Sorry for the late reply, I just noticed this. I am thoroughly addicted to trout spey. So much so that I haven't picked up a single hand rod in well over a year. I live in western PA and I will fish almost every creek that I would have with a single hand rod(not including the small, brushy streams or the mountain brook trout streams). The main streams that I fish are: Neshannock, Slippery Rock, Oil, Laurel Hill and the Yough. I have also fished my trout spey in Yellow Breeches, Penns and the Little J. That should give you an idea of the size and nature of the streams that can be fished(assuming you are familiar with some of those streams.
I personally like a rod that is in the area of 11 feet. I prefer Scandi lines and 10 foot Polyleaders in a variety of sink rates from floating on down depending on how deep I want to fish. In the earlier season, or when the water levels are up I tend to use beadhead wooly buggers or streamers. As the water levels come down and warm up, especially when the bug activity starts, I use a variety of soft hackle wet flies. They work especially well when there are hatches coming off.
There are a number of manufacturers making trout spey rods these days. I doubt you could go wrong no matter what you get. It's more a matter of how much you want to spend. If you are only going to have one rod then I would probably recommend something on the order of an 11 foot 4 weight. That should cast a heavy enough line that you can move a heavier fly but still be light enough to enjoy fishing soft hackles, etc and catching average size trout. One rod that I am partial to is the Anderson Custom Rods Nova 2 series of trout spey. It's priced at around $500 and comes with a line of your choosing included in that price. Orvis, Echo, Beulah, Sage and a number of others offer great rods, as well. I'm also Partial to the Scientific Anglers Spey Lite series of integrated scandi ines. They also make integrated Skagit lines if that's your preference. I do recommend an integrated line as I find the loop to loop connections are an annoyance on the smaller guides of a trout spey.
I highly recommend trying out trout spey, it's been more fun and effective than I ever would have imagined. Tight lines, enjoy the journey!
Hunter
