This is the second of three blog posts that feature the Echo fly rods I fish through the seasons here in Pacific City.
I have learned though personal experience to appreciate the performance and value of Echo fly rods for over a decade now. Although the flagship rods featured in the Echo lineup evolve over the years, the dependability, ease of casting, variety of rod styles and actions, plus the modest price points of the entire portfolio of Echo rods remains rock solid.
Spring / Summer in Pacific City is an exciting and nearly franticly active time of year to fish anywhere from the river, in the estuary, and in the nearshore ocean to catch summer steelhead, spring chinook, black rockfish, lingcod, coho salmon, (rarely -Chinook salmon, and Albacore. Once again, the coastal cutthroat are sneaking around in the estuary and river for the persistent anglers who take the time to sleuth out their movements on tides and small river rises.
I’ve already covered the range of Echo rods I fish for winter steelhead, in a previous blog post (The Echo Seasons of Pacific City: Winter/Spring), so I’ll limit my remarks in this post to rods I fish in the estuary and ocean categorized by species.
Nestucca Spring Chinook salmon on the Echo EPR 8 wt.
Spring Chinook:
Prime 8 wt or 9 wt
These two fly rods are both top-of-the-line Echo High performance fly rods that excel in fresh and saltwater when your fishing calls for making short and long range deliveries in conditions that can run the gamut from dead calm short range to gale force long range. I have several seasons experience with the EPR and vouch for their performance from Oregon to Baja. My experience with the new Prime has been limited to a short-term demo loaner, but my confidence in the new PRIME is based on several years fishing the old Echo Prime one piece rods.
Boost Salt 8 wt
This fly rod is the Echo workhorse for estuaries, lake and ocean anglers who will be wrestling with stubborn fish species. The rods are tough as nails, responsive casting tools, and are a pleasure to throw in the boat to fish day after day, year after year.
Rockfish lingcod, coho salmon, and chinook salmon:
Steve and Jay with black rockfish and smiles.
In addition to the EPR, Prime, and Saltwater Boost rods I add the Bad Ass Glass rods, the 8 ft wonders that make quite possibly the best economical boat fly rods I’ve fished.
Bad Ass Glass 6 wt, 7 wt, 8 wt
Somewhere in the range from 6 to 8 wt lies the right rod for anyone fishing the estuary and ocean who wants maximum fun playing fish. These fly rods are not my first choice when i think I’ll need to be making long precision casts, but dang they are fun to fish and they seem to magnify the fish’s size owing to the rod’s flexibility. These are super durable fly rods and can be seriously over-lined if you need a fast sinking line (Airflo Depthfinder Big Game) in order to get your fly deep in a hurry. From Rockfish to salmon, I love a tug of war with one of these beautiful blue. Bad Ass Glass rods in my hand.
A hatchery ocean coho to the Echo Bad Ass Glass.
Albacore:
Oregon Albacore in battle with Echo Prime.
EPR 10 wt to 12 wt
Prime 10 to 12 wt
Boost Salt 10 wt to 12 wt
I know that many people consider the 12 wt a baseline for offshore albacore fishing, but depending on the year, our Oregon tuna sometimes average 12 pounds, 16pounds, or in some years, 24 pounds. I have found the small tuna years perfectly suited to fishing sub-12 wt rods.
Sea Run Cutthroat:
Sea run cutthroat to the 4 wt Echo Base.
Trout 4 wt 9 ft
Boost 4 wt 9 ft
Base 4 wt 8 ft
Dry 4 wt 9 ft
I considered the 6 and 7 wt my foundation for fishing sea run cutthroat in estuaries and coastal rivers. No more. Today I by far prefer the 4 wt fly rod and all of the Echo fly rods listed above are a delight to cast modest wet and dry flies to sea run and resident trout that range from 10 inches to a tad over 16 inches. This is fun fishing and the rods match perfectly with the fish and the fishing conditions.
JN
