Picasa Web Albums - Fred Evans - 2010-10-20

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

Good for you Fred i love the Meisers, i build a couple of the switch rods on his blanks. What kind of line are you using on it??

Jerry

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When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

Line, like the rod, was a custom 'job' (SGS) by Steve Gotchal. Steve is the one who does all these for Bob's rods. They're specifically designed/cut for the rod, the casters casting 'style,' size of flies, and God only knows what else.

In my case (the rod is rated for as low as 250 grains to as much as 400); the line only weighs in at 280 grains (almost as low as you can get) and it took a bit of adjustment to get used to something that light. Once dialed in .... WooZer! Line works a treat .. you just CAN'T put the power to it on the forward cast. Gentle, gentle, gentle and you're out to 90'ish feet off the reel. Which is about how far away the fish was when he did a 'flash/roll' down on the Grindle Bug and just pounded the thing. No hook set necessary.

The 'bottom line' is the end result is your line, not something out of a box as a 'one size fits all.'

Fred

__________________
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

Gorgeous looking trout. I just wish there was somewhere we could try his rods here in the UK.

Some spectacular photos on that album of yours BTW.

Bob has a 'try before you buy' program. Don't know if he has this specific rod ready to go, but the program works (pretty much) like this. He takes a credit card number to cover the value of the rod/shipping, sends same to you .. and if you like same ... you keep it (or he'll build you a brand new one to your personal taste in 'Bling').

Everything that goes into building the rod from the 'blank' out is your choice of materials, handle length, thread colour, etc., and etc. ( R. B. Meiser Rods). We also have two other outstanding custom rod builders here in the PNW. Anderson Custom Rods and C F Burkheimer. All of these fellows rods were designed by the builders, throughly 'field tested' (in many cases, world wide), tweeked, etc., before put into production.

Fred

Edit: On the odd chance you break anyone of the three's rods, their repair service is 'Peanuts' in cost and done quickly.
fae

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"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous

The lighter rods are awesome ( i bet the heavy rods are the same) i use a Elixer line from beulah on mine with poly leaders. If i had more use for the light double handers or switches i would use them all the time. I love the underhand thing, luckely for me you can also use spey style casts with single handed rods.

It wouldn't be healthy for me to get into the two handed thing, i'm really particular about my single handed lines and i bet the double handed game is even more confusing...

Jerry

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When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

I understand that the line weight is chosen to match the size of the fly in order to have enough energy to turn it over.

Why would you want one of these? What fishing task does it fulfill better than a normal 3wt at 10ft or less or a 12ft plus normal 9wt salmon rod? What are you targeting?

I'm suspicious that this is a case of the Emperor's New Clothes, but I'm witholding judgement until I learn more.

First, there isn't a single 'spey cast' that you can't do with a one hander rod. Some are just a bit of a pain to properly execute (snake roll for one); the rest are darned easy with a tad of practice.

But what is a 'spey cast?' Any spey cast? Just a change of direction cast that eliminates all the false casting generally required with a one hander to accomplish a 'change in line direction.' Add to that, you need only a minimal amount of 'clear air' around/behind you and you'll soon learn why the Scott's 'invented' the rod type/many of the initial casts. (Remember reading someplace that the 'Spey rod' was actually first developed in Wales, but it was the Scott's that popularized this type of equipment.)

'Over here' the light 2-handers are typically called 'Trouter's, Switch Rods (all be it those can be of almost any line weight), etc. With the short heads (generally) used you can cast them in quite close (tip casting) or let them rip out to 90'ish feet with a flick of your wrists (look up 'underhanded' spey casting). Try that with with the tree/brush line 10' behind you ..... save for you're darned good at/love roll casting with a single hander..

As for what fish, the answer runs the scale (and dictates what rod/rods you may use). Here on the Rogue the lighter rods are an excellent match for trout and summer run steelhead (1-5 pounds on average) with low water flows. As the flows go up/fish get larger you'll need heavier equipment. Fishing for these fellows (again, generally) be using 6# leader to the top fly and as low as 4# for the trailer.

As an example we've low flows going on the upper river and a large run of Summer Steelhead. Over lapping that are two major runs of King and Coho Pacific Salmon. Either of those fish could easily go 20 to 30+ pounds. There, anything below a 7wt rod would just be kidding yourself. It would be a 'no contest' after the first few seconds. Leader for these fellows needs to be at least 10 or 12 pound if you're going to have a chance in hell at landing same.

But to your "Emperor's New Clothes" analogy, would you use a 7-9 wt rod to chase 1 pound trout? Or conversely, would you use a 3wt if you were fishing for Atlantic Salmon?

fae

Edit: Should have added I just added a 12'5" five weight (Anderson Custom Rods) to the collection. But what the hell, I'm a 'tackle tart' at heart.

__________________
"The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a
living are now outnumbered by those who vote for a living." -- Anonymous