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| Hi, I was wondering what size rod you guys are using. I am looking into a rod that could serve double duty for pike/muskie and larger steelhead and salmon...any input would be great..thanks |
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Posts: 212
| Ben, I'm here in PA and I have a 9'6" 9 weight rod that I use for muskies and occassionally for the steel as well. I prefer a lighter rod (7wt.) for the steel here in PA (where I've caught Steelies up to 15 pounds), which wouldn't suffice for muskies in my opinion. The 9 wt seems to pull them to the top of the water column on the hookset, which can be good if you want the quick release technique... Keep in mind our steelhead streams are probably 35 feet wide for the most part so if you're fishing big water it's more practical.. |
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| My friends and I do a fair bit of fly fishing for (northern) pike here in the UK and we wouldn't use anything as light as a 9-wt for two reasons. Firstly because large flies are hard to cast and you need something with more backbone to send out a 5" - 8" fly any distance, and secondly (and much more importantly) you need the extra power to subdue a good fish in a sensible amount of time for safe C&R. For musky in warm conditions I know from my limited experience that quick landing is vital, so best go for a powerful rod - you wouldn't fish large lures with a bass rod, so don't go too light with a fly rod either.
The rod most of us use is the 'Bob Church Champion Fly Rod' which is 9ft long and takes 11 and 12 weight shooting heads. This will cast big flies and land large fish (my friend Mike has had pike to over 30lb on his). I'm sure you can find something similar in the US, or even mail order one from over here if you need to!
Regarding rod length, over 9ft makes casting hard work for minimal improvement in casting distance. I would be happy with an 8ft rod if I could find one.
Buy a large arbour reel - 9 to 11 size - that will take the bulky fly line and plenty of backing.
For lines I buy a 12-weight double taper line, cut off the end 3ft and then measure 34ft and cut this off to make the shooting head. You may want to experiment with a longer head and cut it down until you find the length that suits your casting style and rod best. The rest of the line (just over half) is kept for when another shooting head is needed, or if you have a friend who also wants a fly outfit both of you can get a shooting head from the one line! Attach the head to hollow braided shooting head backing - I use the loop to loop method so that I can carry one rod and reel and vary the heads as needed. You will allmost certainly need a floating and intermediate head, I also carry medium and fast sinking heads plus a lead core one for 'back drifting' over deep water, but you may not need these last 3 lines.
Leader material is normally about 7ft of 20lb mono (clear amnesia) with a 12 inch wire trace. I would never consider anything other than wire next to the lure/bait/fly when fishing for pike or musky. Attach the fly to the leader using a stringease stay-lok snap, other snaps don't seem to cope!
Hope this helps
Mr Z |
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Posts: 663
| Check in with Bill Scheer at www.wetieit.com . Probably the best authority around on fly fishing muskies. |
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| I fish a 6wt for some, a 10wt for others, depends on where I am, and what I'm doing. My favorite musky rod is an 8wt Boron XTR Winston, I can rocket billlfish flies with it with no problem.
It's also an excellent steelhead rod for nymphing, and throwing shooting heads and steelie streamers. |
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| I use a 9 wt. and a 10 wt. I generally prefer the 9 wt., though the 10 wt. does better with some flies. Either would be too heavy for steelhead fishing. Get two rods if you can afford it rather than compromise. If you have to compromise I'd say to get an 8 wt. - it has enough power to still throw some medium-large flies and it'll still be sporting with the steelhead. |
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