After reading the article on two handed rods in the latest Rodmaker it got me thinking. Happens every now and then, ha ha. Anyway living in central NC and most of our streams being small ther's not much of a call for these longer type rods. But then the New River struck my mind. It's a true large river in my eyes and mostly fished for smallmouth bass. I'm wandering if there's any body out there that has used one of these type rods for bronze backs, especially in my neck of the woods?

Sammy,
I live just a short distance from the South Umpqua in Southern Oregon.

About 30 or 40 years ago to the best that any one can fiqure, the Umqua river system was moonlight stocked with Smallies, and they have done VERY well ! The Umqua river has now become a Smallmouth destination fishery for folks from all over the west.

Many of the guys that fish this river, including myself, use double handers because the bankside riparian is thick, and Spey casts are the perfect presentation. Most of the rods that we use for this are under 12 feet, our small river Summer Steelhead rods...6/7 or 7/8 weights.

Many guys are also learning the "single-hand spey" cast, using shorter rods, and balanced weight forward lines. Jim Vincent / Simon Gawesworth has a great video out called" International Spey Casting", and Simon demonstrates the single hand "Turbo Spey" cast. In it he uses a 9' 6/7 weight I beleive...The cast is awesome, and has tons of applications.

Two handed or single hand spey casts are awesome, and there is advantage to these presentations on any river, regardless of the fish your after !!!

Bob Meiser