Saltwaterblank

[kentP]

I am from Sweden and wright english as i speak it ,sorry.
I am going to build 2 or 3 new rods for flyfishing in tropical water .Planing a trip to
Los Roques and need new rods.Visit Tobago 3 weeks febr-march 2006 and it was difficult to fish in the strong wind who always is there, hade to "press and pump" the line out in the wind.The rods i hade was DC FT wf 7 and 8 and SA Mastery Saltwater-Saltwater.Need rods who loads with shorter line,you cant have to mush line outside .Did oversize the rod with 1 size of the line. The leader i use was 8-10f , tied with Lefty Kreh formula .Allso need a new line , was thinking of SA Mastery Salwater
Redfish. My casting skills is a 6+
The blanks i am looking on now is Sage Xi2 , CTS Affinity S and S XF, TFO TiCrX . Size wf8 , wf10 , wf12 .
Nedd some input of ideas and tought.
Thanks in advance . kentP

[jrt]

Hi Kent,

If you are wading on the flats @ Los Roques I would suggest a rod that you can load easily with the given line rating. The Xi2, TFO TiCRX are stiff rods and many feel they need overlining.
Take your lines/reels into the shop and try them on these rods. If they are too stiff for you to cast quickly to 60ft then try more moderate action rods like the Sage XP, TFO Professional etc.

Don't believe the hype about rods. Buy one that you can cast WITHOUT looking at you backcast. Casting quickly and accurately is WAY more important than distance. Remember that you will normally have a 5 second 'window' to get a fly in front of a fish.

Also a 9wt may be better than a 10wt as it provides a backup to the 8wt and an alternative if the wind really picks up.