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Trout Spey Rod Review 2017

Trout Spey Rod Review 2017

Ryan Gabert |

We just got back from a Trout Spey trip to the Bighorn River in Montana, and had a chance to cast and fish a few different Trout Spey Rods. We had a great time fishing with some different tactics, and a synopsis of the trip can be found in this blog post. If you haven't swung flies for trout with a lightweight spey rod, you're missing out! Redington Hydrogen - The first thing that comes to mind with this rod was how incredibly lightweight it is - it's really not much heavier than your regular single hand trout rod. The Hydrogen is a pretty fast action rod, and casts a RIO Trout Skagit head in a 275 grain very well. We fished the 11'3" 3 weight rod, and it handled 10' sink tips and flies with big dumbbell eyes no problem. I was skeptical of a rod this light, but it handled anything reasonable I threw at it with ease. The skeleton reel seat and single foot guides make for an incredibly light rod, but the rod is still more than powerful enough to buck a little wind or cast a little larger fly. The short head made the cast incredibly compact - The faster action and lighter weight resulted in a rod that had a little faster casting pace, and could cast well with both sustained anchor and touch-and-go style casts. Awesome rod at a solid price! Echo TR2 Trout Spey - Echo has been in the two handed game for quite a long time and they're darn good at it. The dedicated trout spey lineup found in the TR2 Trout Spey is no exception, and casts as well as many rods well out of it's price range. We fished the 11'3" 4 weight, and it was a little on the slower side than many other rods in a similar length and weight, but still had plenty of power through the bottom half of the rod. An Airflo Skagit Scout in a 360 grain matched the TR2 well, and put a good load in the rod without sacrificing the power to cast further and fight the wind. I thought that this rod felt more like a miniature version of a full-sized steelhead spey rod - in a good way. The smoother action of the rod allowed you to slow down a bit more on the cast and let the rod load, which would be helpful for a beginning trout spey caster. The Skagit Scout line was a perfect match for the TR2, with the 16.5' head allowing you to keep the cast a little further away from you. Great rod for beginners and folks who just want a smaller spey rod than their full blown steelhead stick! Echo Glass Spey - Looking for something a little different to spice up your trout swing game? The Echo Glass is a smooth casting classic that will go the distance so long as you give it some time! We used the 10'8" 4 weight glass, matched this rod with a 270 grain Airflo Skagit Scout head. If you're a fast paced caster, you're going to have to make your self slow your tempo down a bit with the glass switch rods. That being said, these rods will cast just as far as their graphite cousins with ease if you make yourself slow down. These are some of the most fun rods we've cast, and they are a hoot to fight fish on! An average Bighorn fish would being these babies all the way to the handle. Lots of fun, and a nice way to change things up a bit at an affordable price! Sage ONE Trout Spey - If you want the Cadillac of trout spey rods, the Sage ONE Trout Spey is the rod you're looking for. Super light and super powerful, these rods will handle any trout spey situation you throw at them. The 11'6" 4 weight is a great all-around choice, and one that makes catching average sized fish fun, but can still handle a 20+ inch fish easily. Lined up with a RIO Scandi Short Versitip #4, you can easily cast nearly any single hooked trout streamer with ease. This rod casts beautifully, and is a joy to fish. Incredibly versatile - this rod is right at home fishing dry lines and Skagit heads alike. The Sage ONE Trout Spey lineup of rods is perfect for the serious trout spey angler, or somebody that simply enjoys using the best equipment around. While these are only a few of the dozens of trout spey rods around, we feel that these 4 rods cover a wide variety of situations, anglers, and price ranges. All of these rods are a great choice for taking to your favorite trout river and mixing things up a little bit! Feel free to give us a call, stop by the shop, or shoot us an email if you have any other questions, and look for all of these rods in outfits complete with reels, running lines, heads, and tips on our webstore soon! Ryan