Weather not withstanding (and a few distributors that turned out not to be there) an out standing fun day. Jim Jones and I arrived at 0900 and the place was already well populated! The on-water instructions were unfailingly good; I really learned 'new stuff.' And I do mean NEW STUFF vis a vis the use of a two hander rod. One of the better bits was several of the instructors were using 'switch rods' (short spey's if you will) for their demos.

Bit after bit of new insights on 'why things work,' or if you want them to work better 'try this.' Clear communication with the 'students.'

The best part!!!! Bob Meiser had my new 3-4-5 12'6" (a true 4wt if you ask me), and Steve Gotshall had my custom made line for same READY TO RUMBLE!! Boy's and Girls, this is not just a fishing rod, it's a Bloody work of Art!! Without actually putting this Puppy on a scale I'd doubt the finished rod weight would top 4 oz. And that's for a twelve and a half foot long rod. A total feather!! Speaking of 'The Feather' (just above the handle is Bob's trade mark), it's NOT a feather, it's a HAND PAINTED FEATHER!. And unless you had you nose a couple of inches away, you'd never know. Even then you have to set you mind to what you're about to look at. The paint work is flawless!

The grain weight window for this rod (weight of head) is 250 to 400 which (top end) seems a lot, but the spread would allow you to use light tips with this rod. The line Bob chose for me (and Steve hand built**) was a grand total of 280 grains or the very bottom end of the range. Why? Bob says 'I've watched you cast for years and you tend to put every thing you've got into the forward stroke (after a slow set up of the D loop?) so I started light, and we may want to cut it down a bit further.

Line compensating for caster faults???

Married these two up on a reel with a 16' leader and a bit of fluff for a fly and off we go ......... Kids, you don't cast this rod, you just 'flick your wrists' and 60' of line/leader are off the reel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As casting room (as in to the far bank) was limited, that's as far as I could go save for casting down stream. But the next 'class' was lined up on the bank behind me and needed the water.

After Jim and I got home (dinner together last night) we stripped the 'Head,' running line and backing off the Tioga and slipped them onto my new (as in out of the box new) - DRUM ROLL PLEASE - Hardy 'The St. Aidan' reel. Perfect fit, just wind her on, pull off a few feet to hear that Baby Scream .... TOTAL JOY!!

CAN'T WAIT TO GET THIS PUPPY ON TO THE MAIN RIVER AND GIVE HER A REAL TEST DRIVE.

** Line markings. Steve does something I've never seen before, and made HUGE SENSE. He puts the line marking information on his hand crafted lines at the leader connection, NOT at the back end of the head. That way, one quick glance at the reel and you know exactly what line you have loaded. Never seen that before, but a really great, and simple answer, to an 'age old problem' of what the hells on this reel. Yes, yes, line makers give you a small peel off sticker, but with a lot if fishing I give you a couple of years before that's total history.

Fred Evans

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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

Hey Fred;

Sounds like a beauty so how about sharing some pictures so we can all drool into our keyboards? Expecting to see some fish porn from you with the rod prominently featured!

Take care

Terry

__________________
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all!"

Hi Terry!

Photo's there will be; will shoot some this morning and see about getting them 'up-loaded.' I'm a complete "Luddite" at doing so; the photo's (without someone's help) may end up being a web link to my Google Picasso 3 or Web Shots acct. I'll scream for help and ask someone to do the 'heavy up-load' work for me. Instructions on how to do so are actually straight forward, but I've had zero success in doing so.

One photo that I'm particularly looking forward to 'coming out well' is the hand painted 'feather' just above the rod handle. Bob's 'signature' on his 'be-spoke' rods (well, actually they all are) is a 'inlayed' (real) feather. This one was painted on the rod blank by someone's whose a real Artest. Even with your nose two inches away, you'd never know, unless you knew. The work is that good.

This Puppy loaded with it's custom line on the Hardy St. Aidan is almost too good to actually fish with. Hang it on you wall in a long thin glass front case, proper lighting, glass of good Cab, stand back and just do a 'Ahhhhhhhh.'

Fred

Sigh ......

__________________
"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

Hey Fred,

Look forward to seeing that combo, sounds a real corker.
BTW how much line does that St Aiden hold? I recently won that 5/6 Meiser that toady(2) put up on here then the 'bay. Curiously there wasn't even another bid on it. I intend for the time being matching it with an Abel 3N which I used previously for salmon/steelies/seabass but not sure if the SGS Scandis require a bit more space than normal. That holds a 7/8 with 275 of #20. I have a 10/11 Airflo Compact Skagit and that fits on a Momentum 7 (a 12/3 reel).
Don't know what I'll really use it for, no half pounders over here! But I guess some chalkstream seatrout/salmon may be a good use, as would some big Slovene wild browns - if there are any left that is!
Would dearly love a nice classic S handle to go on there, but I've blown the TT budget for the time being!

