I've been building my own flyrods for about 10 years now., and have largely confined my fishing to trout, bass and pike. Last year I started fishing for Atlantic salmon, and found myself in a few situations where I could use a longer rod.

I was thinking of building a 10 footer, and one suggestion that I got here on the board was to build it as a switch rod. I've built a lot of traditional flyrods, and last year finally picked up a book on spey casting thinking that I might eventually build myself a two hander. Could anyone explain the switch rod concept for me (I assume that it a hybrid one/two hander), and maybe suggest some resources where I could do some research in building one, and how it is cast.

Many thanks!
Troy

Check out Bob Meiser's site. He is a sponsor on this board and a expert on double/single handed rods and casting. He is also a very nice person. He helped me a lot by answering a lot of my questions when I was building a 10 ft switch rod a year ago.

[www.meiserflyrods.com]

Ditto Bob's posting. He helped me with a 12 1/2 footer I built.

Tim

I've built a couple switch rods but am not good or experienced with the two handed casting personally. I used Bob's site and some e-mails from him helped guide me on the handle construction and line selection. I think the keys are finding a suitable blank/line combination and building a functional and comfortable handle. Once you get the rod right, you just have to learn how to use it to your advantage. A moderate to moderate-fast action 10-11' blank with longer than normal grip and 5" rear grip is the basic recipe.

the idea behind a switch rod is that you can eirther use it for single handed casting or two handed casting. it needs to be short enough and light enough for one handed but be useable with two hands as well. i built mine on a 10 foot rainshadow blank. i used a pack bay A8 reel seat and a
5" fighting butt. i removed the cork on the fighting butt and added an extension making it 8". i used a 10" pre made spinning rod handle that i turned down and reshaped as the main handle. works well since the rear handle is removeable.

So now my curiosity is piqued. I wonder, just how good is a switch rod at either single or two-handed casting? Does it suffer in performance compared to either a dedicated 9 footer or a dedicated long rod? I'm wondering if you compromise either ability to get both in one rod?

Well, a dedicated 9' is a better single handed tool than a switch rod. A dedicated 14' Spey rod is a better double-hand tool than a switch rod.

I fish a 10'3" 9/10wt which is set up as a switcher and it really shines at dredging deep runs on the coast rivers out here...matched up with 300-400gr lines, it doesn't tire you out like a single hander might, but it's small enough that I don't constantly bang it into trees, brush, etc like you might with a big Spey rod. I couldn't find a Spey line that the rod liked-- even a 5/6 Windcutter was a bit long...it wanted to fish about a 35' head, and the 'cutter is 43' or so. I ended up using a Anadromous Advantage running line (5' belly) and adding 30' tips to it.

I've also done the same setup with a 11'0" 5wt blank, for fishing our little searun cutthroat. That's really more a Spey rod, though...I never overhand cast it (it'd probably blow up, LOL).

If you're really just looking for a longer reach and a bit more distance, a 10'0" or 10'6" single handed rod should get the job done.

Seems like you've missed out on a couple steps of most folks' progression to the switch rod concept:

9'0" = It's too short to roll cast, mend, control line, etc. (then)
10'0"= It's great for that, but I'd really like to do two-handed stuff (then)
Spey (13-14')= Gosh, I can throw the line a mile two-handed, but the streams I fish are really not that big where I'd need to do that. (then)
10'6" Switch rod= Hmm, this does everything that I want a rod to do (OR: this does nothing well, I prefer _____).




Scott Kinney
The Longest Cast Fly Rods
[www.thelongestcast.com]

I have built only one switch rod, an 8 weight on a 10' Dan Craft FT blank, so I really don't know what I'm talking about; but here's my thoughts based on two days of fishing it. First, I built the rod with the idea it would primarily be a single handed rod, and only occasionally fished as a two hander. The fixed butt is 3.75" long. I used a Struble U15 seat, and a long main grip of 10.5". (The butt and grip lengths were chosen after an exchange of email with Bob Meiser, who really is a great help and resource.) I ended up with 10 guides.

I used the rod on the Skeena River outside Terrace, B.C. The technique in that part of the river is short casts with lead core heads ranging in length from 8' to 15'. As a single handed rod it was very powerful and it threw a very long line with the LC13 heads. (The guides kept telling me to shorten my casts, because I was casting beyond the fish.) With a two handed cast the rod did not work well with the heads, so I reverted to my standard rods. I finally tried a long belly floating line with the rod on the second day, and that improved the two-handed casting. From this I conclude that the choice of line is a very important part of the switch rod concept. I cannot make a line recommendation, however.

To answer your question, based on my limited experience the rod does not suffer as a single hander by reason of the longer butt and grip. In fact I used the front of the grip as a fore grip while landing fish. I am no spey caster, but I cannot see how a switch rod could match a longer rod. What it does offer is versatility; and in the case of the four piece FT it is much easier for air travel. Never one to give up, I am going to build a 10’ 10 weight on an FT for my steelhead trip this year.

Switch rods are amazingly effective, and diverse fishing / delivery tools.

....But like any fly rod <> Regardless of them being single or two handed: The blank tapers must be designed correctly to perform the required tasks, and they must be married to the correct lines to maximize their delivery and fishing capabilities.

RB Meiser Fly Rods pioneered the switch rod concept, and we have totally perfected it.

We have 14 blanks from 3/4 wt to 10/11 wt with grain widows of 150 to 750 grains <> 10'6" to 11'6" in length, all available in 4 pc, some available in 5 pc....In two speed of recovery rates: Fast and fast/medium fast. All progressive tapers.

We do also have an entire series of floating lines with interchangeable tips, Skagit style shooting heads with interchangeable tips, and full sink full float shooting heads <> All specifically designed for these rods, and availble for either cold fresh and salt, or warm salt water applications.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the shop and we can direct you towards the correct blanks and line marriages to meet your exact applications.

Bob Meiser <> RB Meiser Fly Rods