Spey rod help

[newflyfisherman]

I recently bought a 7 weight 12 foot spey rod. I have no idea how to set up a spey rod lol. I know I need a line and a head and a tip from just a little bit of research I've been doing. Any recommendations on lines and heads? I fish the bow a lot what kind of flies do you throw with it? Can I fish articulated streamers with it or would they be too heavy? Can I throw a nymph rig with it ie; indicator, split shot, multiple flies etc. Help please lol

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[angery jonn]

7wt is pretty large for the Bow, that’s what I use steelheading. You be able to chuck what ever you want though. Go down to fish tales and they’ll set you up with everything you need. I’d get some lessons to, it’ll shorten the learning curve substantially.

[sloken]

I just bought the exact same weight and length rod yesterday. Geoff at Pieroway was great in setting me up.

For casting - hit up Rex at Forbidden H2) - $60 for an hour long spey lesson was well worth it. Solid guide too if you wanna do some walk n wade!

[biggyJ]

What type of rod? Usually manufacturers have a recommended weight which you should be able to find online.

Will look something like 500 +-25. Grains. This will be the head length that you will need. Being a newbie I would err on the + side or right in the middle.

The common rule is 2-1. 2x rod length for your head and 1x for your sinking tip.
So you would be looking for a 24ft shooting head based on your rod description in whatever your manufacturer recommends.

For tips. I usually just get the fly shop to make out of t7, t10, t14, t17 depending on what I’m doing and river I’m fishing.

Beyond that you will need a running/shooting line and backing. Running/shooting line is cheap, $20-30 for 90ft.

Any questions send me a PM.

[West O'5]

Yes you can throw any of the flies you mentioned and then some with a 7wt Skagit,with some Skagit setups you can throw a half a chicken tied to a boat anchor,lol.🤣😂


Scandi not so much,it's a style geared more towards lighter weight classic wet flies on the swing,works well swinging streamers,swinging skaters,Bombers etc.etc....it's my personal favourite but I'm an east coast taught Atlantic Salmon bum where swinging wets is how it's done for the most part,and weighted flies are illegal....fortunately though Atlantics aren't shy about rising to a fly on or just below the surface and you can really reach out there and throw some long bombs to the far bank with a Scandi rig.
If you need to get deeper however,you can fish sink tips on a Scandi as well,it's just not as well suited for dredging the bottom as is Skagit.

As far as learning curve goes though,I'd say Scandi is far easier to transition to from single handed casting,and more enjoyable experience/style of fishing imho,but again....East Coast roots maybe?I love fishing flies on the swing and hate indi-rig nymphimg,too much similarity to fishing with bait under a bobber for my liking....to each their own?
But if you can do a decent roll cast with a single hand rod,you can fish a Scandi rig pretty effectively almost immediately and be throwing a good line in no time with a lil practice and some self help YouTube vids.

As posted,your best best is to drop in to Fish Tales,they have a really knowledgeable staff on the 2 handed game and good selection of 2H gear to get you set up right.If you don't match up the proper line you'll just be frustrated and cheating yourself with an unnecessarily lengthier learning curve.
In the meantime,here's a good line chart from Airflo that covers many/most current manufacturers models and lengths with matching line recommendations.

http://www.balticflyfisher.com/resou...tion_Chart.pdf

I gradually began switching all of my rod/reels to Airflo around 10years ago and haven't used anything but in the last 5years at least(?)it's simply the best,slickest,highest floating,most castable,most durable line there is imho,I won't buy anything else.