myfishing biddy wants me to build a fly rod for big salmon. he wants a 9 or 10 ft rod in a 12#. any ideas as to the best blank for this?
thanks all for any info.
JW

Temple Fork Ticrx. would be a good choice. I've build it in a 8 wt and the guy loved it.

thanks, I'll look that up.

He may want to rethink the length! A long rod gives a heavy fish an advantage by increasing it's leverage. Take a look at the rod length of those who fish for heavy fish like Tuna, etc. they are quite short which helps give the angler more leverage.

How big are these salmon he wants to tangle with? A 12wt in some cases might be over kill.

Look into CTS, they can make any line weight, length and taper you want.

I remember reading on this forum a post from a guy that went to Alaska constantly for the salmon run. He said that the only fly rod blank he would take was a 9' 10 wt. Forecast (now Rainshadow) by Batson. His reasoning was that he broke a lot of rods up there but the Forecast keep on ticking. Just a thought.

Don.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2015 08:23PM by Don Lukehart.

If he broke a lot of 10 wt's Why not go for 12 Wts

Bill - willierods.com

You can use 10wt-12wt conventionally designed fly rods for big kings. But a much better choice would be to go with a CTS Revo Salt #10. The butt section is massive but the tip is light enough to cast well as well as protecting your tippet.
[ctsfishing.com]

BTW- don't go over 9'0"
Herb
Distrib. CTS Rod Blanks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2015 09:46PM by Herb Ladenheim.

Tough to advise when essential facts aren't known: Big Kokanee salmon or big Chinook salmon? In rivers or In lakes/ocean? From boats or wading? How long must casts be? How deep will fly or bait need to be presented? Is the angler capable of casting a 12 wt. rod all day?

Phil is right. A Kenai alaska king can go over 80 pounds and in fact the world records were caught on the river at over 100 pounds. That said all kings up there are caught from a boat and most don't cast to them. We mostly back bounce or drift. Now for that fishing a 9ft ll or 12 weight is not unheard of. Take that same scenario and put a king on the east coast salmon river and you could use a 9 weight 10 foot rod so no big runs. Now the fish is big at 35 45 pounds in shallow water for the most part. A lot of factors missing here but no matter where you fish this is tough on rods!

Billy: When a Great Lakes feeder river is flowing at a couple of thousand cubic feet and a wading angler hooks a 35# king that decides to head back downstream to the lake a 12 wt. is not enough rod. Custom rods frequently need to be built to specific methods, species, sizes, and conditions.

I was agreeing with you 100%. There are so many situations that just saying one weight or length is not enough information. I agree with both your posts very much.

Google up where State and river You will get a lot of recommendations on what to use

Bill - willierods.com

My opinion is that a 12 or greater weight rod may offer the advantage as far as lifting power, but it may also be horribly uncomfortable to cast for any significant period of time. Even 9 and 10wts can be taxing on the arm after an hour plus of casting, especially is performing longer casts from shore. Something like a 12 or even a 14 wt is typically cast off a boat in saltwater to sail fish etc. These types of fly blanks barely fit the definition and are a bear to cast even when loaded up properly. The best blank we offer for something like Kenai fish would be an RX6 workhorse like the F9010-2DB or 4DB. Our Revelation 10 weight would be another good choice having only slightly less reserve power in the butt section.

-The Batson TEAM
BatsonEnterprises.com

thanks guys. I agree with all of you. puget sound area is where. mostly rivers. I have not seen anything over 40#'s here for a long time. i told him this. he said he has a friend that has a 9 or 10' 12 weight on the hood canal catching kinks, wading. how big I do not know. the guy went with this so he can bring them in fast so not to make other guys mad in taking too long to bring them in. he wants this for rivers. down here in the south sound the rivers are not that wide, maybe up to 60', maybe more.
I told him if it was me I would use a 9' in a 9 or 10 weight. he hasn't really fished that much with a fly pole. heck I would fish a 8 weight here for kings but then that is me. oh well we will see. thanks for your comments.
JW

John,
How about you come up to Sequim, WA and pull on all of our blanks and you can choose! We are right next to the hood canal bridge! Probably only 30 min or so.. We have several blanks that will work, but best to just come out and see yourself. We have rods even built that you can full test.

Mike Thorson, Rod Designer, Can even work with you when you stop by..

Hope to see you!

R. McBride

Batson Enterprises
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