.
-Mike
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