The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Why consider a Switch Rod? With the winter steelhead season about wound down, I realize that I have responded to more people than ever who have enquired about the relative merits of Switch fly rods compared to full-on Spey rods when fishing Oregon coastal rivers. My answer applies to all waters, and here is basically how it goes.

I started out  (in the 60s and 70s) fishing nine foot single hand rods for steelhead and salmon, with the occasional ten footer in the mix, but the longer rods were often ungainly and awkward to handle all day long. At some point I discovered Spey rods, well after most everyone else here in the region. The rods I worked with in the 80s and 90s were generally longer (14-15 ft) and were beastly things to fish especially with my lacking skills. Time passed and the rods and line systems improved considerably, with manufacturers introducing shorter Spey rods that were lighter but still capable of making very long casts.

Sometime after 2000 (who’s got the date?) you could purchase very good 8 wt Spey rods at 12.5 to 13.5 ft that were light and great casting rods. The standard seemed to settle in with 6 wt rods being under 13 ft, 7 wt rods being 13 ft but under 14 ft, and 8 wt Spey rods pushing around the 13.5 – 14 ft mark.

Well, the longer Spey rods were (and still are) fine fishing tools when wading out in nice gravel studded runs with plenty of back casting room for forming D loops. When fishing in places with trees or rocks close behind, as is often the case on our coastal rivers, these longer rods are not nearly as much fun to maneuver.

Enter the Switch rods, offered at somewhere between the old 10 ft mark of the long single hander – and the 12 ft mark usually occupied by five or six wt Spey rods. The switch rods in the generic 11 ft class offer a superior option when fishing with tree branches overhead or close behind. They also make great beach, boat, and estuary fishing rods that may be fished overhead or with traditional Spry style casts.

I have watched many anglers struggle with longer Spey rods when fishing close quarters, and often loaned them my Switch rods to play with. The result is always the same – they want to add a Switch rod to their tool box – then the question becomes – which rod to recommend.

The high-end customer has several options that are all good, but not everyone has nine hundred bucks to drop on yet another fishin’ pole. So I have devoted considerable effort to exploring a range of mid-price options for the angler who is about to delve into the Switch rod world for the first time.

The Switch rods I’m reviewing in this post are three excellent rods that I’ve fished extensively this recent winter steelhead season. I’d venture that I’ve put in at least 36 hours fishing each of the three rods (18 days x 6 hours fishing per day, with equal time (2 hrs per rod each day).  I have fished other days with other Switch rods also, but none were as pleasing as these three (the term pleasing means that these three rods meshed well with my modest casting ability, considerable bad casting habits, and personal quirks). When people come to me and ask about purchasing a modestly priced switch rod, these three are the very first I’m recommending without reservation.

My attraction to these three rods is based on serious time on the river, not an hour or an afternoon. Day after day trudging up and down the river banks, falling in, stumbling, smacking my rod tip into overhanging brush (all three rods took a lot of punishment), wrapping flies around the rod when I placed my anchor poorly, and even a few steelhead hooked, lost, and released.

Mid Price – You will note that these three Switch rods are in what we refer to the mid-price range – meaning that there are rods that cost less and far more than these. The Sage ONE   is an excellent high end rod as are the Sage Method, Scott T3H Premium, and Burkheimer Switch rods. These Switch rods are all very good but I wanted to keep this review focused on mid- rather than high-end rods.

The three Switch rod I’ll discuss are 

Echo 3 Switch rod

Redington Chromer Switch rod

Scott L2H Switch rod

Price wise – the ECHO is just over five bills, the Scott is about halfway north of five bills, and the Redington a tad less expensive at roughly four hundred bucks.

Length – the ECHO is an even 11 ft while the Scott and Redington are both 11 ft 6 inches.

Action – All are what I consider fast action rods with soul, meaning that they are in a different class than rods like the Echo Dec Hogan II, a full action Burkheimer, or a modern glass rod. When I say these have soul, that means that I can feel them load as I’m casting. All three rods are fast but comfortably fast.

Distance casting ability – all are very versatile. I always start by making casts with only my sink tip out of the guides, and gradually lengthen the reach of my swing as I prospect a run. All three of these rods have allowed me to make very long casts and very short precise casts whether I’m wading out in an open run or hunkered under trees dodging tree branches.  As far as I’m concerned, there was never a situation when I was incapable of covering the water because of casting distance limitations – other than my own limitations. All of these rods will deliver your fly to the farthest reach of our coastal rivers with ease.

