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796 XP

2K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
Anyone have any experiance with the 796 XP. Sage had a killer key employee promotion that was even more money off their normal key employee discount so one of the rods I got was a 796 for super cheap. On this special promotion they, sadly, did not include two-handed rods.

Anyways I got the rod today and can not wait to try it out. What should I expect? I normally fish my 1087 GL3 for steelhead when I am not playing around with one of our demo rods. Should I throw an #8 line on the 796 XP like I do the 1087 GL3? Any input is appreciated!!
 
#4 ·
Try it with the fly lines you like. I don't think that you will like it overline. It has a nice soft tip and might feel a little ponderouse if over lined. Maybe an SA> Steelhead taper, of their Distance taper.
 
#5 ·
Thanks!!

I have a #7 Steelhead Taper that I got for my 1087 GL3 and it just would not load the line so I started fishing my buddies #8 on it and it made the biggest differance in the world.

Question #2-
I am getting a type 3 and a type 6 15' Rio Tips that I will under Sinktips guidance, cut back 18' of the Steelhead Taper and loop those in for tips. I already have an Anadramous Dredger.
Should I use the #7 tips or the #8 tips?
THANKS!
 
#6 ·
My Observations:

I played with both lines this evening and I noticed that the #8 shot like a rocket with no false casts. I could feel the #8 loading the rod which I personally like but on false casting the rod could not hold up as much line as the #7. The #7 false casted much better and held up more line but I did not have the feel that rod was being loaded as was the case with #8.

Can anyone make anything of my obersvations? Thanks!
 
#7 ·
You said, "I noticed that the #8 shot like a rocket with no false casts. I could feel the #8 loading the rod which I personally like but on false casting the rod could not hold up as much line as the #7."

Sounds like you like the feel of the #8 on the rod. What is your criteria for goodness in the type of fishing you are planning to do with this rod? Which line are you able to cast farthest with? If you are going to be using big flies, the heavier the line the better. And, when you are false casting, you are not fishing... Put the fly in/on the water....

Greg
 
#9 ·
Depends on the type of fishing you're doing. If you're single-handing on a sprawling steelhead or salmon stream with a long belly floater, you need to change the angle of presentation with false casts before you can put the fly down. Of course this is one of the major advantages of a Spey rod, and why the fly spends so much more time in the water with two-hands, but that's another story. If the rod is overloaded, you lose roll casting, delicate presentation, long mends, and long aerialized casts like the type used on big flowing rivers. The only reason the line is even stripped is to make another cast without breaking the rod in half, it's not part of the presentation.

On the other hand if you are throwing a herring pattern into the sloshing waves straight ahead and stripping the fly down to the nail knot, overloading is a lot more appropriate. You want something that gets back to the operating length (grains) quickly.

For those in either scenario who use Teeny T series lines, the overload factor is clear - the 300 overloads an 8wt, the 400 overloads a 10wt, etc. Some people use a 400 on a 8wt, but those people have also heard of (or experienced) a sickening splintering sound occasionally.

On one end of the spectrum is the Spey double taper, never getting so much as a strip between 100 foot casts - not wanting a grain over it's ideal weight and allowing cross-river mends to skate a dry..... and on the other end of the spectrum there is the broomstick rod throwing an 800 grain deep sinking head with a 12" herring fly into a briny rip chuck-n-duck style. Somewhere in between is a nice range of compatible grains, distributions, and rods to energize them.

I have found that in both steelheading and striper fishing that I need two lines:

- the well-matched finesse line
- the get-to-business sinking or sinktip line

Stripers:
a) clear intermediate WF
b) hi-density sinking head with intermediate running line

Steelhead: (single hand, Spey has it's own line designs)
a) DT floating or long belly floater (70' or more of head)
b) hybrid exchangable hi-density sinktips mated with half of a WF floating head section

In both cases the (b) line overloads the rod rating where (a) does not.

Your results may vary,
juro
 
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