[Derek Roxborough]

when I was an inshore fisherman I used to catch pollach with a small  fly  made of red game hackles, about a size 4 or 6,I noticed these pollach were feeding on large sea slaters, I was catching for creel bait,and the flies/lures were sort of sea slaterish, I have no need to buy any more rods so I use my 5wt with an Airflo 40+5/6 inter,  I can get a decent line out with it,  to each his own, I have used this over on the west coast of the US fishing from the beach where my son lives, there is a chance of catching steelhead there, I use a size 6 SS hook for my sea flies,    easgach 1

[Euan Innes]

Thanks for that Easgach.
I have had a couple of ideas ratting around my head for a couple of days for a less flashy fly and you have now added to the thought process.
Did you find that Pollock would come up to the top three feet of water to take a fly? I was always under the impression that I had to get really deep to get the big Pollock.

 

[Marc Fauvet]

Marc, that is exactly what my 9' #9 does 

ok, but you're talking about girly 90' casts. i'm talking about 150' or more with less physical effort than the girly 90'er 

anyhow, i'll continue. not to be telling you or anyone what to do  but just to get some info out for the group.

"I always thought that a switch rod was meant to overhead and spey with a line designed to do both so when you are on a rocky out crop and can only overhead cast why would an extra 2.5' and a lighter line be a benefit?"
nobody serious (meaning, someone who really knows what they're talking about as opposed to those who play the Telephone Game) ever said that the same line would perform equally well for both both aerial and Speys. they can't, end of story. that's what extra spools and extra lines are for ! 
an experienced caster will get away with just about any line but optimum peformance won't happen with the same line.

"The other reason that I prefer a #9 is that it handles a big Clouser fairly easily, something that a #6 might not."
yup, pretty obvious and couldn't agree more  a heavier fly will be a LOT easier to cast with a heavier line to pull it. it's just common sense.

since most here will relate to fresh water examples better, a good example of this is Skagit shooting head gear that very easily casts
very big and very heavy flies and super-fast sink tips. they shine at this because that's what they're designed to do.
take that same very big and heavy fly and attach it to a Skandi line and things won't go well at all...

and yes, longer rods will always outdistance shorter rods. when was the last time you saw a 9' beachcaster or carping gear rod ?

cheers,
marc
 

[Euan Innes]

Marc,
Fair points BUT I still don't fancy trying to get a switch rod to lift the 30' head of a DI7 and fire it back out 150', or trying to get a DI7 back out from being retrieved right to the loop, especially a shooting head. This is a pain when you are in a river with the current helping you. With my single hander I can control the line being fed back out to the sweet spot better.

None of these casts are being made from in the water or from the beach. All the water is deep from right in front of me so the DI7 head is going down like a stone, much faster than a 10' tip. It might only be going out 100' but it is getting into the target zone really fast. Skagits are either floating or inter tipped and need a 10' polyleader on them, so only the very last section sinks. The fly might be 150' away from the angler but how long would it take for that fly to get down to where it matters? And while a floating running line gets battered about by surface wave action my inter running line is cutting down in to the deep with a really nice retrieve angle to boot.
I can see how a DH in the surf with a floating or inter line in water less than 10'could be a real help but not really where I fish. By the same reasoning we should all be using them from boat or bank for Rainbows but I have yet to see one at Rutland.

 

[Marc Fauvet]

like i wrote "not to be telling you or anyone what to do  but just to get some info out for the group." 

[Derek Roxborough]

Not Fishing in particularly deep water ( 15ft) so the fish come up , but I fish an intermediate all the time and it sinks enough to get it down to fish, and the slightly heavier hook helps, going to more this winter, I need to work on a long handled net, I used to have a drop net but it went walkabout, easgach 1

[Euan Innes]

Thanks Easgach.
Definitely food for thought. 

 

[Hamish Young]

Interesting stuff Euan and Marc 

As it happens its entirely possible I am in negotiations with someone very local to me about him "donating" an 11'2" Switch rod for experimental purposes in the salt
Whilst I am reasonably content with the casts I can achieve with any of the equipment I currently have for use in the salt, I know I can cast much further than I can currently achieve with a 9' #12wt (around 35 with ease and 40 plus when really thinking about it). As achieving greater distance is highly desirable I know that as I'm pretty much at the comfortable limit of what my current gear can achieve it's time to think about something else, no point in pushing the limit at every cast.

A switch rod is that nice half way house between heavy weight single handers and shorter double handers; it may require some careful thought in line choice but for whacking large gear into the middle distance it should be bang on for what I am telling myself I need......

In an earlier post Marc you asked about stripping baskets.
I do have several of different designs and do use them but - on occasion - they can be more of a hindrance than a help. Increasingly I just leave them in the car, but that probably comes down to the type of foreshore I'm fishing from. Elsewhere they will/do get used.

H 

[Marc Fauvet]

it may require some careful thought in line choice

thought you'd get the point, H   
i'd give a  simple shootinng line / Rio T tips or other T material as 'fly line head' replacement / leader combo some serious consideration.   

as for not using the basket, i gues you like tangles and crushing shooting/running line agaist sharp, nasty rocks in equal amounts... 

[Eddie Sinclair]

Euan,

after much sweariness and searching I have now found all of my saltwater fly fishing stuff including flies. Is this pollack thing justb for summertime or do they hang around the shore all year round?

If they are still catchable do you fancy looking around locally sometime to see if there are any decent marks?

Eddie.

[Hamish Young]

Is this pollack thing just for summertime or do they hang around the shore all year round?

Eddie - My reply on page 1 of the thread might be of some help here. H

[Hamish Young]

thought you'd get the point, H   

 

i'd give a  simple shootinng line / Rio T tips or other T material as 'fly line head' replacement / leader combo some serious consideration.   

Oddly enough I'm already there.... 
I already have some T14 and T17 chopped into heads, on the 9' #12wt they're entertaining (for entertaining read "bloody dangerous") in anything other than ideal conditions but were food for thought regarding the development of something for a switch rod which I felt was the natural progression in gear. From experience gained in BFCC events with T120 outfits I have some prototype heads and running lines sorted, just need to prise the rod required to do the job out of someone else's store.... 

as for not using the basket, i gues you like tangles and crushing shooting/running line agaist sharp, nasty rocks in equal amounts... 

It's honestly not been too bad so far Marc, but I can see when I've switched fully to heads and running line that fishing without the basket might be just plain silly

[Eddie Sinclair]

Eddie - My reply on page 1 of the thread might be of some help here. H

Cheers H,

I am going to to some recce missions.

Eddie

[Liam Stephen]

Local recce's Eddie? I'd be keen for something other than Rainbows this winter! 

 
Liam

[Euan Innes]

Eddie,
PM sent.
Liam ,
Watch this space...