I bought a switch rod!

[wolverine]

All of the discussion about switch rods encouraged me to order a Beulah 10'-6" 7/8wt. 98% of my planned use for it is going to be salt water beach fishing mostly throwing clousers or deceivers. The line is where I have a question for you experienced rods. I want to put on a RIO Outbound 8 wt sinker on it, or would I be better off with a floater on a switch rod in the salt? I have a 7 wt Outbound sinker for my 10' 7 wt Redington CPS thats worked really well well when I pay attention. Basically I get most of the head out of the tip guide, roll cast it to the surface, backcast feeding a little line to get the head get out of the rod, let it load, and let her rip. Same action with the switch rod?

[Philster]

Try your 7 wt outbound first. It'll be more like a fly line, where the 8 will be more like a shooting head. You may prefer to "cast" as opposed to "lob":cool: I like to "lob".

I stick to floaters as my main lines off the beach. I've used intermediates, but where I fish on a long cast, It's hard to fish the whole cast out without gaining too much depth at the end. I catch bottom too much especially with shrimp style flies. The floater can be a pain if there's lots of salad out there though. Just one more opinion...

[D3Smartie]

how are you supposed to fish sliders and poppers on a sinking line?

[wolverine]

I bought the Outbound floater in the 8 wt last night for the switch. I'll probably play with the 7 wt sinker that I already had but will it will probably spent most of its time on my 10' Redington 7 wt. I tied up a couple of Lelands poppers and a few gurglers last night so I'm ready to go.
Philster I agree with you. I'm a better lobber than a caster anymore.

[obiwankanobi]

Wolverine,

You as well as others have mentioned Beulah rods on this site and I am interested to know how they are. I looked on their website last night and was impressed by the corking and how they mentioned "Damn fast" as a rod action. With most of their single handed rods less than $300, I am interested since I might buy a 8wt single damn fast action rod.

[Philster]

Wolverine,

You as well as others have mentioned Beulah rods on this site and I am interested to know how they are. I looked on their website last night and was impressed by the corking and how they mentioned "Damn fast" as a rod action. With most of their single handed rods less than $300, I am interested since I might buy a 8wt single damn fast action rod.


I've cast lots of their rods, and own 2. I haven't played with their freshwater single handers, but if I was going to Baja for the first time, and knew it was something I was going to continue to do, I'd buy two of their 10/11 bluewaters and call it a day. They are that good in my opinion. My health is improving to the point that I'm going to renew my passport (which should take about 5 Months!:eek:) and when I do go back down I'll score one of those to go alongside my RPLXis.

[hendersonbaylocal]

I built up a Dan Craft 10.5" 8wt this winter, but haven't had much of a chance to fish it. Any suggestions for lining this thing? I've tried 8wt WF, DT, a Hardy Mach 1 Salmon and my buddy is getting me a windcutter 7/8/9 that I'll play around with the middle section removed. Looking forward to trying the WC, but has anyone found a good line for this rod? Are you guys all overheading off the beach? Rio outbound?

[obiwankanobi]

Philster,

Thanks for the info. I realize that top of the line rods are nice and they own their name, but I am curious about the rods that are $200-$300 ish since it would be great to outfit yourself for $500 tops versus $1000.

[Kevin Giusti]

Wolverine I have the same Beulah switch. I use a SA mastery steelhead WF 9. Works great for single hand casting. For tips I use Rio windcutter 8/9/10 with the tip 2 removed. Casts even heavy tips very easily. I use these lines for river use not salt. Let us know how that outbound works, would like to know. Obiwan I have three Buelah rods one spey,one switch and one 6wt. single hander. Its a Strong six and is really a great rod. I use it in the salt for black cod and it casts weighted flies and an intermediate sinktip (4-5ips w/15' integrated sink tip head line) no problem. The quality as well as performance of the Beulah rods I own are top notch. Not to mention they are definatly easier on the bank account. I think they are definatly worth checking out. Kevin

[Nooksack Mac]

Kevin, I also have a Beulah 6-weight. It's fast and then some, and does equally well with 7-weight lines.

