Angling Publications - Index

Angling Publications - april2008 - Index

What’s the difference between a “saltwater” rod and a “salmon/steelhead” rod? Not much. In fact, a
saltwater rod works just fine for salmon and steelhead, and, if fitted with saltwater-grade components, vice versa. When it comes to delivering flies
and landing fish, there’s no real difference between a 20-pound striper and a 20-pound steelhead.
All of the rods in this roundup are 9-foot, 4-piece, 8-weights, that being our preferred configuration for salmon/steelhead (and medium-duty
saltwater). Most 8-weights will comfortably handle 20-pound+ fish and head weights up to 350 grains, but if you need to throw heavier heads to get
very deep, or plan on battling king salmon, a 9- or 10-weight is a better choice. Some steelhead anglers—especially those of the chuck & duck persuasion—prefer
9.5- or 10-foot rods, as the extra length helps them keep a higher line on the drift with correspondingly less current influence.
We’ve tested every rod shown here, and if the truth be told, we’d be happy fishing any of them. So why would anyone lay out $775 for an Orvis ZG
Helios when a Cortland Big Sky can be had for $230? That’s like asking why anyone would drop several hundred grand on a Ferrari F430 Spider, when
$21,200 can buy a nice little Mazda MX-5 Miata. They’re both fun cars to drive, but the Miata is never going to put out 483 H.P. or go 193 M.P.H.!
Weights shown in the accompanying spotlights aren’t just copied from the manufacturer’s catalogs, but represent the actual weights of our sample
rods measured on a Pitney Bowes certified postal scale, rounded to the nearest 1/10
8
th ounce.
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