There’s been a lot of buzz in the past couple of years about switch rods – lightweight double-handed rods in the 11 to 12 foot range that are designed for both two-handed and overhead casting. To be honest, the switch rod thing seemed in the beginning to be a little gimmicky – until we tried some last June in Umba.
Switch rods are really fun. Most switch rods live in the 4- to 7-weight world, and small rods mean little physical effort. Add light weight to a multitude of different spey-oriented and overhead casts, and you get lots of variety and lots of fun.
Switch rods are effective for more than swinging. The classic sunken swung fly presentation works great with a switch rod. Switch rods are great tools for fishing Dry flies and hitch patterns on floating lines. The extra length of a switch rod means incredible line control, whether slowing down a swing, steering that flesh fly into and out of a snag, or skittering that hopper all over the surface of the bucket.
You can fish small water with switch rods. You already know that we think spey casting is fun, but full-on spey outfits, even in light weights, are just too long for small rivers, side channels and small tributaries
Switch rods will make you a better spey caster, because you can do it more. Great, you fish a spey rod for a week in June on the Ponoi and then for a week in September on the Umba. What about the rest of the year? If you live near decent-sized trout water, you can fish a switch rod for a lot of the year. Making those spey casts year-round will make you a lot better at it.
Switch rods will make you a better spey caster, because these little rods are unforgiving. There’s no two ways about this one – it’s a lot easier to spey cast a 14 foot for a 9 weight than it is to cast an 11 foot for a 5 weight. You don’t want to learn spey casting on a switch rod. So why is this a good thing? Mistakes can be overcome with those big, long traditional spey rods. If you’re fishing a lightweight switch rod and you pull your anchor, or leave too much line on the water, or try to over-power a cast, or commit any one of a number of other spey casting sins, the cast just won’t work. Yes, it’s hard at first, but fishing light, short switch rods will definitely make you a better spey caster, because you pay for your mistakes.
Source: Deneki