Spey Nation 2012 is in the books. http://speynation.com/spey-nation-2012/ WE had a great day and a great turn out. The speakers/presenters were all great. First off we had the English fella, Simon Gawesworth, the head guru of 2 handed rods... well hell I guess really all flyrod fishing. Absolutely wonderful. Another celebrity type was Tim Rajeff, from Vancouver Washington. If you watch any fishing shows you've probably seen him on LL Beam's Guide to the Outdoors. Very entertaining speaker on the river with his rods in hand. He now owns Echo Fly rods and AirFlow lines. I didn't win the big raffle... again a loser... but it was a great show. Lots of nice raffle prizes from hand made leather fly boxes up to the 6 days in British Columbia catching steelhead. I don't know how many spey rods were given out and reels and complete sets. They gave the proceeds left after expenses to our salmon club. I have to tell you.... it was a several thousand dollar donation to our club. Truly generous. THe young man that started the Spey Nation gathering on the banks of the Salmon River came to our stocking day a couple weeks ago. His words... "this is the kind of stuff we should be supporting". He gave us all the proceeds. It's grown every year. Todays donation is enough to pretty much take care of all our expenses, egg buying, fish testing, food and everything for next year. Our piggy bank was down to about $1500 before this. Great day, great people... a fun time. Then I came home and went into AFib about the time I walked through the door. Now I'm in misery but had a wonderful day.
Great forum and great bunch of guys. Doesn't get much better then steelhead and salmon fishing with two handed rods...Seems to be a really good thing for our fisheries also, as the type of fishing focuses on quality and improvement....and a growing sustainable resource.
Sounds like a good time, David. I've had the pleasure of meeting a number of names on that list, and fished with a couple. All good guys. Our shop hosts a similar event at the end of September every year. Swinging a two hander is absolutley my favorite way to fish for steelhead. You will catch far less fish, but the casting is fun and the grabs can be vicious.
I haven't gotten into the two handed rods yet.... but I'm fixing to. I have a switch rod I won but think I need something better. I'm going up to one of the shops that supports Spey Nation and get set up. Where I fish I won't need more than a Skagit in the waters where I fish... I Think??? Maybe a Scandi but I'm not sure. Going to ask the fly shop that sits on the river I will mostly fish. Got to get set up as we go to fish camp in late October. I need to get down on the creek in front of the house and practice while I can still stand out there and not freeze in my shorts. LOL Vito... any suggestions on which way to go, rod length, reel, line etc.
David, I am thinking your fishing mostly the SR, switch rod is perfect for a lot of the water on it...Just a few suggestions, nothing is set in stone...... For the steelhead season, after the salmon run...think 7wt 10.5 to 11.5 for the majority of flows on the SR. TFO, Beulah...to name a just a couple...The are over a dozen manufactures making them right now, and your only limit is your budget... Just a friendly suggestion. For your first rod dont go over board, think modest and little slower action until you get a feel and start to develop your own likes and dislikes in a rod...and then from there if the bug bites you will end up like some of us with more two handers then we could fish in a season. For line...think short belly spey line like delta 6/7...a airflo compact skagit about 450 grains, scandi rio afs in a 7/8...or even something more unconventional like a Airflo Speydicator....It all depends on how your going to fishing the majority of the time.The best advice I can give you in so far as line in head over to Milinda's and she will send you down to the water with a few different reels loaded with different lines....cast them and fish then for a couple hours a buy what works best. I am a fly reel nut....I must have over 30 of them... For a switch rod your going to need something with some size to it, first to balance it out and second to hold enough backing and a fairly heavy line.....Buy the best you can afford. Hope this helps a little... I fish the SR about 40 days a season....say hello if you see me.
Opinions can vary on what you need, and a number of factors go into it. River width (casting distance), depth, and flow all go into it. Then it depends what line, head, and/or tips you want to throw. My advice to anyone new to two handed fishing...use a switch or small spey rod (something 10' 6" - 11' 6"). The shorter rods will be easier to learn to cast. Don't get caught up in what weight the rod is. Not all switch rods are classified the same. Some switches are two hand rated, while others are single hand rated. A two hand rated 7wt is much more powerful than a single hand rated 7wt. One thing I ALWAYS caution against is not having enough rod. I'm sure you know all about that. Its better to have too much rod than not enough. Don't worry about what weight rod you will need to fight the fish. Spey and switch rods have a ton of backbone. Just get a rod that will cast the head and tips necessary to fish effectively. I would suggest to go with a head instead of a full line. By going with the head, you give yourself the option of switching heads based on river or flow. I have some rivers I prefer a skagit, and others I prefer a scandi. I can use the same rod/reel and just switch out the head. Also, a skagit is easier to learn to cast than a scandi. They are shorter, so you have less line out of the tip. I would suggest starting with a skagit. Skagit is easier to learn. Scandi will make you a better caster in the long run. What is the specific make and model of the rod you won? I can give you some suggestions on what grain head and tips you can fish on it.
Thanks Vito. Malindas was where I was going. She supports Spey Nation every year so I like to give her the business...plus she knows her stuff it seems. Last year after spey nation I bought my brother a nice Billy Pate reel for a retirement gift from her. I know nothing of this rod I won in a raffle. It's a Heritage 7/8/9 and 10 1/2 feet. I'll ask Malinda what she thinks. If she says no I'll buy another with all the other stuff from her. I have a coupld TFO rods I like but they're just plain old fly rods. I don't fish for salmon on the SR... just browns and steelheads. Once in a while if it's slow I'll try to hook a salmon just for the fight. We don't usually keep anything.
I've never casted/fished one, as they aren't widely available, but I've heard nothing but good things about Heritage rods. I'm guessing you'll need something in the 425-475 grain range. The compact skagits (like trial) mentioned are nice. They are easy to cast and can turn over tips easily. There are a number of different companies that make good ones. My personal favorite is the SA Skagit Extreme intermediate. Because it sinks, it fishes better. It gets below the surface current which allows for a slower swing, and you can use lighter tips. There are a few different premade tips you can buy. They all work if matched correctly. The cheapest way is to buy various types of "T" and cut them as need. T sinking lines are X grains per inch. For example T8 is 8 grains per inch. T11 is 11 grains per inch, and so. As a general rule, your tip should not exceed 1/3 the weight of your head. For easy math, lets say you have a 300 grain head. Your tip should not weigh more than the 100 grains. So you could use 9' of T11 (99 grains). The Skagit MOW tips, while overpriced, are a good cheater system. They make things pretty easy. It sounds like Malinda will point you in the right direction. Another piece of advice...have someone that knows what they're doing giving you some casting lessons. Swinging can be very frustrating if you can't cast. If the local shop offers a one time on water lesson, I would take it. It will greatly speed up the learning curve. Trust me, I learned the hard way. I could have saved my self plenty of hours flailing on the water.
My old brain is already overloading. LOL Thanks for all your advice Vito. I accept it as the best available. I truly appreciate it.
