Hi All:

I did some streamer fishing for the first time this year and really enjoyed it. As a winter project I plan to build a dedicated streamer rod and would like your input and suggestions. I've been using my St. Croix 8' SCII and it seemed to work reasonably well.

What blank characteristics make a good streamer rod. Length, line weight, action, CCS data, other?

Typical waters are small to medium rivers, usually 40' or less from bank to bank. Typical casting distance is 25' or less. A large brown is about 16", with typical (for me, anyway) around 10". Using sinking line and #6 or 8 streamers. Short leader. Lot of roll casting.

I would like for this rod to excel with streamers, even if it won't do anything else worth a hoot. Purely a dedicated streamer rod. I'm really trying to learn exactly what characteristics make for a good streamer rod.

Thanks,
Rob

I have found that the best line weight for fishing strictly streamers is a 7 weight. Beyond that I would say the rest is up to your personal tastes. I would stay at about 8 feet, give or take a half a foot.

Hey Rob,

I would suggest you step up to a 9 foot rod since the extra length will make it a lot easier to roll cast and make mends.

I believe the SCII is the blank the avid series rods are made from. If that's the case I would probably step up to a slightly faster action, but not too much faster. I find that a moderate to moderate-fast action rod actually casts heavy lines and streamers better than a fast action rod. This is because when casting heavy lines you need to slow down your casting stroke to keep your line and fly from hitting the rod and the slower action rod will load better with this slower, larger casting arc giving you smoother power delivery for better, more comfortable casting.

As for line weights: with #6-8 flies casting an average of 25' a 5 or 6 weight should work fine. I typically fish streamers from size #4-8 on my 9 foot 5/6 with a 6 weight line and I've caught a lot of 12-22 inch trout, and several Kokanee up to 5-6 pounds or so with this set up.

Another hint that made streamer fishing more enjoyable for me was to use a sinking leader. You can get them in several different lengths and sink rates. The one I use is a 10' super fast sinking leader from Rio that just loops to the end of my floating fly line. They're a lot easier to cast than full sinking or long sink tip lines and they have no trouble getting to the bottom of the rivers I usually fish.

Mark

A year ago, I picked up a broken St. Croix Avid 906-2 on @#$%& for about $30. There was only an inch broken off the tip. I lopped off the handle with my Dremel and stripped and rebuilt the rod as an 8'1" rod with an ERN of 6.76 and an AA of 65. I fish it with a 7wt. line and it can throw a big Clouser or large, weighted wooly bugger no problem. Really outstanding rod. So good, in fact, I would buy the 3F906 blank from St. Croix and cut it up if I needed to replace it.

For smaller streamers and fish, I like a rod about 8' to 8'6" with an ERN in the 4.0 range. My go to rod for this type fishing is the St. Croix 4F864. The tip is a little soft but it's great and if I ever break 2-3" off the tip it will probably be perfect. Just can't bring myself to take the Dremel to such an excellent rod.

I recently built the Five Rivers FT863-4 and it's great too. I fish it with a 4-7wt. line and it can getter done!

Streamers are my bread and butter. I love fishing streamers. Probably because I loved ultralight spinning before I got into flyfishing 20 years ago. 1/16 oz. Panther Martin vs. stripped wooly bugger - there ain't a whole helluva lot of difference.

Steve

I should say that the 4F864 is no longer available (4pc. model is a totally different animal) and I hear the SCIII is not long for this world. No matter, if I had the 3F816/7-2 (my own model number; see post above), the 4F864 and the FT863-4 all stolen on the same day, I would have no problem replacing the FT863-4 and it's probably the most versatile of the 3 rods I mentioned. It can pretty much do it all in freshwater. When I travel, and can only take one rod, I take the FT863-4 and a 5 or 6wt. line (the do-it-all line weights).

I think that if you come from a spinning background, a fast action fly rod is a fine streamer rod. If you are used to flyfishing and flyfishing only, setting the hook on a fast action fly rod takes a little practice. Just move the rod less on the hookset and you will be fine.

Thanks for the replies, guys. It gives me some ideas. I think I'll look for a blank about 8' 6" in the 5/6 foot range.

Steve, you hit the nail on the head with your spinning analogy. The very reason I enjoy streamers is it reminds me of tossing a rooster tail with my ultralight spin outfit back in the old days. I went to school in the mountains and every opportunity I had when the weather was above 50 degrees, I headed to the Watauga, Doe or Nolichucky to toss a rooster tail. Streamer fishing has the fly cast that I enjoy with the similar method of working it as the spin.

I have been fishing streamers with the SC Imperial 8ft. 4wt. and found it a little hard to get a sinking line up and out of the water and moving. It does it, just takes a lot of effort and movement on my part. I couldn't tell if it was the slow action rod, the shorter length or the rod was undersized for the use. From your responses it seems the 4wt. doesn't have the backbone needed. Seems I need something a little faster in action, as well.

Thanks for your help. Now to pour through the CCS data and catalogs!

Later,
Rob