We’re starting a new topic on our blog, the “reviews from your amigos”! Basically, friends advice on gear that we’ve run across and want to share with ya’ll.
To start with, what’s a trout spey rod??? Well, simply a rod designed for spey casting fans that won’t only do it only when chasing big migratory fish in large rivers. The exact opposite actually. A tool to fish your local trout streams while swinging your favorite bugs.
Even thou Sage manufactures the Trout Spey HD in weights from 1 to 4 we went straight to the big one as planning to cover mainly our home river, the Gallegos in south Argentine Patagonia. Our choice then, the 11’3’’ 4wt.
Our goals were to cover a fairly wide river casting up to 70 feet of line, fishing smaller tube flies and nymphs, with possible (or usual…) windy days, and also to use along our early season (Nov-Dec), before the big migratory sea-run browns go in, when you can chase and focus on the big resident brown trout – some up to 24’’
Note: During our testing days we challenged its strength when hooking a sea run brown of over 6lb and the rod still managed it perfectly.
This mid-action rod has a powerful butt section that turns over a large range of flies, including some pretty heavy ones, but also allowing you to cast them in those windy days. Friendly for beginners with lots there for those more experienced. Few rods in the market behave like that.
As always, finding the right line makes the whole difference. In our case we followed manufacturers suggestion of 300-350 grain and went for the heaviest one to perform in extreme weather days without losing feeling. So 350g Rio’s InTouch Skagit Trout Spey Versitip was the choice, counting with a set of three 10’ tips (10’ float, 5’F/5’T-8 and full 10’ T-8 sinking). Even thou we normally fish Scandi heads in our river we felt like the extra punch in the small rod was going to work and feels like it.
Tested setup
Rod: Sage Trout Spey HD 4wt 11’3’’ https://www.sageflyfish.com/product/two-handed/trout-spey-hd
Line: Rio InTouch Skagit Trout Spey Versitip https://www.rioproducts.com/products/it-skagit-trout-spey-versitip
