7/8 Weight Steelhead Rod Recommendations

Looking for a new 7 or 8 weight for Great Lakes Steelheading. I grealy
enjoy my 9' 5 weight Orvis T3, and had originally considered a second
one, but would like to diversify a bit.

Has anyone had particularily good experience with Sage, Winston,
Burkheimer, or Thomas & Thomas? I'll probably spend $600 - $700, which
falls in line with upper-tier offerings from each of them. Winston
uses boron, which sounds like a throwback, but I've yet to speak to
anyone that's not motivated by a commission about the benefits of this
approach. Someone once told me that Thomas & Thomas was an excellent
choice, but then I met a guy that spent an entire summer trying to get
a broken rod replaced. From my perspective, at this price point, an
unlimited warranty is absolutely required.

Any opinions out there? Thanks in advance!

"KDawg" wrote in message
ups.com...
Looking for a new 7 or 8 weight for Great Lakes Steelheading. I grealy
enjoy my 9' 5 weight Orvis T3, and had originally considered a second
one, but would like to diversify a bit.


Winston Boron BIIX, try it, you'll like it
T&T Helix is another nice faster action rod
Or the good old Sage XP

You didn't ask but a Harris or Ross Canyon Reel would be the ticket.

Good advice...thanks for the suggestions. I've heard many good things
about the Sage XP. I will cast one before making my final decision.

"KDawg" wrote in message
oups.com...
Good advice...thanks for the suggestions. I've heard many good things
about the Sage XP. I will cast one before making my final decision.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the IIx or the XP.

In article .com,
"KDawg" wrote:

Good advice...thanks for the suggestions. I've heard many good things
about the Sage XP. I will cast one before making my final decision.


Have "softhackle" build you a 8 weight 10 foot winston 2bx with flur
grade cork, ceramic guides, and a titanium reelseat for $200. Heck, I
will throw in a extra $100 for a Softhackle designed winston 14 foot 7/8
weight spey rods with flur cork, ceramic guides, titanium reelseat.

"KDawg" wrote in message
ups.com...
Looking for a new 7 or 8 weight for Great Lakes Steelheading. I grealy
enjoy my 9' 5 weight Orvis T3, and had originally considered a second
one, but would like to diversify a bit.

Has anyone had particularily good experience with Sage, Winston,
Burkheimer, or Thomas & Thomas? I'll probably spend $600 - $700, which
falls in line with upper-tier offerings from each of them. Winston
uses boron, which sounds like a throwback, but I've yet to speak to
anyone that's not motivated by a commission about the benefits of this
approach. Someone once told me that Thomas & Thomas was an excellent
choice, but then I met a guy that spent an entire summer trying to get
a broken rod replaced. From my perspective, at this price point, an
unlimited warranty is absolutely required.

Any opinions out there? Thanks in advance!

When you say "Great Lakes Steelheading", I assume you mean fishing in the
tributary streams. If this is so, then what you will be doing is picking up
a bug and chucking it out again time after time after time after
time........

In this case, any old girder will do.

Others may disagree.

Anybody?

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

Others may disagree.


Has that ever happened?

"Wayne Knight" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

Others may disagree.


Has that ever happened?

Not yet........but I figure it's inevitable.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Wayne Knight" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

Others may disagree.


Has that ever happened?

Not yet........but I figure it's inevitable.

Wolfgang


O.K., fearing the wrath of such a fine scholar...I think the difference in
rods for Steelhead (for me) was flexibility. Again my experience is
limited, but that's what seemed to help me get some fish to net. Those
things (the Steelies) are incredible and test every inch of tackle from end
to end. Not just any rod did it for me, I had some thick stick thing that
I could hook'em with, but, couldn't beat em. One of those basic 9.5 St.
Croix steelhead rods made a heck of a difference. I think it's important
to note that for a fish like this, the reel does make an incredible
difference, especially the drag.

Mike

"Mike Makela" ten.tsacmoc@alekamm wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Wayne Knight" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

Others may disagree.


Has that ever happened?

Not yet........but I figure it's inevitable.

Wolfgang


O.K., fearing the wrath of such a fine scholar...I think the difference in
rods for Steelhead (for me) was flexibility. Again my experience is
limited, but that's what seemed to help me get some fish to net. Those
things (the Steelies) are incredible and test every inch of tackle from
end to end. Not just any rod did it for me, I had some thick stick thing
that I could hook'em with, but, couldn't beat em. One of those basic 9.5
St. Croix steelhead rods made a heck of a difference. I think it's
important to note that for a fish like this, the reel does make an
incredible difference, especially the drag.

I tend to forget that once in while you actually manage to hook one of the
brutes and then have to do something with it.

In thirty or so outings over the course of fifteen years I've hooked maybe
twenty and landed roughly half a dozen. Most of the losses happened quickly
and I attribute them to being poorly hooked. The rest broke
off.....probably as a result of bad knots or frayed tippet. I can't think
of a single instance in which I felt that either the rod or the reel was the
critical factor, and this despite the fact that I've only acquired reels
with good drag mechanisms in the last three years......after my last
steelheading venture.

Landing a big fish is a war of attrition. In the absence of complicating
factors (leader eating deadfalls, a phalanx of brother anglers stretching
downstream as far as the eye can see, wrapping the line around one's neck,
etc.) it's simply a matter of outlasting them. Obviously, heavy tackle will
make a difference but, just as clearly, there are limits beyond which the
point of the whole exercise (assuming it's something other than just hauling
in meat) becomes moot. The OP, like everyone else, will eventually have to
determine empirically where those limits are .

In the meantime, any old girder will do the job.

Wolfgang