Line matches – I fished a six wt in the Chromer Swtch and a seven wt in the Scott and Echo rods. Both seven wts cast an Airflo Compact Switch Skagit at 450 gr, but I fished an OPST Commando 375 gr head on both rods more often than not. The 6 wt Chromer fished spectacularly with a 420 gr Compact switch or a 325 OPST Commando.

Sink Tips – I fished 10 ft RIO Mow tips in T-11 and T-14. I also fished AIRFLO Flo tips in T-10 and T-14. I found it uncomfortable when I tried the 12 ft T-14 tips with these lines and rods, but otherwise they were all up to the task of throwing T-10 to T-14.

Handle – The handles on these rods are different but similar, and I’ll have difficulty in this discussion, but here goes.

16.75″ – The Scott L2H is the shortest handle of the three rods and is very subtly different with the bulges at lower and upper top grip. For my hands and my casting style, I preferred this handle configuration over the other two handles.

17.25″– The Echo 3 Swich rod has the middle length handle and I would characterize this as the most generic shape of the three. A good handle overall.

17.75″ – The Redington Chromer handle is the longest of the three rods and is unique insofar as the rubber tip on top and bottom hand. While the handle overall is a little thinner than I’d prefer, I found that I liked the feel of the rubber tips so much that I was swayed towards this handle.

Hardware – All three rods have good hardware. We are all fickle about these small matters but I found myself most attracted to the Scott reel seat.

Warranty cost and service – All three manufacturers offer great warranty service. Echo  requires  a payment of 35$, Redington 40$, and Scott charges 50$ to pay for warranty service. This is usually a per section fee, but the manufacturer has some discretion in this matter.

If you ship a damaged rod to the factory from your home, you pay the cost of shipping the rod but the warranty fee covers the return of the rod to you. All warranties are original owner-based.

If you deliver a damaged rod to the Caddis Fly Shop, we will ship the rod for you at minimum cost and you will cover than the warranty fee charged by each respective company when the rod is returned. In our experience, warranty service is rarely needed for any of these three rods, and when it has been exercised we get rods back from Echo in less than a week, Redington is usually within two weeks, and Scott may be three or four weeks, depending on the rod and the season.

Rod Performance –  Excellent for all three rods. Remember, I fished other switch rods that were not so pleasing and chose these specifically because I can recommend each without reservation, meaning I can recommend them enthusiastically.

Making a decision – if you fish under trees and close to brush, the ECHO is going to make the cast a little easier because it is shorter. If you are price shopping the Redington  will save you on the sale. If you compare warranty cost and time of return the Echo will save you a tiny amount and get the rod back in your hands the fastest. Did any of these rods perform better than the others? No that I could detect.

Did I have a personal favorite? Yes, but it is based on largely insignificant personal quirks, and you’ll not see my call on what is essentially a photo finish here, because it is not the slightest bit objective.

You are likely to see me out on the river with any or all of these three rods on any given day. This speaks highly for the performance of all these rods.

I’m sure that there are many very good 6 wt and 7 wt switch rods out there that I did not fish, but if you are even close to considering any of these three rods, I feel confident that you will be pleased fishing any of the three.

If you have further questions about these and other rods, lines, and matching lines to rods, I will be pleased to help puzzle through the morass if you contact me through the fly shop.

Jay Nicholas, April 2016

Ouch!

ECHO fly rods are tough, and this is something I’ve learned over a long stretch of time. While I do not recommend doing silly things like the photo above reveals, it is but one more example of how durable Echo fly rods are. This is what happens when I loose my grip on a fly rod handle when inserting or removing it from a ceiling rack at my cabin. the rod bobs and hangs while I shriek and wait for the shaft to break. So far they have not, and this is not the first time I’ve made this error. Thanks to Tim’s drive for great casting rods that are also very durable, I have been saved the humiliation of breaking rods in this manner. And no, I have not fished this rod since this event so I guess we will have to see if it is damaged or not! I have goofed with ECHO 3 SW and PRIME rods in this same manner and gone on to fish them with no apparent ill effect.

ECHO Warranty: All ECHO fly rods are covered by a lifetime original owner Warranty that is among the best in the entire fly fishing industry.

The fly fishing industry is in a constant state of flux based on new material and manufacturing technologies; design modifications, consumer feedback, and yes, the value of the dollar in a world of global trade.

Folks who know me understand that I appreciate the opportunity to fish many brands of fly rods, reels, lines, leaders and such forth. That said, I have a deep understanding and appreciation for a few of these, and ECHO fly rods are among the brands that I am particularly well acquainted with.

This post is a quick update on some of the goings-on that are radiating from the Rajeff Sports site in Vancouver Washington, where Tim Rajeff and his adept staff are on the cutting edge of rod and line design – while I’m the lucky end-user of their new or modified products.

Kindly forgive the fact that these are not studio glamor shots of the gear,  just simple images to set the stage for each product.

Echo ION XL fly rods. Here is a great example where Tim took an already great and modestly priced fly rod, switched up the cosmetics, decreased the swing weight of the rod, maintained the durability and dependability—with a decrease in consumer price. Amazing. My ION was a great rod before, now it looks sharper and costs less. Go figure.

Echo Shadow II. This specialty nymphing fly rod was redesigned prior to 2016. How so? Tim and Pete Erickson preserved the core elements that make this a great European style nymphing rod, but they added a little more flex in the butt section thereby making this long rod (10 ft for the 2 and 3 wt models versus 10 ft 6 inches for the 4 wt model) more user friendly as a casting tool rather than a purely high-stick rod. The rod is light and a joy to cast dry flies and small wets on the Deschutes or wherever you consider your home waters, and is well worth trying as a dual purpose fly rod. The addition to the Shadow II line for 2016 was adding the 2 wt to the rod series.

Echo Dec Hogan II. This is a rod that was re-designed a few years ago but that I only had a chance to experience in 2015. I liked the first DH spey rod series, and I love this DH II. I especially like the 6.5 wt because it gives me a genuine ‘tweener that has more power than the 6 but less than the 7 – as if anyone really cares. These spey rods allow you to really feel the load and are tremendous fun to fight fish on.  Tremendously easy to cast, anyone who swings the two hander should love these rods. I fish the seven wt in winter and the 6.5 in summer.

Echo Boost. Less expensive than the Echo 3 SW rods. More expensive than the ION XL. Faster than the ION. Powerful Fresh and saltwater fly rods, these are tough fly rods that you can overload and pull hard on but are super casting tools. If you like to power out your flies and wrangle fish giving little quarter, these rods sure are fine to fish. I fish the 8 wt for rockfish, lingcod, and king salmon. Solid performance.

Echo Base. In my opinion, these fly rods over perform and are under priced. I fish the 8 ft 4 wt rod and it casts like a rocket. Seriously, if you told me this was an 800 buck rod I would believe it based on the casting it delivers. Of course the components are budget minded on this sub-hundred-buck rod, but if you fish any of these you will be amazed at how well they cast.

Echo Glass Switch and Spey rods. These are economical and fun to fish. I love the 3 wt and 4 wt rods fishing sea run cutthroat and summer steelhead in the coastal lakes. I fish the 8 and 8 wt spey rods for kings and winter steelhead. These take some getting used to after the fast recovery rods we have become accustomed to, but in terms of having fun fishing and playing fish these are superior rods. I thought initially that my casting range would be restricted by these slow rods, but it is not.

Echo Glass single hand fly rod. I have the 5 wt and LOVE it for trout fishing, plus I have also caught summer steelhead on this rod with small dry and wet flies. This rod will not cast as far as the BASE or Echo 3 rods in the five wt series, but it casts plenty far for my needs. In this photo I’m actually pulling on a summer steelhead on 5X tippet.

The Gen 2.0 Airflo Skagit Compact is noted by the blue hue on the rear of the head.

Skagit Gen 2.0 Skagit Compact Spey Head. Not a fly rod but what the heck. I have fished this line and find it performs very well, especially when paired with the new Super Dri Ridged 30 LB floating running line. 

The generation 2.0 skagits are shorter by about a half foot per size, and the rear taper is about a half foot longer. Overall, these skagit compact upgraded designs just make an already fine line even better.

The new super dry running lines have a black large loop that is I think tougher than the original line loop and is a nice visual cue to recognize how much overhang you have at your rod tip. The new super dry coat on these running lines is superior to the previous line coating and these are slippery and float better too.

Echo Carbon XL. The carbon is another Echo fly rod that is lighter and a tad less expensive in 2016. Good before, still good now, you can not go wrong with the fly rod.

ECHO 3 SW new titanium stripper guide on right (upper).

