HELP WITH 10wt or larger

[FlyonWall9]

NEW OUTFIT

I am new to this forum and would like to first say hope you all accept me as a newbie.

I currently have an Orvis DXR 7/8, with St. Croix Legand 8wt, the sales person at Orvis sold me floating line. Now I fish off shore for anything that passes you can say I am an opportunistic fisherman. I found that casting this line to be very hard so I went back and got depth charge. Much easier to cast. This is my experience with fly fishing to date.

I am about to have my boat ready for this year a 2 year restoration.

I am in the market for a 10wt or larger to handle large Cobia, White Marlin, Wahoo. I'm looking for a few pointers.

Thanks for all your help and I hope to have an enjoyable relationship on this forum.

Scott

[Ray]

Scott,

Sounds like you are going to be fishing in some fairly deep water, atleast for fly fishing. So you probably want some lifting power in the rod you select. I would suggest going up to a 12 weight rod with a fighting grip.

You may be over powered for most fish, but it will afford you the strength for the bigger fish and be capable of landing the smaller fish, maybe ones that get released, quicker.

I am partial to G. Loomis and T&T rods.

Good luck,

Ray

[David Churbuck]

Something to consider once you get into the really big guns is that big fish bust up tackle faster than anything. I dropped some serious cash once on a custom Sage 12 wt. and had it explode on its first large fish. Sure, guarantee took care of things, but it was a massive pain and a long wait before I was re-armed.

Now I fish the cheapest 12 weight I can find (A Gold Cup) in the expectation that if it dies, I won't be too heartbroken or wallet broken. So far it has survived two blue sharks.

[Chris Chick]

10 weight -too small for offshore. For a decent 12 weight check out some of Redington's line. A 12 weight should handle anything up to about a medium striped marlin or 75 pound bluefin. For larger marlin or tuna, real tackle busters consider stepping up to a 14 weight. Built a custon SAGE RPLXI this winter, custon wrapped, custom grips and reel seat. Added a Billy Pate Marlin reel with 700 yards of braided backing, custom anodized to match rod wrappings. Will handle anything up to 220# tuna or 400# marlin.

Chris

[FlyonWall9]

I am a custom rod fool. I love what can be built over, over the counter so to speak rods. Can you tell me about your rod. which reel seat you used, what guides, from stripper to tip. I have a WONDERFUL rod builder out of Gulf Breeze Fl. They have built me several Ling, King rods and Spanish, Trout rods. I was just kinda iffy about doing a flyrod. So all the info you can produce as to the parts they used for you would be great. Also what line do you use.

Thanks for all your info.

Scott

[Chris Chick]

Sage RPLXI 14 weight 8'9" 3 piece
Fugi Gold cermet guides all the way up (no snakes at all)Starting at Size 30 w/Double Stripper guides
Struble U-7 salwater reel seat
Custom fit Abel arm
Wrapped in Black, Grey & Blue
Billy Pate Marlin Reel
Custom turned cork grips

Cortland or Rio


Chris

[Capt.ChrisLembo]

I am in the process of having Versitex build a custom 14/15 weight rod for serious offshore. A 12 is ok for Atlantic Sailfish small Tuna, Wahoo, Kingfish etc... but no chance against a decent Marlin or large Tuna.

The Rod is as follows:

Shikari 8'6" 14/15 wt 2 pc blank (about $175.00)

Perfection swivel gimball aluminum fly rod butt ($60.00)

Pac Bay TiCh Channel Lock reel seat

TiCh stripper and snake guides all ovesized

Cork big game full wells grip

EVA Foam 4 1/2" fighting grip.

Labor and materials extra. Color eggshell finish gray blank with ice blue wrap and gold checks.

Fishing large fish can cost you. I have seen attempts at Marlin & large Tuna with insufficient gear and saw a rod, line, leader fly all vanish in an instant. Warranty??? it will still cost you $100.00 worth of fly line backing, leader and fly if it breaks.

The blank is very stiff with tremendous backbone. I can lift my 23 pound dog off the ground no problem and barely flex the tip.

It will be rigged with a Pate Marlin & Rio line with 50 lb backing.

I would prefer a Charlton 8600 reel if it wasn't $2000.00

Keep in mind you rarely cast a big offshore fly rod so casting is the least concern in the blank. You should also be using a fast sink tip line or preferably a head/runner combo.

[Chris Chick]

Hey Capt Chris,

For a rod with lifting power, check out the new Redington Nano-Quartz rod. !0 weight will supposedly dead lift 38 pounds of the floor.


Chris

[Capt.ChrisLembo]

Tips I learned from Neil (my custom rod builder at Versitex)

Another thing to consider when looking for an offshore fly rod is grip placement. (It is in most cases cheaper to have a custom rod made to your spec's)

Most fighting grips are placed too far up the rod. There should only be about 2 1/2" between the two grips. After that you are getting too high up the blank to gain the most leverage vs. reeling comfort. Where you hold the rod impacts your ability to reel fast. If you can't reel fast on a big gamefish you will have difficulty fighting it properly.

A custom rod allows you to place the grip in a place that is comfortable for you. Use one large enough to allow for others if you are letting anyone else use the rod. It should also be large enough that you don't need to grip any of the blank as that will cause breakage.

EVA foam or the old soft foam is better for the fighting grip as it is softer and you won't slip when it gets wet and slimey. It then depends on the look you want as the casting grip is barely used.

[FlyonWall9]

I would like to thank everyone for help. I have looked at all my local stores and talked with several builders. I am going to my normal rod builder that has built all my casting outfits and going to see what he can do for me.

Thanks again guys/gals and tight lines to all.
Scott

[maxg]

well I have a lot of difficulty accepting that being able to pull 30lb on a fly rod means anything when one uses 20lb tippets, and when people talk about 220lb tuna on fly, try hanging on to a Yellowfin that big. I doubt that there is a reel that will hold enough backing line, Pacifics or 44 gallon drums.
Probably the ideal reel would be a Pate Bluefin or a Steelfin Abyss, and that would be my first choice, for hefty offshore fly fishing. I also have difficulty accepting that gimbal belts or harnesses have a place in SWF, I think they should be restricted to the Gamefishing thing, which is different from fly fishing.
In any case you will probably need a rod in the 8'6" class or shorter, a big, at least 5 inch reel and not LA, to get retrieve rate and capacity, and I suggest a Steelfin Abyss because it has no holes in the spool, it is built for GsP backing line and has a big lever drag.
You could try glass, to reduce the "explosive" results of exceeding the lock up point of high modulus graphite, Redington Titanium is pretty high modulus and glass is tolerant to overloading, being much lesser modulus. I suggest a custom cut Shakespeare Ugly Stick, 8'6" long one piece with a custom grip set up just for you. use Sic guides at the spacings one would use on a hefty spin rod, forget snakes they are 1850 type technology
But each to his own. I have a very old Fenwick SH1024 Steelhead blank turned into a 8'6" SWF rod that pulls, on a scale, 13.5lbs and I've seen a 15 plus stone guy pulling on it.
You do not pull those loads for very long, and if you could lift a dog, try holding it up for half an hour.
The rod shold be useable by you, because you have to hold on to it for a long time. Have fun, try 50lb Bionic Braid GsP backing, OZ made best on the planet. Cheers Max.

:confused: :D