Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Surf casting / Two handed rod advice

i surf fished SD to SF coast like mad man.  The OPAL is an absolutely cannon when paired with the serum line. i tried spey, single hand, switch but the  two hand overhead is really the only way to go.You are casting a ton of weight, with heavy leader/tippet, and always against the wind. So the game is to get to the troughs which is usually 50 to 75/100 feet out. In the surf you never want to be more than ankle deep. Ankle deep in the middle of night becomes chest deep really quickly even in a calm sea. So you really need the distance.

Watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1mHmsCT_CQ

Or check out the surf fishing blogs on Lost Coast Outfitters. This shop in SF is  great. They really surf fish and know what they are talking about. 

On Monday, August 28, 2023 at 10:35:52 AM UTC-4 Augie Ripa wrote:
It's really fun to use. One thing I should clarify that I don't think I mentioned in my post: this rod is designed for overhead casting. I think this is why the line weight is more like a one handed rod than a two handed.  I think echo would say it's in a relatively small category of two hander overhead specific rods.  I also looked at the Buehla Opal which seems very nice, but was more than twice the price.  

I am definitely going to use it to experiment with some basics Spey technique and it does seem to roll cast well.  But I think if this was your primary goal, there are other roads out there.


On Aug 28, 2023, at 10:03 AM, tperkins <thomas....@gmail.com> wrote:

Super interesting! Just started playing around with my clearwater 8wt switch using various lines I already have kicking around. My Rio (?) Tarpon line which I believe is an 11 wt and 425 grains works pretty well, now just working on technique. But that Echo rod seems pretty sweet! 


On Saturday, August 26, 2023 at 3:11:37 PM UTC-4 Augie Ripa wrote:
I picked up an Echo Boost Beach as a way to test this out.  12'2" 8wt.  It is setup to load on about a 300 grain line, so closer to normal rod "weight" to line pairings than your normal Spey rods designed for scandi or skagit head and seem to want much heavier/longer line for their rod "weight".   A lot of those 8wt seem to be in the 450-550 grain zone.
This was an easy way to test a 2h out in the same reel I use for my regular 1h 8wt.  

I'm suing the Rio striper line, 350 grains w a shooting head/fast sink style.  It is really fun, I had a good time casting out through the wind and chop and it is so much fun to use.  I can't wait to try it with my floating line on the Potomac actually.  Got skunked but that is what it is; still great fun.




On Aug 26, 2023, at 1:12 PM, 'Todd Ringler' via Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders <tidal-potoma...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Sweet! LCO are the best. They were terrific in helping me pick out the Sage X Switch. Had no idea that they were putting their brand on rods. Let's know how it goes!


On Aug 26, 2023, at 11:14 AM, Steve Burnett <steven.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just got my beach rod from LCO https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/products/lost-coast-outfitters-surf-fly-rod-ocean-beach?variant=32740635508796 the other day and plan on testing it out either this weekend or over LaborDay.

On Wednesday, August 9, 2023 at 4:59:29 PM UTC-4 Todd Ringler wrote:
Rick Kustich's new book — Modern Spey — includes sections on using two-handers for overhead casting. He uses this approach almost exclusively for musky fishing. Highly recommend the book. 

I got the Sage X for surf casting. I put the Rio Outbound Max intermediate on it to cut through the chop. Worked fine. Ended up dong a lot more Spey fishing with it. Both Spey and surf are kind of doing the same thing—throwing a lot of weight with no false casting. To do this, need a stiff tip to lift the line off the water and a softer mid section so mere morals can cast it. 

——————

On Aug 7, 2023, at 07:43, alan burrows <aburr...@gmail.com> wrote:

A few years ago I met a guy while fishing for stripers on Cape Cod.  He was using a spey rod and was casting quite a long way.


On Sunday, August 6, 2023 at 4:46:48 PM UTC-4 Augie wrote:
Thanks Ken.  Makes sense.  I guess my main question is: do people think a rod that is meant for actual spey casting is going to be useful in a surf application (eg at the beach do people like to spey cast, or does it not really work so well there), or would two hander that is more oriented towards a overhead cast (basically a bigger more powerful version of what I already do) be a better bet?  I understand the former to usually flex more down the rod to maintain tension and load through the traditional spey cast, whereas the ladder is a stiffer and faster rod design to fling overhead with a back cast.  I love the idea of getting into spey casting, I just don't want to get a rod designed for it if that actually is not a great option in the surf.




On Sunday, August 6, 2023 at 4:29:07 PM UTC-4 Ken Fugate wrote:
You can cast a single hand line (WF or DT) with a spey rod.  Go up two or three line weights, i.e. 6 weight spey would use a 8 or 9 weight single hand line.  The two handles will make the casting long distances in the wind more effective.

You can also use a Skagit/Scandi head as a shooting head.  With a good double haul the line will shoot a long distance.  I've done this with switch rods. 40 years ago I used to fish with single hander 8 weight with shooting heads for west coast steelhead.

Ken

On Sun, Aug 6, 2023 at 10:59 AM Augie <augie...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hey everyone, interested in any advice or experience re: two handed rods for surfcasting.

I currently really like to surf fish for schoolie stripers and on the fly I use an 9' 8wt weight one-handed rod, throwing closures or similar.  This rod is also great for just about everything around here which is why I bought it (from Dan Davala in about 2008, when he was telling me about this Google group he was planning on starting!).  It's great for estuaries and light beach conditions. 

But I'd like something heavier duty for throwing longer in wind and surf.

I'm looking at two handed rods.  It seems like the options are a stiff two handed overhead casting rod (like an Echo beach boost on the budget end) or a rod marketed more as a Spey option, of which there are many and also probably has more flex to do a traditional Spey cast.

Any thoughts / experience on which type of option is the better bet?  I'm open to doing / learning Spey casting for sure but not if it wouldn't be useful for the reason I'm buying this rod:  east coast striper fishing on surf.  On the other hand, if Spey would work great on surf and be usable here that is perhaps even better (I get the sense these stiff  overhead 2h beach rods would not be ideal on Potomac).

The bottom line is, I love fishing my 8wt but it just gets a little overwhelmed on a windy day when there is a decent amount of chop in the water.  So thinking about adding to the stable and just want to pick the right thing.






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