H&H 7wt, 10 foot; Comments please

[chris from canada]

Seeing as how I now have another addiction; steelhead fishing.

I would like to know if anyone has tried the H&H steelhead rods ( building kits or blanks );

I believe that there are 2, the regular 10 footer, and something else called a switch rod.

I would truly appreciate any comments on these rods: are they light, do they fish well,
Good action?

I enjoy building my own rods, unless someone has one they are not using.

Have a great day,
chris

[Orthoman]

Hook and hackle is a good outfit to deal with in my opinion -- I have used them before and was very satified with their components.

I also fish for steelhead and use a 10ft 8wt rod that I built on a Dan Craft blank. Where I fish, there is often not enough room to make a complete back cast (because of brush, trees, high river banks) -- therefore, roll casting of sorts becomes the cast of choice (here, we nymph for steelhead with 2 or 3 nymphs under a strike indicator). Because I know how to make some spey casts, I need to try and use the single handed rod with a stubby little butt to make these casts which works but is kind of more difficult. A switch rod would be mechanically more advantageous and useful because it has a longer butt and foregrip. A switch rod really is like a short spey rod that can be cast with either one or two hands as the need arises.

Therefore, I would stongly advise a 10ft, 4 piece, 8 wt switch rod ( assuming fish are about 5 to 10 pounds) for steelhead fishing in small to mid size rivers. Big rivers like the Thompson would need a regular spey rod.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide.