I’ve been fishing ECHO’s Boost Beach Rod, the 7 wt, for a few months now. This is a great rod that Tim has, far as I’m concerned, hit it out of the park.
I’ve fished this rod with both #7 and #8 Airflo Beach lines – I’ve also fished it with a RIO outbound and a Cortland Blitz 350 gr line. I’ve fished the Boost Beach in the estuary and in the ocean from dory boats. Marty Sheppard casts this rod with a sustained anchor, but I use an overhead cast. Marty makes it look easy, and I’m sure I could also if I really tried to.
I’ve caught spring chinook in the estuary on the Boost Beach; silvers in the ocean, black rockfish and lingcod in the ocean.
Marty and Mia Sheppard on Kevin’s dory – Marty fishing the ECHO Boost Beach rod.
The 7 wt Boost Beach is 12 ft 1 in long and the price is a shocker in a good way.
Advantages of the Boost Beach? This rod is a genuine advantage when I’m estuary casting in a wind. This rod allows me to cast without smacking myself in the head with a Clouser. The long length of the rod makes fighting a fish a ton of fun because you REALLY get a bend in the rod and it will cushion your leader from sudden surges by the fish.
I would recommend this rod highly for anyone fishing from the beach, especially, because it will get your back cast up over the grass, rocks, sand, oysters, and what not behind you.
My biggest trouble with this rod is figuring out what size fish I should be targeting with the 7 wt. I’ve caught sea run cutthroat of 12 – 16 inches on the rod and felt that the fish were not at all overpowered.
I’ve also caught 6 pound silvers and 10 pound spring chinook and didn’t feel like I was under-gunned. I’m convinced that this is a striper and sea-run and surf perch rod. It darn sure is a black bass and lingcod rod.
Thanks to Kevin for hosting us all on your dory!
My single reservation is that the hook set on larger fish should be accomplished with a strip set and not with a trout-set. I have not had a problem with setting a hook with this rod, because I have not had a grab from a big king on this rod. Simply stated, I think the rod is not stiff enough to set into a bony mouth on a lift the rod trout set.
I should also note that I prefer to fish lines that are far heavier than ECHO recommends for this rod series. In practical terms this means that you could probably fish a number of lines and do not need to obsess over the precise gr wt of the line you spool on your reel when you fish this rod.
I’m available to answer any questions you may have about the ECHO Boost Beach rod – in my opinion this is a great fly rod for multiple purpose use and offered at a great price too.
Jay Nicholas – October 2017
