Steelhead Fly tying Books and/or Rods...line?

[Nick Pionessa]

that pretty much confirms my findings that the winston 11' is basically a long single hander. it probably does perform it's best as a indy rod or high stick nymphing tool. it was when i put a sinking poly leader and a weighted tube fly that it bogged down. i found the T&T 1107 especially with the Bauer Super Light to be a joy to fish and to work much better with the deeply swung fly and sinking leader so often needed around here, but was light enough to not overpower smaller steelhead and smallmouth. wasn't this thread originaly about steelhead books? oh well.

[aelian]

I have no problem casting various size polyleaders or sink-tips when I need to go deep. Though the Winston's action requires a bit more finesse it's very powerful. It is a fine switch rod.

Spey casting the Winston and ULA is a breeze. Just don't expect it to perform like a spey. It ain't a spey. It's much more versatile, designed to fill more than one role.

It's funny how most "spey-guys" shoot down switch rods. I don't get it. A switch rod is a perfect fit for the vast majority of WNY tribs, large or small.

They are a good option.

[Nick Pionessa]

i have nothing against switch rods in general i just prefer a good one that was built to those specs and not just a long singlehand rod such as the winston. weather it has a ULA or a Nautilus on it it is simply a poor design for a switch rod and it has come up and been well discussed on several other sites concerning it's spey casting prowess or lack there of. maybe you could stop by on saturday evening and give us a demo of the rods ability to cast sinking poly leaders?
i used the Scott 1088 two hand assist rod with a Nautilus CCF 8 on it a bunch last year and the difference was remarkable. it cast so much easier and smoother than the winston 11 with the 10' ESFS sinking poly leader and weighted tube fly. if all i wanted to do was dead drift egg flies under a bobber the winston would be my choice but since i prefer to swing flies and dead drift only ocasionally, i will stick with a rod designed to spey cast and not just a longer nymphing rod. if all i wanted to do was swing flies i would just fish the T&T 1107 since it is actualy a two handed rod light enough to be single hand cast but uses the same lines as the T&T 1307 and therefore has the power to fish deep with tips.

PM me if you need timing and directions to do that casting demo with your winston and heavy poly leaders, we are all looking forward to it.

[ANDYCAMPING]

Nick how much does the Scott sell for? I'm sure the T&T is well out of my budget. I think this is exactly what I'm looking for. Are their any other moderate priced rods with the same function? Do you use a long belly single hand line, like a steelhead taper with it?

[Nick Pionessa]

Hey BR- the Scott sells for $595. i really liked the rio outbound line on it in a 10 wt. it has a shorter compact head made for turning over big stuff and sinking leaders. Rick liked it with the lightest skagit head which is even shorter and heavier for close quarters and big flies. this is the set up Rick is using in the "why learn to spey cast" thread. the idea behind the shorter heads is because, as has been discussed, we are usualy making casts of less than 50' with these types of rods. so if the taper is 60' and 10' of leader you never get the whole grain weight of the line to load the rod on short casts. i am always trying to match the head length to the average cast when spey casting. this keeps the rod loaded well with a minimum of shooting and stripping. the outbound is 38' and the skagit 27'.

[Chris C Crane]

Since this post has covered several Steelhead gear related questions. I throw another one out there....

My 2 go to set-ups this fall/winter (unless I make the plunge into a two hander) are a 10' 7wt and a 9'0 8wt
I am looking to change the lines on both reels( Bauer and Orvis).
Any Steelhead line recommendations? I share time swinging flies, dead drifting and high sticking. The Steelhead line I used last year was ok in the fall but, when the winter temps of January February kicked in, so did the line memory!! My daughters are now using that line to make necklaces out of....

On another Steehead/Salmon note I will be checking out a Northern Ontario trib for the rest of the week to see what ice/log-jam damage occured this past spring. Hopefully I can report back with some Salmon pics.

Chris

[Steve Dobmeier]

Chris,

The two lines that I fish on the single handed rods are Rio's atlantic salmon and steelhead taper which is a longer belly line. The belly of the line is 33 feet and the overall length of the line is 110ft and has a gradual taper, I can dead drift or swing flies and it seems to handle sink tips pretty well. The whole head length of the line is 66 ft. So if you find yourself fishing larger type rivers with the single hander this is a great line. The other line that I fish is Rio's clouser line which is has a shorter belly I think the overall belly is 28 ft. I like this line the most for swinging flies because it has a more aggressive taper to it so it really turns flies over really well, the overall head length of the head is 40 ft so if you fish medium size to small streams this is a great line for doing that. It also can double as a bass and pike line, because it has that more agressive head to turn over big wind resistant flies. Hope this helps. If you need prices at all give us a call.

[ANDYCAMPING]

Nick,
Thats the Scott 1088 that goes for $595, right? Damn, why can't someone make an american rod for $300?

[ANDYCAMPING]

I guess I'll be practicing the snap T with my single hand 9' 8wt this year? Or are there other options? Anyone have the St. Croix Avid spey?

[Steve Dobmeier]

If your looking for a rod that will get the job done for under 300 you should take a look at the ECHO rods. These rods are designed by Steve Rajeff and Dec Hogan. These two gentlemen are probably the perfect crew to be designing a spey rod outside of Simon Gawesworth. They are made over seas but I think that there was a great deal of time an energy put in buy American spey fisherman in there design. Steve Rajeff is probably one of the best casters of single and double handed rods and would know better then anyone.......even Lefty Kreh how a spey rod should be built. Dec Hogan is one of the west coast's finest steelhead fisherman that you will find and knows how a spey rod should perform to get the job done. He was a guide on west coast rivers for more than ten years and probably knows what it takes to get the job done for his clients. I would bet that if you were given this rod without any markings on it what so ever you would fall in love with it. They make a ton of different models that can get the job done for you. If you are looking for American made Spey rods/Switch rods then you gotta lay the cash down for the product. I don't have any input on the Avid series spey rods. St. Croix's 13' 7/8 is still over $300 and you can get an Echo for under that price. We will have Echo rods to cast in a few weeks if you want to try them out. The more info you give us on what your looking for the more we can better put you into the rod that will satisfy your steelhead dreams. Pm me with more info and I will gladly do what I can to research something more to your liking.

Steve