Steelhead rod and Reel ?

[jandmcustomlures]

I am looking for a rod for steelhead but do not want to go spend a ton of money on the best outfit right now until I am sure I like it enough to go get the top of the line equipment. Can anyone recomend a decent starter rod and reel and what weight is the best. Also can the same rod used for swinging speys also be used for wet flies ? I have not fly fished for steelhead with a fly rod at all so it's all new to me. Thanks in advance for all the help and time.

 

[moon1284]

rod: 10' 7wt med to med fast action ie: st croix 10' 7wt (imperial) orvis clearwater 10' 7wt, etc.
reel: low end lamson or if you want to man up SA system 1 click pawl drag 678 (cheaper but basically has no drag, much harder to fight fish)
Plan on spending around $300 for new rod, new reel, new line, new backing. If you go used it will be cheaper but I dont think you'll find a decent rig, even used, for under $200.
At this price range you will have a rig you can use for a long time and if you upgrade your rig will hold its value fairly well if you want to sell it or it will be a very servicable backup rig.
If you dont want to spend this kind of money, use what you have and improvise. If you buy a new setup for $150 to $200 you are buying something that will end up in a trash can or thrown in a river out of frustration.

 

[wsender]

What kind of budget are you dealing with?

 

[jandmcustomlures]

I was looking at the lower end more around 1 - 3 hundred for a setup Vs 4-6 just in case it's not my thing. I am thinking maybe renting one for a weekend might not be a bad idea. It sounds like buying a cheap one to try it and get the feel for it might give me a bad impression.

 

[pcray1231]

eh, I disagree wholeheartedly with moon. You can find perfectly servicable rods for around $100. Reels for somewhat less.

Generally, I'd say a 5 to an 8 weight, with a 6 or 7 weight being ideal. Length, at least 9 ft, but longer is better. You can find quite a few in the 10 foot range. The rods don't need to do anything special, this is easy casting. Nice if it has a little backbone to help in the fight, but that isn't something thats hard to find.

The one key here is the reel. For most trout fishing, you can get away with a $30 reel easily. But for steelhead, make sure you get a half decent drag, you'll need it. Large Arbor is also nice as you have to pick up line quick when they run at ya. I have a Cabelas RLS, the 7-8 wt version, which is a LA with a pretty good disc drag currently selling at $70. It's landed some steelhead and never had an issue.

 

[jandmcustomlures]

Crazy question but can the rod i use for my center pin work with a Large arbor fly reel. I have a good 10 ft rod for it and a 12 foot noodle.

 

[mcwillja]

10 ft. 7 wt. Echo Ion for $189.00. Great rod for steelhead for the price.

 

[jdaddy]

jandmcustomlures wrote:
Crazy question but can the rod i use for my center pin work with a Large arbor fly reel. I have a good 10 ft rod for it and a 12 foot noodle.

No, because it is too limp. Like a noodle. Get it?

Seriously, they are both likely too slow with not enough back bone. Casting would be a chore with the reel on the pin reel location. But he, take it out in the front yard and try it.

 

[gfen]

Rod Hertzer pointed out Cabelers has the Redington redfly rods on clearance prices. I think it was $75 for a 10'.

 

[ryguyfi]

I'm with pcray on this one. There's no real need for a very expensive set up for steelhead. Your tossing a lot of lead and chances are you'll nick up your rod, and or break it eventually. There's no real finesse to it and a "fancy" rod is really unnecessary. a 10'7wt is a great rod for Great Lakes steel. Redington had one on sale in cabela's bargain cave for under $100 I believe.

 

[moon1284]

You can definitley catch steelhead with a cheap rod, i've even did it one time. However there is a big difference in the quality of a rod that costs $80 to $100 compared to a rod that costs $180 to $200.

 

[bikerfish]

my steelhead rod cost me 10 bucks! an 8wt vintage true temper fiberglass. I use a vintage medalist on it with a bargain wf8f line.
I think I paid 15 for the reel.
and I have no problem catching and landing fish, in fact, it really is a nice casting rod.
I've got some fancy modern stuff, but I'd rather use the old junk just because it's fun!
ya don't have to spend much to go fishing!!

 

[moon1284]

You're right. The two trout rods I fish most often (3wt and 5wt) are glass and the 5wt is vintage. I prefer a med action graphite rod for steelhead, glass is heavier than I like for longer rods. The first reel I used for salmon and steelhead had no disc drag, even on my disc drag reels I keep the drag loose and palm my spool out of habit.

 

[gfen]

Unacceptable! Your 3wt rod must be matched to titanium-scadium frame forged with Mjolnir in the forge of Hephaetus. The drag must consist of aerospace grade carbon fiber and ceramics, vented and ported to maximize heat sink abilities and capAble of no less than 80# of drag pressure, the entire thing should be doused in the blood of unbaptised babies placed inside a whale vagina and then boxed by 72 virgins inside a box composed of the bones of Christian martyrs*.

Because trout fishing is serious business, and no one could catch a fish bigger than 15" prior to 1992.


(* - also applies to Hardy reels made in Alnwick)

 

[bikerfish]

LOL!!!!

 

[gfen]

Don't look at me, I'm buying Pfluegers on ebay.

 

[TroutBuster]

I used a Cabelas Three Forks rod / Prestige Plus reel for steelhead. Never had any problems with it. Great looking rod too! I still use it from time to time. I believe they are on sale for $79 right now.... thats rod, reel, backing, and line!

 

[Tiltaxp]

If you're interested I have a couple of decent reels that will get the job done and I'm sure some lines... shoot me an email or pm... mkerstetter@gmail.com

 

[shakey]

here are a rod and reel example of what i would look for:

rod-http://cgi.ebay.com/True-Temper-Fly-Rod-8-1-2-model-1155-line-wt-8-fishing-/170612943726?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b952eb6e

reel-http://cgi.ebay.com/Pflueger-Medalist-1495-Fly-Reel-/230594108906?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b07addea

 

[Nate717]

I'm not sure how far you are from the Basspro in Harrisburg but they have their "270" series rod/reels on sale. 180 dollar rods on sale for 89.00 and 200 dollar large arbor/disk drag real for 99.00. The rod is also an IM8 graphite rod.