Below are a few pictures of a Sage switch rod I had made from blanks ordered from the States. Allowing for import duty etc and higher quality fittings and having it custom made it still came out around £225 cheaper than the factory finished product.







I initially got the rod for overhead casting in the surf for bass but this year I decided to use it for pike fishing. Fantastic...I can fish a full day chucking large flys [6+ inches] and come off the water without an aching arm. Double handed overhead casting is so much easier and less tiring. The rod is a Sage TCX 11'9'' #8. Use it with lines in the #9 or #10 rating such as Airflo 40+ or Rio Outbounds. Couple of casts to get the head outside the tip then whooosh...25 to 30 yards with no effort. The longer rod is also a boon for line management, can handle wind better and far more sensitive than the standard 9' #9 I used previously. Very impressed and made fly fishing for pike far more enjoyable. If anybody else is thinking of a switch rod for pike then I can highly recommend one.

Been having similar thoughts myself Spruce. I fish the Trent a lot, and with the high banks and Himalayan Balsam it makes casting with a standard 9' rod a nightmare. It would be far easier to get in the water and use a switch rod and something like a skagit line.

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This is common sense to me. Some of the 10# single handers are just nonsense for casting comfortably all day long.

Yeah, I have used it for Spey style casts when salmon fishing and it is a pleasure to use in that situation as well. I find the Guideline shooting heads in a #9/10 match the rod well in those situations. Because not so much of the line is outside the tip when utilising "anchor" casts as when overhead casting you need to step up a weight again. Thats why there is such a wide variation in the recommended grain windows for these type of rods. Lighter end for overhead casting and heavier end for Spey/Skagit/Skandi style casting. The main battle with these rods is matching them to the correct line[s]. Once you have found the right combination[s] they are great to use and extremely versatile. Have caught salmon/sea trout and bass/pike on the rod and love it.

RIO have a spey line selector table which can be used to find the right line for most commercial rods. http://www.rioproducts.com/skin/summ...ine%20Recs.pdf
The best way is to find the "grain envelope" for the rod, and use the right grain line. The lower end is for kiss and go casts eg Scandi and the upper for sustained anchor ie Skagit/DS. Sometimes (ala Meiser rods) the upper grain limit includes the grain of the sinktip, normally up to 200 grains - This is not the case on the RIO doc, the upper grain is the grain of the Skagit line.
The RIO table also has a column for RIO Outbound lines for casting overhead, but are heavy lines.
Sometimes US weight numbers do not correspond to the UK numbers, which are normally higher. eg a Meiser 15' 7/8/9 is grain matched to a UK Carron 65' 9/10 line (~800grn).
What is required is a table listing grains for each manufacturer's lines, and also the grain envelope of each of the rod manufacturer's models.
I recently requested the Grain ratings of lines from Carron, and they happily provided them.

Although not a pike fly fisherman I have postulated on a number of forums the potential for shortish double handers for wielding dead parrots. Most respondents seemed to pooh ho the idea but for me it makes eminent sense especially now that the short head spey/shooting heads are so widely available in a variety of weights.

was it ur self that the rod ?

All of the above is true but as I have mentioned you have to take into account double handed overhead casting. I would imagine that the vast majority of people getting a switch rod for pike would be employing this method of casting. My rod works well with something along the lines of 330 grains for this method. A lot lighter than the 510 grains that the suitable Skagit line weighs for the same rod. As A general rule of thumb go up 2 sizes for overhead casting with a switch rod. eg. switch rod rated at #6 use a #8 and so on.

I have extensively used switch rods for both salmon and pike fishing for a number of seasons now - my goto Pike/Grilse Rod is an ECHO 10'10" SR #7 (Switch Rod). For Pike fishing (or early season salmon with large flies) I load it with a 450grain Skagit Switch head. With that set up I can easily cast pike flies somewhere between 15cm - 20cm in length. I rarely use o-head casting with a switch (sometimes at night whilst fishing for Cod when I get out of "synch") mainly sticking with either a water-borne anchor cast such as snap C/T or Perry Poke or (for salmon fishing) normally a kiss and go type cast such as SS or Snake Roll .

Here is a Spey_Line_Compatibilty Chart for AirFlo Spey/Skagit Lines (compiled by Tim Rajeff who is responsible for the design of most of AirFlo's 2handed lines)

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BFF,

I remember a post you raised a few years ago regarding the possible use of Switch rods for big predators, interesting that you've settled on a 7wt Switch. Do you feel that it's within limits to handle heavy (not just large) flies and also very large fish? I ended up getting a Beulah 10/11 Switch intended for Hucho, unfortunately I wasn't able to make it the past couple of years. Hopefully this winter I will, but I'm worrying that this is way too big if you are handling big pike with a 7wt Switch. I'll be throwing 660-720 Airfo Compact Skagits with T17/Z19 tips and big heavy flies/lures.

Cheers,
Steve