Snake River Outfitters Great Lake Switch Rod

After talking with Lee Davidson from Snake River Outfitters for over a month about the new switch rod prototype I was very excited to get the rod in and get it out on the water.  In the past we’ve only reviewed final products, so the fact that this rod was a prototype was a slightly different feeling.  Out of the sleeve the rod looked great, I liked the clean and “business” look that most prototype rods have.   Score: 8/10

This rod had one very distinguishing feature from the other switch rods I have fished.  It features a removable fighting butt that was slightly longer than the fighting butts and second hand grips of other switch rods, which was a huge plus in my book.  My biggest complaint against some switch rods is that they don’t have a large enough second grip to facilitate two-handed casting—this was definitely not the case with this rod.  The design of the top grip was very nice as well—comfortable to grip and easy to fish all day.  Score: 8/10

This rod really excels at fighting fish—there’s no way around it.  The length and stiffness of the blank allowed me to horse fish out of situations where they might have otherwise broken me off.  On consecutive fish the stiffness of the rod allowed me to steer a fish away from a submerged stump, and then pull one out of a tailout when it headed in to the fast current of the riffle below.

            The extra length of the switch rod (the Great Lakes Switch with the fighting butt extension measures in at 10’8”) was great for getting leverage and extreme angles on some particularly persistent fish.

            I also like casting the rod single handed without the fighting butt—although I didn’t fish it by itself I found the action consistent with many high end fast action saltwater rods.  The switch measures in as a 10/11 weight single hand rod—a great and economical choice for anyone that does both saltwater and steelhead fishing. Score: 8/10

The removable fighting butt makes this rod applicable in many different situations.  By allowing anglers to choose between two different types of casting (spey and overhead) this rod gives anglers the ultimate choice when they are looking for versatility in a switch rod for our area. 

            As mentioned earlier the rod was a little bit on the heavy side—which called for bigger and heavier lines—but also made turning over heavy T-14 sink tips a breeze.  Although this might be overkill on some of the smaller streams in our area it is undoubtedly a great asset on bigger water, even as big as the St. Joe, and Michigan’s Muskegon and Big Manistee.  This rod could do everything that a 9’ 11wt could do, while also accomplishing the spey casts I would normally make with a 13’ two hander.  Score: 9/10

I’ve fished prototypes in the past where I could immediately tell that the rod was hastily thrown together.  This wasn’t the case with the Great Lakes switch. At no time during the review process did I get the feeling that this rod wouldn’t hold up to heavy duty everyday use.  Score: 9/10

I’d say that Snake River Outfitters is well on their way to developing a great switch rod for our area, especially for those fishermen who like to fight fish quickly and fish a powerful rod.  I really liked the versatility of the rod and how the removable fighting butt allowed me to switch from single to double hand application with no trouble at all.  I can see this rod becoming a huge hit with destination anglers in our region who love to fish a two hander at home, but at times require a heavy stick for their fishing destinations.  Keep an eye out for this rod to hit the market—it’s going to be a good one.  Score: 9/10

Overall this product scored a 51/60 on our review scale, an “awesome” product.

 Again flyandfloatfishing.com has had the privilege of interacting with another quality company and quality individuals—Sean and I both agree that Lee and Nancy of Snake River Outfitters (www.snakeriveroutfitters.com/) were nothing but awesome to interact with throughout this review process.  Check out their website for some cool spey and general fishing tips, and make sure to look at the online fly shop as well where this rod can be purchased. It is custom built specific for our waters!!!

Review	Scale	Points	Overall Grade
	scale 0-10
First Impression		8
Design		8	51/60
Performance		8
Functionality		9
Durability		9
Quality		9
Max Points	60		AWESOME!
Total Points		51

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