I'm disabled and like to fish from the creek bank. I would like a longer rod to help get over brush and roots. I'm looking at the lamiglass XMG 50 9wt 4 piece blank. They are said to be extra fast to "ultra fast" so it would be about a moderate action spinning rod I would guess. I know the warrenty won't be good but thats not a concern. Mostly I was wanting some feedback on what weight lures this rod would cast.

Has anyone set up a "heavy" rod like this as a "spin/fly"? I know its done with lighter rods but never hear of it done with a 9 wt before. Hey its late and my mind is running wild here hahahah. I could put two reelseats on it. one for the fly and one for a spinning rod. Now that would be so cooooooool!

Any comments about how screwy this idea is please fire away! Thanks! Love this site. Billy Russell out!

Billy,

f I'm understanding the conversions correctly (divide the line weight rating by 16), a 9 wt. rod would rate for 1/2 to 5/8 oz. lures. Fairly stout, but maybe right depending on your terminal rig. Rather than 2 reel seats, how about a long (12"-16") Tennessee style handle? Used in Europe quite a lot on the long rods, and would give you good leverage for casting, as well as allowing you to put the reel wherever you want it. If you use spinning guides for your build, the rod will be a tad slower than an equivalent fly rod build due to the extra weight, but probably not so much so as to be a problem.

The trouble with that formula, is that it assumes that fly rod makers all build their 4-weights (or any other weight) to a particular power standard. They don't.

It might work as Peter suggests, but it may be much more powerful than that as most modern 9-weight rods are made to cast 4-weight lines at much more than 30 to 40 feet. Don't be surprised if it takes a good 3/4 ounce of lure weight to get much distance.

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Haven't used or CC'd that particular blank, but my other Lamiglas rods, incuding a XMG50 9 ft 6 in 7 wt and 9 ft 8 wt are pretty close to the line rating when CC'd. Steelhead rods that carry a line/lure rating that Peter and Tom mentioned usually CC in the 11 to 15 wt fly blank range.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2009 03:17PM by Spencer Phipps.

I did that exact thing with an Amtak Matrix AMF908-4, which CC'd around ERN of 10 and AA of 70. I use it to cast bass lures sometimes and to flip out light stuff in the surf. I would say it works very well with things in the 1/2 ounce range. You are correct that it is not as fast as a spinning blank, but it works well for what I built it to be.

I would opt for a 6 or 7 weight. I did a spinning rod a while back with a 8 ft 5 wt fast action blank and it does very well with 1/32 to 1/8 ounce jigs with spinners. if you are going after panfish I would expect a extra fast 9 wt would be a little heavy. I have a fast 9' 9 wt and it is almost impossible to fish for bluegill with because it sends the smaller fish flying through the air with even the slightest hook set with a 9 wt fly line, take the line weight out of the equation and it would be VERY stiff.