Buying a Salmon Rod

[nant_fisher]

 After that outing on the Awe I'm fairly hooked on salmon fishing and I'm thinking of treating myself to a new rod. Any suggestions on what to get?

[Clan Ford]

Hi Robbie,

Don't do it!  Salmon fishing is the route to poverty!  However, as with all fishing it all depends on what you want to spend and what suits your "style".  By far, the rod with the best reviews at the cheapest price is a Shakespere Oracle IV (4 piece, 15ft).  It proabaly comes in at about ?65.  The next up set of rods is a big hike in price all over ?250 and by all acounts some not as good as the Oracle :shock:  Makes to look out for are the Bruce and Walker (Norway is my fav), Guideline (Le Cie) and I hear good things about Reddington and Fulling Mill.  I use a Daiwa "Altmor" - discountinued now but good rods.  There are plenty more to choose from, just like trout rods, try before you buy, if possible.

Norm

[zeolite]

What Norm said is absolutely spot on. There is no point in buying anything more expensive than an Oracle unless you are buying a Bruce and Walker. Do you have an idea what size you want?
A Magnum 200D is the cheapest reel that I would buy now but if you can get a deal on a Koma or President they are OK. Summits are crap.
Can you get casting lessons? These are essential I would say. Learn to cast with a sinking line too. it isn't really that difficult but the way some go on about it you would think it was like olympic pole vault.

[nant_fisher]

Not entirely sure what size i want. I think the one i was using on monday was a 15ft thing but i couldn't be certain. The oracle looks like a really good deal. I might just go for that. There are probably some deals somewhere where i can get a reel with with it.

Cheers

Robbie

[The General]

Try John Norris.  I got my deal on the Oracle from there and the rod is well thought of up here in Inverness.   The B/W
Norway is by far and away the most popular rod here also for those that step up the finances available when they
take it really seriously.   Young Murray on this site put all my line out on the Oracle!!!  Mind you his mate is
Gordon Armstrong.

Davie

[Malcolm]

A few things come to mind:
•   What sort of rivers do you intend to fish? On small rivers a long rod isn't terribly useful. On my local river which I fish very frequently I would normally fish single handed rods. If the river is up a bit I would uses my 11ft one and a half handed rod. The 10.5 footer below would be the ideal all round rod on my local river. http://www.fishinglessons.co.uk/beulahswitchrods.
•   How strong are you? Be honest! The longer and more powerful the rod the quicker you will tire. Most men would be able to use a 14 foot all day. Crawford Little wrote a powerful argument for making your standard rod a 14 footer. If you are lightly built a 15 footer can be very hard work.


In my humble opinion it's better to start with a shorter lighter rod and learn to use it well. So I would plump for no more than a 14 footer.

Here's my local river for comparison BTW:

[haresear]

All good advice (especially "don't do it").

I have heard great things about the Oracle. I use a 14 foot Guideline myself and that would be a good size for the Awe and OK for the Orchy. As Zeolite says, some casting lessons would be a wise investment as the double hander and spey casting is a different animal entirely from standard overhead stuff with the wee rod.

Alex

[zeolite]

Not wishing to confuse the issue but I am not convinced about the smaller rods being any easier to use. My wife is 5'1" and prefers a 15' to the 13' Oracle I bought her. (I could put out a decent line with that wee Oracle) She says the extra length helps her lift more line out of the water. (sunk line in particular) She reckons that it is easier to lift the line into the air before casting than to cast it from the surface.
So I would say if the rivers warrant a 15' then just get one and learn to cast it properly. Unlike a trout rod where you can get away with a poor technique with a double hander it just won't work until you master the basics. Having said that I am no expert and I don't fish enough to keep a decent techniqe but I have been given enough basic tuition to get a line out and more importantly I know how to work into a rythymn which is what lets you fish all day. If you strain it will murder your muscles. As a gillie on the Tay told me "None of that trout flicking pal. It's a man's rod you got there!"
Watch ebay for salmon lines Rio,Gordon and Evans are all good. I have heard the Airflo inters are good as well.

[Allan Crawford]

If I had to choose one rod size it would a be a 15ft 10/11, the latest rods are very light, or if getting close to retirement a 14ft 10 as Ally Gowans points out. You will want to cast large and heavy flies, hence heavy fly lines and longer rods.  Fishing sink tip or fully sinking flylines the longer rod helps in casting these lines and better for line control and mending. Even on small rivers the longer rod helps, I've caught salmon with 3 yards of line out, using the length of the rod to work the fly, especially in the necks of pools. Most of the salmon I've caught from smaller rivers have been when in spate and again the longer rod helps. A 15ft rod is large enough for a day on the biggest rivers, though regular fishers may want a 16ft or longer. I have 7 year old B & W Norway 15ft 10/11, the latest versions feel lighter but there are lots of good rods to choose from and a famous casting instruction told me he thought most of the better rods had developed a similiar action. For the last couple of years I've also used a Greys GRXi 13ft (I got a cheap deal on it), which casts my 8&9 weight trout lines, but I use this rod in small spate rivers instead of single handed rods, finding the longer rod gives me more control of the line and better roll and spey casts.

Give some thought to buying a fly line at least as important as which rod, again it depends on where your fishing but in general, if new to spey casting and buying your first spey line go for a shorter head length say 50' to 65' and try a polyleader. A standard DT is still a good choice for spey/overhead casting and general fishing plus a bit cheaper.

[Malcolm]

Not wishing to confuse the issue but I am not convinced about the smaller rods being any easier to use. My wife is 5'1" and prefers a 15' to the 13' Oracle I bought her.

There may be an article for Fish Wild waiting to come out here! The truth is I doubt if you'll ever get agreement, just as you'd never get agreement on the best all round trout rod.

For me the point is that it's horses for courses. If most of your fishing is on a wee spate river with floating lines then I'd rather have a little rod. If you fish on a big powerful river in Spring or Autumn then a big rod has definite advantages. I don't object to heavy rods where necessary - I probably fish with heavier tackle than most when it's called for - but I'd much rather fish with light gear. FWIW I hardly ever use my 15 footer much preferring a longer more powerful stick for big water or a lighter one for the wee summer rivers. If I absolutely had to plump for one rod to fit everything I'd choose a 14 footer. The word on the river BTW is that the best cheap rod is the Oracle. Once you go beyond this then you'll be paying about ?250 for a rod on, say, a Harrison blank.

One other thing is that there are different casting styles. The Scandinavians use fast actioned generally shorter rods for use with weight forward and shooting head lines (Alex, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the Guideline fall into this category?). British speycasters will often favour a longer and much slower actioned rod and some of the rods on older blanks by Hardy and Bruce and Walker are still sought after.

Anyway I'm off to the river for a couple of hours. I'll either be spinning or fishing the big rod (17ft AFTM #12/13) but it'll be back into the cupboard by the end of April and won't be out again until late autumn. 

Many casting instructors will provide you with tackle that you can try out - it's worth asking.