Switch Rod Buyer's Guide

Here are 2 good videos put up by Reds fly shop to guide you along in choosing the right switch rod. The first video covers the premium range of switch rods including Burkheimer Classic, Sage Method, Sage ONE, Sage Accel, Winston Boron III TH  and Echo 3 Switch.

The second video covers the value range of switch rods including Echo SR, TFO Deer Creek and Redington Prospector.

Why Switch Rod

Here is nice video I found on YouTube explaining the whats and the whys of Switch rod. There are a lot of confusion out there as to what is a Switch rod and to make matters worst, people are are often mixing it up with the switch cast (a technique in Spey casting).

Lets get it out of the way. - the Switch rod has nothing to do with the switch cast. You can "switch cast" with any fly rod whether it is single hand or double hand rod. Switch cast is just a Spey casting technique. A switch cast is essentially a roll cast done with a dynamic D-loop. You can refer to my earlier post ( http://www.yuenmah.blogspot.com/search/label/Switch%20cast ) to understand the difference between the roll cast and the switch cast. The switch cast is also sometimes referred to as the jump roll.

Now back to the Switch rod; the Switch rod is essentially a double hand rod that is between 10 ft to 11+ ft long. You may think of it as a baby Spey rod. The concept of Switch rod is relatively new in the Spey casting scene and evolved out of the need to fish both single handed and double handed  at the same time. The video will explain in better detail. Enjoy!

Skagit Set-up for Switch Rod

At a request of a friend wanting to start up on double-hander, I have put together a diagram to illustrate how a typical Skagit set up looks like. Some Skagit lines like the Wulff Ambush line comes integrated with running line whereas lines like RIO Skagit Short or Airflo Skagit Compact mostly comes as head only (~20ft) and will need a separate running line.

Every Skagit set-up will need to have a sink tip at the business end to bring the fly down. In the case of lighter Switch rods (4wt - 6wt), RIO versi-leader makes very good sink tips and is a joy to cast.

My preferred set-up for Switch rod is the Wulff Ambush line with RIO Spey versi-leader as sink tips. Here is my recommendation for the length of versi-leader to use for Wulff Ambush line up to 400 grain:

1) Floating versi-leader - 15ft

2) Clear Intermediate versi-leader - 15ft

3) Medium to Fast sink versi-leader (2.6 ips to 7 ips)- 10 ft