Steelhead Fly Fishing

[Pavel]

I would like to get a Steelhead fly rod and reel and was wondering if more people use a 7Wt or 8Wt for Steelheading. If there are any big differences such as the 8Wt would be better if your throwing larger Streamers, etc. could you please add your input on the reason for your selection. Take care and thanks in advance for anyone and everyones input. If this helps, I would be mostly fishing 80% of the time on the Maitland and Bayfield river.

[Weekend Warrior]

I actually use a 9wt Loomis for steelhead. Part of my reason for this is because I also use the rod for fall salmon, so I need something that's a bit heavier.

 

I like using a heavier rod for 2 reasons. The first is that I don't like to wear out spawning fish too much when bringing them in. The second is that I often throw larger flies, and sometimes multiple flies, so I find my heavier rod to be better for this.

 

A 7wt rod in my opinion is the absolute lightest you should go for steelhead. I would choose the 8wt if it were me.

[RuNnYoOzE]

what about the heavier line for fly fishing! a birdie told me you need a heavier line ......just throwing my 2 cents to the wind boys always with the drama to follow , quick someone get me a tissue !

[rover1.5dx]

I have 6,7,8 and 9 weight single hand fly rods. For smallish, wide-open rivers, such as the Bighead I prefer to use my 7wt. I can cast pretty much any set-up from sink tips to indi-fishing. Granted it's a fast action 7wt 9' rod (Scott S3). My buddy sometimes goes down to a 6wt.

 

IMHO an 8 wt is overkill for smaller streams. If you're worried about turnover for indi-fishing, then you can overline your 7wt with an 8wt line if you're not casting too far.

 

Having said all that I much prefer to use a spey rod on larger rivers. For me a 7/8 Skagit set-up is ideal. I can chuck anything with that, short of a rubber boot. I don't fish the Bayfield and Maitland but I've heard from other spey guys that the two-hander is the way to go. I fish mostly the Notty and nothing beats a spey cast in tight steep tree lined banks. Single hand rods are pretty much useless in such conditions. Never mind the fact that spey casting is a 1000X more efficient than a single hand rod overhead cast.

Edited March 31, 2009 by rover1.5dx

[fish_finder]

As an all purpose steelheading rod, go with an 8wt. That said, a 9wt would be better than a 7 if you had to choose one of those two. You'll probably be out both spring and fall, which means you'll probably encounter your share of salmon and possibly some rather large browns as well. 8wt will allow you to cast larger streamers and an additional shot you may add to your tippet to get the fly down, especially when the water is high. Grab a floating line to go with it, and some sink tips to help with swinging flies and to help get to the bottom with other rigs as well. Look for a large arbor reel as well.

[fish_finder]

Single hand rods are pretty much useless in such conditions. Never mind the fact that spey casting is a 1000X more efficient than a single hand rod overhead cast.

 

Until you learn the various spey casts of course.......I spey cast with my single hand rods more than I overhead cast....both fishing tribs for migratory fish and fishing resident fish as well.

[muddler]

My personal favourite fly outfit is a 10 1/2 ft Gatti for 8wt. I use a 15 ft fast sinking tip line with a fast sinking steelhead leader. I use about 5 ft of 8lb Floro for a tippet. The longer rog is great for the lager rivers like the Notty. This gives me about 18 feet of sinking line. If I mend the line properly I can bump bottom with a fly in 15+ft of water.

 

 

For the smaller eastern creeks I use a 9 ft rod. I use an 8wt line on a 7wt rod. That way shorter casts are easier. I use a floating line on that outfit with a fast sinking leader with a shorter 3 ft tippet. By adjusting the tippet length I can go deeper or shallower. Since most of the eastern tribs I fish don't have much water over 10 ft deep, I can cover most of the water with that set up.

 

 

I always bring two spare spools just incase I have to adapt. I always have with me a full floating, fast sink 15 ft tip and an ultra fast 25 ft sink tip. Those 3 setups can usually cover all fishing situations.

 

 

 

muddler

[douG]

I bet that you catch lots of fish. When solo took me to an Erie trib, I took some time to chat with the locals, who were all fly fishers, and they agreed that the float fishers would catch 10 to 1 over the flea flickers. We did so, too.

[Pavel]

Maybe I should just break it down to the fact that I am looking at two different rods.

 

1) A-5 9' 7Wt.

2) A-5 9' 8Wt.

 

I would like it mostly for Steelhead but I would like it for some smallmouth as well since my 6Wt. has some trouble throwing large streamers.

This rod is a medium-fast action and was wondering if I decide on the 7Wt, should I get 8Wt line or 7Wt line?

 

Please help make my choice a little easier. Everyone so far thanks for your comments but I should of been more specific.

[muddler]

If I had to choose just one rod based on what you described, I'd go with an 8wt rod balanced with an 8wt line. Remember the "one size fits all" doesn't always apply. You may have too much power /rod for the smaller streams but you'll do well on the larger flows.

 

I'm not a big guy so I prefer a 10 1/2ft rod for the big rivers and shorter rods for the smaller stuff.

 

Now I should tell you that I have well over 100 rods. 40 or so are fly rods and of those I have 3 10 1/2 footers (7 wt , 8 wt and 9wt), 6 others that are 8 1/2 , 9 and 9 1/2 footers that are 7 wt or 8 wt. Those are my steelhead fly rods. I prefer Islander fly reels just because they 'feel' nice and they balance my long stuff nicely. The drag on the Islanders is really really nice too

 

I started building rods 35 years ago so I built a custom selection for almost any kind of fishing.

And some of you guys think you're sick? LOL

 

 

Anyway, use what you feel comfortable with. If your rod feels right in your hand (no pun intended) you should enjoy a whole day fly fishing with it. It should be a pleasure to fly fish and not a chore. If you can test arod and reel from a buddy to get a feel of what suits you, all the better. Then go out and buy something similar. In the worst case you might find an outfit that you don't want to buy.

 

 

muddler