Cheers,
Steve

Ok Fred, I picked up the 11' 5/6 Meiser Switch today and had a chance to give it a good once over tonight. You can really see the Meiser in the Beulahs, they are very similar, the Meiser obviously having superior cosmetics. I also loaded the SGS Scandi onto my 3N Ported with about 150 of 30# Micronite, and that was a squeeze. The running line and head are much thicker than normal lines, even spey lines. It balaned quite nicely with the 3N, and probably even a bit better with the line out. It seems to be quite tippy when waggled about indoors; Not sure whether I will have a chance to give it a good test in the near future, but I may take it to the local stillwater/ressie a stone's throw away to have a bit of a thrash to see how it shapes up.

Cheers

Reel I cut of the line head was a mid-belly something (no clue as there the line info had long washed off) but the running line for same was probably 50'ish foot. Behind this was at least 100 yards of 30# Dacron backing.

Measurement wise, the Tioga (reel seat had a #10 stamped in) as within a 10th of an inch of the St A's. All the backing, 50 - 60 foot of the 'old line' running line and the backing filled the St A's to about 3/8ths inch of 'the top.'

Total SWAG (SoPhisToGated Wild Ass Guess) here but the 33-36 foot head, 50 foot of running line, and 100 yards of 30# backing will fill the reel. You can scale that up/down depending upon how much 'shooting line' you want behind the head.

Both reel spools are (give or take a tick) 7/8th inches across by 3-3/8ths wide so what I'd suggest (and will probably do at a later date) is cut the 'backing line' to 50 feet (come on guys, that's still 150 feet) and replace that with 'shooting line.' Why? Hell, if a fish's got your shooting head (it will) and 40+ foot of your 'behind' Fellow is now 70-90 foot away .. and moving. So the Puppy takes 30 yards of your backing off .. now he's (rounding numbers here) 40 + 50 + 90 feet = 180 feet AWAY and going, GOING .. GONE.....

Don't know AS from 'shxt from shinola' (another Merkin'ism) but unless you've got a long place to run .. you're TOAST.

fae

__________________
"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

Thanks Fred,

Curious, those are smaller reels than the 3NP, and only slightly wider spool, yet you seem to fit much more on.. Perhaps your 3/4/5 SGS line is much thinner. Is it a "regular" spey line or a Scandi/Skagit? The 3NP is 3 3/4" with a 0.7" spool (narrow) and I had to strip off over 20yds for it to fit on, and that is rammed to the top.
I have a spare spool for the 3NP and I may put some 45lb gelspun, the Miracle braid I got from flyfishusa then put on a Compact Scandi or Skagit head to see if that fits a bit better.

Cheers

On second thoughts, I already have a Scandi with the Custom Meiser/SGS. I may put a regular shorthead spey for Switches on the spare. Any recommendations? Ever tried those Beulah lines?

Length wise, the SGS is similar to a Scandi head, and save the rear end, not all that thick in cross section. As noted above, I've only put 50 foot of running line behind that so I've got 'some' to put into the cast plus (half+?) still on the reel. I suspect that gelspun has a smaller cross section than regular fly line backing so you may well be able to get a 100 yards of that, a full 100' of 'shooting line' and (easily) a Skagit Head. As Scandi's usually are thiner, but longer this may be cutting it close.

That said, with the set up I've described above, I've still got at least a 1/4" of free spool space on the 'St. A.' Could I have gotten a full 100' of shooting line on same, and the rest? Would have been damned close ..... but I doubt it.

All that aside, if you have a SGS designed/cut specifically for that rod, I think you'll find it a treat to cast, and fish.

fae

__________________
"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

Thanks Fred, I'm looking forward to putting it through its paces. It's a pretty handsome rod, even the "Standard" version.
I just dropped Bob a line to say I've taken ownership, and to enquire about his SGS classic speys for the Switches - "coming soon".

Cheers
Steve

PS Just got a reply from Bob, he says no go with the classic SGS spey line. If I want to cast a classic spey line then I should get a long rod (>13'). Curiously Beulah UK (not US) sell a line for their Switch rods which has a 55' head and is 160' long!

ONE HUNDRED SIXTY FOOT long!!! Hell, if memory serves, that's even longer than the standard Carron line; longest 'out of the box' one that I know of ....

__________________
"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