Converting a single hander to a two hander

[Rod]

Originally Posted by Robert Meiser

Rod,

The body only head of a 7/8/9 WC comes in at around plus/minus 250 grains.

The tips within the 7/8/9 WC kit are at around 110-120 each.

...And I figured this should be a fairly good line marriage for your mentioned rod when used with anchor point deliveries...Glad it feels right to you.

An entire 7/8/9 WC line is label posted to net at around 525 grains at 55' of head.

This would no doubt be far to many grains, and at 55' of head would be an un-manageable length for this particular blank; Thus the variuos warnings.

Enjoy your new rod ... };^)...!!!

Interesting about the different opinions on grain weights for these lines...my source lists the main body of the 7-8-9 at 285 grains at 25' long, and the tips at 109grains at 15' long. Thus giving me that figure of 394 and 40'. Your opinion puts it at about 360-ish grains...the differences relate to almost a whole line weight rating in the single hand world. All I need right now is a line to do floating work so I want to run with a straight dry line and no tips (I hate tips...lol) and I've read lots of good reviews on Rio's Outbound line here.....your calculations would call for a 9w Outbound and my source calls for a 10w. Wonder which one to go for, none of my local shops carry that heavy of a line so they will have to bring it in for me.
In the near future I will be using this stick on the Thompson River casting big floaters to summer trout. Come Fall...if I like the OB line, I'll invest in a few more with the appropriate sink tips..clear intermediate for coho and a type 8 for Dollies for my local systems.
Once again thanks for your advice and input....and to all the rest as well....much appreciated.

Solar-1 will send a pm regarding the guide spacing...not sure if I'll do it, but definitely interested.

[Robert Meiser]

Hi Rob,

All I did was gain scale weigh a 7/8/9 WC body only of one that I had here in the shop ... Thus my numbers.

You'll find it very common that line grainage will vary quite a bit for the same line rated numbers from within the same line mfgr, and even the same family of lines.

... And will vary GREATLY from within the entire line industry.

<> Why a lot of guys will use a grain scale to keep this honest, and yup <> 15 + 25 = 40 for the total head.

You might consider borrowing a few WCs from your two handed fishing buddies, and try various combinations on that rod until you are happy with the marriage for your choosen delivery styles and fishing applications.

... Then grain scale weigh that combination and balance the appropriate Outbound.

Many anglers do find that the Outbounds will perfrom the various anchor point deliveries (as well as single hand double haul/two handed overhead deliveries) quite well with the shorter two handed rods.

... You may also find that 550 grains will do the job for you as this apparently does for Salar-1 and his 11' 6 wt.

I'm very seldom suprised anymore as to what line/rod/delivery technique marriages will be most appropriate for the individual angler.

As long as the rod does not fold and fail under line load; it's still fishing.

What I think is really cool about Salar-1 is that he's found the applied techniques of a switcher family rod/line marriage suitable for his dry line/dry fly Salmon fishing on his smaller Gaspe rivers.

Good on that...};^)...!!!

Meiz

[Grampa Spey]

Originally Posted by Rod

Hi all. After reading the recent threads about light trout spey set ups, I'm thinking about converting a single hand Sage 6110-4 XP (6w..11') into a two hander. The rod in question currently has a 7" full wells grip and a 1" fighting but. I was very impressed with the pic of prairiespeys 11'3" Reddington that he converted to a 2 hander. I believe he added 3" to the top grip and had a removable 5" bottom grip installed.
My question... If I add 3" to the top grip, will it affect the performance of the rod? Will it cause the blank to bend in the wrong spot or just not respond correctly? Not sure how rods are assembled and don't know what goes on under the cork.
Do I need to add length to the top?
Can the reelseat be replaced with one that offers the removable lower piece option without damaging the grip, or does it all have to be stripped down and started fresh?
I like the fact I can cast over hand with this rod and also make nice little one handed spey casts, but I think using 2 hands will take some of the strain of my wrist when spey casting it. Will the extra length of the lower grip affect the overhand casting performance?
How much should these modifications cost (In Canada)?
Should I just leave it as is and take my budgeted costs, add more and pick up a factory assembled switch rod?....In other words....am I wasting my time and money?
The rod in question currently stands me about half of its retail value. So I don't have too much already invested into it. (I stole it... )