Echo 3 SW fly rods. These already excellent fly rods have been very slightly upgraded for 2016, with a titanium insert first stripper guide and a tip acton that is reportedly some 6% softer than the former models. I’m told that only expert casters will notice the difference but Tim Rajeff made the change to give these rods a slightly better feel when loading on short and moderate range casts. I loved the rods already and these changes only make them better. Fantastic fly rod at a fantastic price. Still, if you can afford it and want a rod in the 8 and up class, give the PRIME a serious consideration, I can’t imagine anyone regretting it.

Echo PRIME. This one piece fly rod is a fast action beauty that I love to fish offshore and in the estuaries for everything that swims within my casting range. At 8 ft 10 inches, this is a fantastic, light, tough-as-nails, fly rod. I’ve fished kings, silvers, rockfish, lingcod, and albacore with these rods available in lines wts from 8 – 12 only. The eight wt makes a fantastic all season rod for salmon. The the wt is acceptable for albacore (i usually fish the 12 wt though) and I have yet to find another 10 wt that I would fish albacore with. Is the one piece construction a problem? Not to me. And I have never broken one of these either. And I fish them hard too.

ECHO 3 Switch Rod – seven wt. Not changed, just a dependable great switch rod. I fish the 7 wt with a 450 Airflo Skagit Switch compact or 375 gr OPST Commando head on the coastal rivers, and this is a fantastic steelhead switch rod – light, powerful, casts long and short and generally a pleasure to fish all day long.

Echo 3 FW  – 10 ft six wt. When I’m feeling like indicator fishing, this is my go-to rod. Light, powerful, casts far and handles fish with authority (wow nice phrase)  this is a great fly rod. As this fly shows, I also swing flies with this rod fishing my indicator line or a OPST Commando head.

ECHO Gecko kit with rod, reel, line, and leader. It is snappy bright to appeal to the youngest potential angler but this is no toy. At 7 ft 9 inches, this forgiving action fly rod has a short fighting butt to make two hand assist casts and the shaft is sturdy enough for the rod to take considerable amount of messing around poking at salamanders or just generally whipping around when not actually fishing. At under a hundred bucks for the rod only and well under two hundred for the complete outfit, this is a great fly fishing starter combo gift for very young anglers.

ECHO BASE Fly Rod – Reel – Line – Leader combo kit. offered in line wts 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 – these combo outfits offer the ready to fish outfit in a carrying case at well under two hundred bucks. All Echo/Airflo, and all durable highly fishable gear, these are wonderful starter combos, backup combos, and gifts.

ECHO PIN. Not a fly rod, I know, but I’ve fished these rods two full seasons and can report that they are a delight to fish for steelhead and chinook. My Centerpin casting skills are so rudimentary that I often just strip cast off the reel, and I’ve had some bonafide snarls in my line playing fish but these long rods at 13 ft cast great and have full flex action to absorb the surge of big fish while still making five pound steelhead seem like linkers. If you fish a center pin rod, this is a great option. Am I an expert in these rods? Heck no. But I’ve fished a lot of rods over the last fifty plus years and can recommend the PIN as an honest to goodness great value and effective steelhead/salmon “bobber” rod. Rated for 8 – 12 Lb line, Ive fished 15 when the going gets tough.

ECHO TR (Tim Rajeff) Two Hand rod series.  I have no image for this rod and do not normally fish this rod, but I have fished it and have several friends who count this as their number one two hander. Met a fellow recently who has a seven wt TR spey rod and was helping him tune his casting. Wow. This is a cannon. With a  powerful butt section, this TR is on target for powerful casters who like to push out the heavy tips on skagit heads. This is a long proven rod design and there are none tougher.

Hope these notes pique your interest, time for me to head out and hitch up the boat to go trout fishing on the town lake.

ECHO offers many more fly rods plus over roughly 20 fly lines, and great leader materials and various Polyleaders, Flow tips and custom cut sink tips too. I have fished most of these products (not all) and would be pleased to offer my thoughts if anyone calls or emails me.

Same goes for SAGE, SCOTT, WINSTON, LOOMIS, RIO, SA, HATCH, BURKHEIMER, and the entire range of great tackle I am fortunate to be able to fish. With so many solid options out there, I hope to be able to guide anyone into an outfit that fulfills your fly fishing dreams.

Jay Nicholas, March 2016

Fluorocarbon and traditional steelhead leader options – are they all good?

 Saying that you are fishing Fluorocarbon is like – well – it is not very informative. There are many Fluoro brands and formulations on the market, and I have only fished a few, but I have learned that they are very VERY different.

Compared to nylon monofilament, Fluorocarbon is:

Denser/harder: this makes is paramount to keep your leader wet and lubricated when tying knots. If you do, your knots will be strong and secure. I sometimes carry a chapstick to lube my knots.

