Last Friday I went into San Francisco for the "Spey O Rama". It was held at the Golden Gate Fly Casting Club. First of all, this club's facility is amazing. There are three large casting pools, a lodge, and plenty of friendly members.
As a single hand fly fisher, why did I go to a spey casting event? Well, first off, I'm using quite a bit of spey casting techniques in my single handed fishing. Second, I'm considering a jump into switch rods. There were several vendors and custom rod builders at the event. I had ample opportunity to test a bunch of them out and see if it was something I wanted to invest in.
I tried out a Meiser, a Beulah, a CND, and a GLoomis. My favorite was the Meiser. That should be no surprise, they are pretty much considered the gold standard in switch rods. Within a few minutes of casting this 10'8" rod, I was throwing casts past 70 feet. I could of gone much further too, if it weren't for the trees/bushes at the end of this particular casting pool. The Beulah would be my second choice. Although I wasn't able to cast it as far, I think it was mainly due to the line that was on.
The problem with the rods and the particular lines they had on them, is that they were difficult to overhand cast. Even two handed overhead. I'm sure if I explained to the vendors what I wanted to do, they could match a rod and line up for me that would work. However, one shouldn't expect a switch rod to cast as well one handed as your average fly rod.
So will I be buying a switch soon? Well, not exactly. The plan is to buy a blank and build one. It's not as difficult as it sounds. More on that later.