Re the switch rod: I haven't tried the Beulah switch rods myself, but I wonder about the line standards. Are they line rated per single-hand or spey rod standards? Spey lines for a given number are considerably heavier than the AFTMA single-hand lines. My point is that it might be worth trying lines several sizes heavier than your rod's rating.

[Kevin Giusti]

Just was playing around with the Beulah 6 single hander using a 7wt. SA mastery steelhead line. All I can say is:eek: :eek: It was a great combo to say the least. As far as lining a switch rod it is a question that is brought up often. I was reading something by Ed Ward and he was talking about lining a switch rod and if I remember correctly I think he said a good base as far as the single handed lines is to go 2 lines up from the rod designation. Now thats of the top of my head (so many lines, so many rods, so many NUMBERS!!! Gets a little mind boggling sometimes.)so dont hold me to it. But Mac I think your definatly right as far as saying it is worth trying some heavier lines as it seems the extra grainage really brings out the best in these rods. But different setups work for different people so whatever works for each individual. Thats why I would be interested to know how the outbound works for wolverine. I also have a Meiser 8/9 traditional action switch and I use a 9wt. Airflo forty plus full sinker (30'head I believe) and with a two hand overhead cast it works great. Good setup for off the beach,boat,rocks. Still am going to spend some time with the Buelah and really try to dial it in with the right lines. Kevin

[Kevin Giusti]

Ok I went and double checked the numbers and i was WRONG!! Ed Ward says for single hand casting that a line 1(ONE !!!!!) weight heavier is a good starting spot. And for two hand overhead he finds as much as three weights up works. Sorry all! Kevin

[Philster]

Ok I went and double checked the numbers and i was WRONG!! Ed Ward says for single hand casting that a line 1(ONE !!!!!) weight heavier is a good starting spot. And for two hand overhead he finds as much as three weights up works. Sorry all! Kevin

For the Beulah 7/8 Ed is pretty close to on the button. Does he know much about casting?:rofl: the 8wt outbound pretty much is in the 11wt range if I remember my fly line gazinta's (Beverly Hillbillies reference for the old farts...). One handed it gives you a FULL load and you can really feel things load up and launch, and you most definitely feel the leverage on your wrist. You don't want to go any higher and most folks wouldn't go near it at that weight. Double handed, on the other hand, that same line is very nice, but definitely on the lower end of the "perfect" range. A little more weight would make roll casts and "switch/single spey" saltwater casting easier, but overall, it's a great do everything weight/length combo on the rod that gives you more air time than a 300 grain teeny type line. It all comes down to do you like casting "fly lines" or "shooting heads". I prefer the one backcast and launch of heads off the beach, where wind is an issue. The more backcasting, the more likely your fly is to foul. kick it back once, twice at the most, and let it go.

Phil

[Olyfly]

Wolverine,

I picked up the Beulah 6/7 switch rod last year sometime and really love it. It's a very versatile rod. Bought it primarily for beach fishing, but have ended up using it mostly in rivers. I've paired it up with the Beula 6/7 switch line which is a beautiful match as I can perform a change of direction spey cast or a two-handed overhead with ease even when I attach a 10' type 3 sinking tip. It's a great set up for throwing streamers!

The rod itself has a large grain window - something like 280 to 400 grains. I had intended to pick up an Outbound with intermediate head for my Puget Sound beach fishing but just haven't gotten around to it yet. For the moment I'm throwing a DT #10 Courtland Camo cut down to roughly 35' and throwing it as a shooting head. It is approx 315 grains, and works fairly well, but not great. I suspect the Outbound would work much better, or I just need more practice (most likely both...). From the line specs, this rod should throw either the 8 wt Outbound (at 330 gr) or even the 9 wt at 375 gr. I briefly test cast the 9 weight and it seemed to handle it fine (which seems amazing for 6/7 rated rod), but I still have not made up my mind yet as I'd also like to test the 8wt before laying out the cash.

Keep us posted on how your set up works for you. There's not a whole lot of info posted on these sticks yet.

- Oly