Comment on the article “Switched On”

[Zach Matthews]

Hey guys –

I received the following comment on the Switched On article, but because the commenter is writing on a Swedish keyboard, it was refusing to post.

[Morsie]

Really interesting and perceptive comments. Apart from the buzz of doing something new and some advantages with mending on bigger rivers I found switch rods to be no great leap forward.

Morsie

[Michael Exl]

I agree with him about the rods being around for sometime, but after that I get lost in his rambling. Lets be honest the using two-handed rods and/or switch rods is new to “average” fly fisherman in the United States. When you have the big name companies come out with a new line of rods, people take notice, or at least they should, or else some one needs to get fired that is in their marketing department. Most people are not going to build their own rod too.

One thing that he did not touch on and he really should have is the lines being produced today that easily match up to switch rod like your compact scandi and skagit lines. Before and still in many cases today you had to chop and splice your own lines for two-handers and switch rods to get them dialed in. With companies like Rio and SA putting out lines designed to easily match up with a switch, it takes much less effort for some one to get started. But heck, half the fun in using two-handers is messing around with different lines and getting them dialed in.

I also really don’t get when he starts rambling on about switch rods being lighter then their longer two-handed brothers. Last time I checked in my rod closet my 8110-4 Z-Axis was still an 8wt. Also, last time I checked there are 5wt. two-handers and even lighter.

I then do not understand where he starts talking about the versatility of the rod, or the lack of it. These are the guys that you are typically going to run into that are getting into/own switch rods. Steelheaders/ salmon fisherman that have two-handers, but want to swing flies on smaller waters, and nymph anglers that want a longer rod for line control. Having the shorted length switch allows me to fish some of the favorite steelhead water in Michigan, where my two-handers would be a pain in the butt. Plus I don’t need to shoot a ton of line either because of the size of the water.

Switch rods allow people to fish in whatever way they would like. Remember they are a jack of all trades, but master of none. By the larger companies producing and marketing these rods over the past couple years, it has really opened the door to people to try something new. Isn’t that what most of us are always looking for, something new and different for us to experience.

[Author]

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