S
Silent Ocelot
Well-known member
Having seen my last post on Penns was quite popular I thought I'd show my Erie loadout.
Light Nymphing with an indicator;
Orvis Helios H3F 9ft. 6wt. I love this rod for light nymphing as it puts the line down gently and is great at close range. Last year at Erie I used my Orvis H3D 9ft 7wt and it did a good job (especially at combatting fish and preventing break-offs) but I think the H3F 9ft. 6wt will do what the 7wt did but better. Being a distance rod and rod designed with a tad more torsional rigidity the H3D 7wt definitely struggled at close range and isn't an ideal nymphing rod (obviously it wasn't designed for that). I am slightly hesitant to use a 6wt as I like to be over-gunned in scenarios with larger fish but I think I'll be able to combat the fish ethically with this rod.
Heavy indicator nympher/tributary streamer rod;
Sage X 8wt 9ft. I wasn't a huge fan of the X series (as annotated in my previous thread about the rods I'd take to Penns), but I have found that the 9ft. 8wt is a pretty solid rod with a good amount of power (not Method or Salt HD power, but good enough for what I'll need it for). I like that even though this is a rod that is of a larger caliber it fishes well in close (the only one of my bigger fly rods that does this) so it will be great as an indicator stick and will mend well (I wouldn't even attempt to nymph with a SALT HD, that would be stupid). I did fish my 9ft 8wt X once last year at Elk Creek and tossed some streamers. It felt good on the Cabela's Prestige line I had on it, which is what I'll be fishing with it this year. I wasn't able to even get a strike on it (I fished it for maybe 30 minutes one evening) so I have yet to see how a "steelhead" feels on it. I will say I am much more confident in combatting a steelhead on this 8wt than my 6wt H3F.
Tight-line rod for smaller tribs (think Crooked Creek);
SAGE ESN HD 3wt 10ft. I know, I know, it's only a 3wt, but it's that highest wt 10ft. rod I own, my other being my fabulous Hardy Ultralight LL 10'2" 2wt that I absolutely adore. This will be the rod used in low water on the tribs. I am pretty sketched out about even attempting this on 8+ lb. fish but I know that these tight-line rods have a lot of backbone and are designed for fighting fish. I'll be pairing this with a Hatch 3 to get a good amount of drag out of it.
Nymphing (maybe tight-line) smaller trips in high water and a rod for fishing the lake itself, or a rod used if the steelhead make me mad;
Winston BIIIX 9ft 9wt;
Having observed the Trout Run trib and the numbers of anglers that crowd around it, I have decided to employ my largest caliber rod I own because I want to fight these fish as fast as possible, mainly to avoid having my fish run into other angler's lines and cause problems. I will employ my biggest and baddest of my rods. I also dont use this rod at all currently.
Light Nymphing with an indicator;
Orvis Helios H3F 9ft. 6wt. I love this rod for light nymphing as it puts the line down gently and is great at close range. Last year at Erie I used my Orvis H3D 9ft 7wt and it did a good job (especially at combatting fish and preventing break-offs) but I think the H3F 9ft. 6wt will do what the 7wt did but better. Being a distance rod and rod designed with a tad more torsional rigidity the H3D 7wt definitely struggled at close range and isn't an ideal nymphing rod (obviously it wasn't designed for that). I am slightly hesitant to use a 6wt as I like to be over-gunned in scenarios with larger fish but I think I'll be able to combat the fish ethically with this rod.
Heavy indicator nympher/tributary streamer rod;
Sage X 8wt 9ft. I wasn't a huge fan of the X series (as annotated in my previous thread about the rods I'd take to Penns), but I have found that the 9ft. 8wt is a pretty solid rod with a good amount of power (not Method or Salt HD power, but good enough for what I'll need it for). I like that even though this is a rod that is of a larger caliber it fishes well in close (the only one of my bigger fly rods that does this) so it will be great as an indicator stick and will mend well (I wouldn't even attempt to nymph with a SALT HD, that would be stupid). I did fish my 9ft 8wt X once last year at Elk Creek and tossed some streamers. It felt good on the Cabela's Prestige line I had on it, which is what I'll be fishing with it this year. I wasn't able to even get a strike on it (I fished it for maybe 30 minutes one evening) so I have yet to see how a "steelhead" feels on it. I will say I am much more confident in combatting a steelhead on this 8wt than my 6wt H3F.
Tight-line rod for smaller tribs (think Crooked Creek);
SAGE ESN HD 3wt 10ft. I know, I know, it's only a 3wt, but it's that highest wt 10ft. rod I own, my other being my fabulous Hardy Ultralight LL 10'2" 2wt that I absolutely adore. This will be the rod used in low water on the tribs. I am pretty sketched out about even attempting this on 8+ lb. fish but I know that these tight-line rods have a lot of backbone and are designed for fighting fish. I'll be pairing this with a Hatch 3 to get a good amount of drag out of it.
Nymphing (maybe tight-line) smaller trips in high water and a rod for fishing the lake itself, or a rod used if the steelhead make me mad;
Winston BIIIX 9ft 9wt;
Having observed the Trout Run trib and the numbers of anglers that crowd around it, I have decided to employ my largest caliber rod I own because I want to fight these fish as fast as possible, mainly to avoid having my fish run into other angler's lines and cause problems. I will employ my biggest and baddest of my rods. I also dont use this rod at all currently.