Thanks.
Rod

The Rio Outbound WF8F has a head weight of 325 grains. It and your rod will probably work. It should be able to handle a regular leader from 12' to 15' and any of the Rio 7' sinking leaders. With my OB's I can do the 3 basic Skagit Casts, any standard Spey cast and fire the overhead cast out with my 5/6 switch rods, Sage 5120 and 6126. You can use these OBs for regular one handed casting and Spey Turbo casting with a one handed line. You may not need to use one of Simon's Tricks; however, if the full head seems to over load your rod, just pull the head, the yellow/green transition spot inside the rod tip and shoot it with the green shooting line on casts until it works.

The OB heads are 37.5' long. If you use a 12.5 leader/tippet combo you will have 50' casts from your rod tip if you just cast the head. You should be able to roll cast the head and leader with minimal effort. If you can shoot 2 rod lengths of line with a Skagit Cast or Spey , you will have 70+ casts.

With my Switch rods and smaller Spey Rods, I barely use the lower grip to cast a Skagit cast or standard Spey cast. Basically the rod just rests on my lower hand and I pivot the bottom of the rod on my lower hand.

With overhead casts from the light 5/6 switch rod to my 9/10 switch rod, I use 2 fingers and my thumb to create the lower power stroke. It works.

I have one of these WF8Fs, I'm not using because it was too light to load my Meiser 5/6 Switch Rod or Sage 5120. It was only used a few minutes with Bob Pauli , and Bob and I knew that it was too light to load these rods. So it has been back in its box after that one trip.

Send me your address if you are interested. I will send it to you to try.

If it works you can send me $50 American for the line and the postage.

If it doesn't work, just send the line back to me.

If it works, you will save a lot of money, not void your warranty and have a great dual purpose rod.

If it doesn't work, you are only out a little time on the water and the postage to return the line to me.

Dave

[Rod]

Grandpa Spey...thanks you for your advice and your kind offer but I must decline. I borrowed a 9w Versa tip from a friend and tried it on the rod...it weighs in at 300grains and is 38 feet long and it didn't feel like it loaded it enough...so I don't think the 8w OB at 325 will do the job either.
Today I took it out Bull trout fishing and used the WC 7-8-9 body and type 3 tip (water was down today), casting big conehead bunny patterns and it cast well but still felt light, and that comes in somewhere between 360 and 390. I was able to make about 60 feet. I'm pretty sure I'll need 400-425gr to make it work for me, so I'm going to try the 10w OB and see how it goes.
Thanks again.
Rod

[Grampa Spey]

It works great on my Meiser 5/6 Switch Rod and Sage 5120.

[Rod]

I will update on this thread once it arives...should be in about a week.

[Rod]

Sooooo.....picked up the 10w Outbound today and have just returned from giving it a test drive just casting wool. So far so good. I think I like it.....a lot .
Overhead...sustained...touch and go.....all performed as good as my poor casting style would allow
Now I just need to prtactice some more.

[Grampa Spey]

Originally Posted by Rod

Sooooo.....picked up the 10w Outbound today and have just returned from giving it a test drive just casting wool. So far so good. I think I like it.....a lot .
Overhead...sustained...touch and go.....all performed as good as my poor casting style would allow
Now I just need to prtactice some more.

Rio's Outbounds are incredible lines. I can only imagine what they can do when matched with a Spey Rod in the hands of really good casters. At the Speyorama, Simon casted my Sage 5120 and 6126 with a 10W on the 5120 and an 11W on my 6126. My friend noted that Simon's casts with both rods and lines were into the WOW category very quickly. Of couse, Simon could use an aluminum pool cleaning rod and a boat bow line and look good.