Switch/Spey rod for suskie?

[thetonyage]

I fish the suskie quite often in the wilkesbarre area. It gets pretty wide around there and I'm trying to justify myself building a switch or spey rod in 6 or 7wt for it. I am in the process of getting a 8wt together for the SR in new york. But I feel like that would be overkill in wilkesbarre. Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Fishidiot]

I use a 10.5' 7WT switch rod for the Susky and Potomac and enjoy it. However, I mostly went back to my regular fly rods as I found that, without a specialty line (a Scandi is probably what you want), the rod didn't work esp well for two handed casting.

I'm still undecided on the whole "switch" rod concept. Perhaps I need to experiment with different specialty lines but these lines are very expensive. I probably won't be building anymore switch rods anytime soon.
A full Spey rod with matching spey line would probably work very well on the Susky. The Susky, even up by WB, is much bigger water than the Salmon River and bass flies are generally bigger than steelhead/salmon flies unless you're planning on fishing very large tubes or something. It might be good to have an 8WT (or larger) however to handle the bigger fish on the Salmon. I'm not really sure.

 

[beeber2]

A 10 ft 6 or 7 wt would be a good choice for that area.

 

[DJBerg]

couple of things to think about, spey/switch rod weight is 3 line sizes heavier than standard single hand rods. aka a 6wt spey is right around a 9wt single.

then casting wise, it's super hard to make the transition to "under hand" casting because it's all underhand with your other hand vs using your normal casting hand which is only a fulcrum point in this style of casting.

that being said, once you figure out how to keep your dominant hand still, the skandi/skagit underhand cast with the proper shooting head on the rod. it really is mind blowing just how far you can cast with your back up against trees, rocks whatever(no back casting room).

as of right now, i screwed up when i bought my airflo rage head and went with a 450gr, when i should have a 525-575gr on it. i can still cast 80-90'. i cant wait until i get the proper line on my rod to see just how far i can throw a fly(though 80' is probably farther than i will ever need to cast lol, other than lake fishing...).

also the new casting style heads in the north west is "scandit" sort of a hybrid of the heavy skagit head with a bit of taper so it will have a bit better presentation than the "clunky" skagit(pretty much a no taper head that has the most mass to move the biggest flies) and throw large flies. but not as nice of a presentation as a "scandi" style head taper.

another option is to get your rod picked out, and call or email steve godshall, he's the most raved about custom line builder any where. 90% of the time he has already built a line for most rods and if not give him the specs, and let him do his magic!

good luck. DJ

 

[sandfly]

I set mine up for more bassin than for steelheading, its a batson 10' 8" 6 wt. with a rio 7wt. nymph line on it so I can throw bass flies. works for steel head too. I fish the tioga and chemung rivers with it in the summer.

did the same for my 11' 3wt. put a rio 4wt. nymph tip on that as well. 40-50' roll cast are a breeze.

 

[chromefinder]

Having purchased before for your exact geographic requirements i went with a 12'6'' 7/8 spey set up.

Great rig for susqy smb and Larger LO trib steelhead.


and for what its worth - i feel over-gunned on the SR and under- gunned on the susqy

 

[turkey]

DJBerg wrote:
couple of things to think about, spey/switch rod weight is 3 line sizes heavier than standard single hand rods. aka a 6wt spey is right around a 9wt single.

3 lines sizes isn't a hard rule. More often than not I find that 2 line sizes works for me.

I would pick a switch/spey based on what flies I'll likely fish first and what fish I'm targeting second.

 

[dano]

I've found that in most instances, 2 line weights up seems to work best for me. But you need to be carefull as some manufacturers like Sage use the overhead designation on their switch rods.

DJ,
You mentioned Steve Godshall. I was just on the phone with him, yesterday trying to match a line to rod. This is one he hasn't done before. He's going to build it and ship it today.
I remember some years ago, the first time I ever talked to him. I was trying to match up a Batson 10'8" 8wt switch. He went as far as asking me questions about my casting style and what type of rod action I prefer. All said and done, I ended up getting a scandi/skagit and overhead shooter with a half dozen tips that brought this rod to life. The overhead shooter really rocks. His specs were nowhere near Batsons.
Sandfly,
Batson now carries a line for your switch rod. It's a scandi style head with integrated running line. Godshall also helped in the design of this line. Part number is LN1087= 27 foot/335 grains. A friend just picked up the 5wt version for his rod that I'm going to test drive when I see him on Friday.