Want to build a switch rod for steelhead. I think I am the only guy left fishing single hand for winter run up here in the great northwest. I will go with the RX7 10'8 and was wondering about the handle build. I will probably use a handle kit. What is the difference between a spey handle and a switch handle. Seems to me it's the length of the fore grip. If so, can't I cut the length off the fore grip on the spey handle kit? I don't care for the batson switch handle kit but see a lot of spey handle kits that fit my wallet and aesthetic preferences. Also, what is the difference between a spey blank and switch blank besides the length? Thanks

It is the length! You can use any handle configuration you like, as long as you can get both hands on the rod, one above the reel and one below. It of course should also be comfortable for single handed casting as well. I strongly suggest you try to borrow a switch rod to fish with at least a couple of times, as many that I fish Steelhead with, built a switch, and after a few times went up to the Spey as the switch is a compromise, and as such really doesn't do either very well!

I just built (2) of the Batson1087-4's and they look and feel great. Guys are using them for shad and stripers here in the James river and are throwing Skagit type line systems, 300-400 grains I believe with a 15' sink stip. I liked them so much I decided to build one for myself. Batson has a great handle system for the switch and highly recommend it. If you go to Batson website you can get a recipe for the blank you are using. Gives you a great starting point for the components and then you can tweak as you like. Have to click on the technical forum button at the top of their page.

For any double handed rod a good place to start is 1 inch for every foot of rod for the forward grip. When I build the Batson I will use a 11-11.5 fore grip and a 4.5-5 inch lower.

If you are using a skagit line a 20.2 ft is money! I use a 372gn for the 7wt and a 305gn for the 5wt. A little less gns for an overhead or scandi line. I have used a 270gn full sink on the 7wt for surf casting with great success. I will toss upto 10ft of zink/t11/T8 with both. Any more than that it gets a bit rough.

Eric