I know its early but I want to try steelhead on the fly. What size rod and line size is good for steelhead? Also, what are some good rivers to give it a try this winter?
If you're gonna swing with a shooting head style line on the coast or even inland an 8 wt. rod is what you need. For indicators and a floating line I would go with a 7 wt. in 9.5 or even 10 foot. So really you need both hahahaha. What an evil sport we live in. If you can only get one ask yourself what you will be doing more of.
-- Edited by Cole Davis on Wednesday 13th of July 2011 11:10:50 PM
Full disclosure, I'm no expert BUT i recently went through this process and am happy with the 9' 8wt rig I picked up. I finally brought to hand a nice 8-9 lb fish last winter in a small coastal river that shall remain nameless. Rod is a Scott A3, reel is Galvan. Nothing fancy, but good hardy stuff.
Look for a used rig, lots of people buy a steelhead setup and never use it so you can save a lot of money. The best advice I got (and I got a LOT of good advice) boiled down to being prepared for the conditions I would be in: close quarters, lots of snags, and big angry fish. Do a little research and make sure the gear you get matches the waters you are likely to fish.
Last year I picked up a 10 foot 6 WT Scott a3 and it is the most abused rod in the quiver. It will work for the lower sac drifting, feather river, american, trinity and the Yuba. You will want to put on a steelhead 7 wt line. It will not handle the sinking lines too well, but you can swing a 200 grain line on it. If you are lucky enough to hook into a nice coastal fish like Windknots just let it run... Let all steelies run at hookup that is the advice i learned from Ryan Johnston.
What an evil sport we live in. If you can only get one ask yourself what you will be doing more of. 