Sink rate – faster: This means that fluorocarbon is not necessarily superior when fishing dry flies, although this is up to you to decide.

Less stretch? Gosh this is a tough one since I have not tested it on fancy machine myself. Whether Fluorocarbon stretches less stretches less than mono is a factor not all reviewers agreed on. I think after reading all the tech info on the Internet that fluorocarbon may indeed stretch as much or more than mono – but its hardness may fool people into thinking that it does not stretch. Honestly, I’m not sure on this one.

Abrasion resistance is generally greater for the hard Fluorocarbon formulas but may be less abrasion resistant in the fluoro that is manufactured to emphasize suppleness and small diameter – depending on the specific product

Less visible –  but this is probably irrelevant except when you are fishing in very clear water.

Equivalent knot strength – as far as I can determine, good Fluorocarbon leader and good knot tying skills yield the same results as if you were using mono.

Superior resistance to UV deterioration – but  this is only seems important if you save spools of leader a long time and it is exposed to light for extended periods.

Less water absorption – compared to mono.

Variable stiffness – whether your Fluorocarbon leader is stiffer or more pliable than mono depends varys greatly between products, just as it does with mono leader.

Higher cost – Your Fluoro leader will cost more than mono.

Best knots to use – Improved clinch, non slip loop, loop knot, double surgeons knot, double uni knot( to join two pieces).

Maxima Ultragreen. This is mono. It is great stuff. It is under labeled. By this I mean that the 12 Lb Maxima is really more like 15 Lb in any other mono. It is thick but tough. This may be my all around all species if it was all I could use leader.

OPST Fluorocarbon. New product, the spools are smaller so they fit in less space, they have great stretchy grips holding the leader. The labels are waterproof –  a unique feature that is really nice. I have used this enough and lost enough flies up in trees and on rocks to be confident that it is indeed strong and durable. No fish landed yet but I think this is a winner.

Rio Salmon Steelhead Mono. This material is new in 2015 and is dependable. Make no mistake however. this 12 LB is actually thinner than the above pictured 12 Lb Maima and is what I would call a true 12 LB. it is not fair to compare this RIO 12 head-to-head with Maxima. I fish this regularly and it is dependable.

Hatch Premium Fluorocarbon. No,   I do not have a micrometer, but I think this material is thinner than the 12 Lb Maxima pictured above and is about the same strength. I fish this material regularly for spring chinook and have complete confidence in it.

Airflo Sightfree Fluorocarbon Salt. New stuff, like the OPST, my experience is limited to break offs in trees and on the river bottom, not on fish. It is tough and as near as I can determine, every measure as dependable as the Hatch Premium Fluorocarbon material. I remain completely baffled at how these manufacturers come up with the decision regarding how they will label the diameter and break strength. They all seem to be drunk as far as I can tell. This AIRFLO Fluorocarbon formula is my choice for steelhead and salmon, not their other fluoro brands, which seem better aligned as trout and small fly leaders (they are softer and more supple).

Rio Fluoroflex Fluorocarbon. This is an old time dependable for my saltwater and salmon/steelhead fishing. I would compare this material very favorably with the Hatch, AIRFLO, and OPST materials. I know this material will not fail me.

Are there some bad brands of Fluoro to avoid when salmon steelhead fishing?

Probably. But each of the mono and fluoro leader options shown in this review have proved themselves to me sufficiently for me to recommend them all without reservation. I am biased. Most anglers are a little weird about their leader choices. Maxima Ultragreen is the tippet I have used more years and have the most experience with. I do remember that I found myself with  several spools of 12 LB Ultragreen that was crappy. It was weak. At least I decided it was after loosing several Chinook. I discarded the spools, and had no problems thereafter. I have also had experiences with hooks over the years when some lots of hooks had improper temper and either bent or broke too easily. Overall, anomalies are rare with lines, leader, and hooks, but anomalies in manufacturing are still possible.

Overall, I’d say that any salmon/steelhead angler should be able to purchase any of the leaders I’ve shown here, and go fishing to decide what you think for yourself. You decide about the diameter in hand versus what it says on the label, You decide whether the labeled strength is real or a marketing strategy.

Me? I’ve got all of these leaders and am happy to tie on any of them when I’m fishing steelhead and salmon.

Hope this helps confirm or clarify whatever suspicions you may have about mono and Fluorocarbon leader materials.

My best to you on the water and at the fly bench.

Jay Nicholas, March 2016