I Want Somethin’ Else

It’s almost sunup on a cool morning towards the end of March.  I step in to the stream, look across the run and see the money seam on the far side—I sigh to myself.  With the distance that seam is from me and the complicated mends involved it’s going to be nearly impossible to fish it the way I want to.  It just isn’t physically possible.  Too bad, because there’s definitely a couple of fish hanging out just off that ledge over there.

            It was time to swing the boulder in the tailout of a productive run—the place that always holds the fresh fish as soon as they make their way in to this stretch of river.  I look behind me—threading the cast between the maze of trees and brush was going to be difficult.  My focus shifts back to the stream, I pull back, and the tension on the line lessens as the line shoots backward—I pause, and start my forward cast.  It stops abruptly; damn, I turn around to find my fly caught in a mess of brush.  There was no way that cast was going to work, but regardless, it had to be attempted.  I went back to retrieve my rig, and growing increasingly frustrated that I was going to have to cross the river to fish that particular steelhead hold.

            Anglers all over the Great Lakes will encounter situations where the abilities of a traditional two-handed rod are required, but the situation renders them unusable.  From the first-day beginner to the guide who’s seen it all, anglers have been coveting something more than just a single hander, but less than the traditional spey rod.

            Salvation? A switch rod—a cross between single hander and a “spey” rod that would give me the ability to make the casts I wanted to make while doing it in a compact and space efficient frame that made sense for the rivers I was fishing.  It would allow me to fish far seams, close boulders, sink tips, and indicator rigs all with one rod. 

Fly rod manufacturers have heard my prayers—all over the country switch rods are entering mass production.  Major rod producers such as Scott, Sage, CND, Beulah, Meiser, and many others have ushered in this new technology by making them headline pieces in new lines of rods. This purpose of this article is to tell you why you should get them out of local shops, and in to your hands. 

What They Are

            Since switch rods are a combination of the traditional very popular one hand rod and the equally as old, but not as popular spey rod.  However, I’m going to argue that a switch rod is much more closely related to the modern spey rod instead of the common single-handed stick. 

            The first argument for this comparison is based off of the construction of the rod.  If you’ve ever seen a switch rod before, you might have mistaken it for a spey rod.  The long foregrip and noticeable rear grip are almost mirror images of the grips found on switch rods’ big brother.  The presence of these large grips allows anglers to conduct both underhand casting as well as overhead casts with ease. The second major similarity is the weight of line needed to properly load the road is very similar between spey and switch rods, whereas much different for a like-rated single hand rod.  The longer and stiffer rods require much more force to flex and load, therefore the lines used are often much heavier and typically thicker to encompass the weight. Switch rods provide the benefits of a spey rod, with the enhanced capability of allowing an angler to cast overhead as well.

            Switch rods are an amazing tool for situations where the characteristics of a two hander are required, but certain specifics won’t allow or don’t need that extra length.  They excel at throwing short and heavy lines—the same lines that are a perfect match with sinking material (such as T-8, T-14, or LC-13) required for optimizing swinging our Great Lakes streams.

            In my opinion one of the most distinguishing aspects of switch rods over single handers is their ability to enhance an angler’s capability for fighting fish.  The unique combination of sensitivity and backbone is unprecedented and provides anglers with a much better tool to take the fight to the fish.  The slightly longer length of these rods also provides anglers with a more powerful lever capable of putting more extreme and more effective angles on fish.  Combine these characteristics with a grip that allows anglers to use both hands and you have your ultimate fish fighting tool that poses a problem to any species of fish in virtually every situation.

What They Are Not

            They’re a lot like spey rods, but don’t expect them to carry the load of your Alaska king rod or your Thompson special.  Switch rods aren’t designed to carry enormous grain weight loads, or make ridiculously long casts.  These short and compact two-handers excel at casting short belly and shooting head type lines and simply don’t carry medium or long belly lines well. 

            Another enormous source of confusion for the Great Lakes area is found in the name itself.  The mainstream definition of a switch rod has nothing to do with centerpinning or spin fishing—just with fly fishing.  A switch rod will allow you to change your fly fishing techniques—from nymphing to swinging to overhead casting or vice versa but not necessarily from fly fishing to another technique.  These types of rods have enormous crossover potential in this area, but when you’re looking to buy one realize that it’s been designed for fly fishing.

Why You Should Have One

            Fishing in the great lakes is a challenge—anglers are faced with one of the most diverse fisheries in the world.  From the spate streams of New York, to the tailwaters of Michigan, to the cold and clear freestoners of Wisconsin the Great Lakes steelheader has an incredibly amount of water to fish.  These rivers range in size from the small creeks that you could reach across with your rod, to the mighty Big Manistee and Muskegon of Michigan which are most effectively fished from the confines of a drift or jet boat.

            Owning a switch rod provides anglers with a rod that is capable of effectively fishing almost all these streams with a wide variety of techniques—you can swing, you can dead drift, you can spey cast, you can overhand cast—the possibilities are endless.  In a switch rod you have a tool that you can effectively fish on big and small water that combines the positive aspects of power, feel, fish fighting ability, and application of both single and double handed rods.

-Brett McCrae

 brett@flyandfloatfishing.com

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