I've finally gotten my chance at visiting family in Michigan and will be doing some trolling as well as fly fishing for King, Coho, and Steelhead. Right now there are kings running in the rivers and that's my plan. I'm hearing they are on avg 15-20+lbs.

That said I don't think my 8wt single hand is going to cut it with such a hot fish. Maybe I'm wrong, but it is paired to a reel with around 180y of 30lb backing... So it's got some room to let them run. I'm just concerned about lack of backbone to be able to put weight on a fish that decides to go with the current.

Anyways, I am considering a switch or Spey as a rod for there as well as maybe oregon steelhead. Looking for recommendations...

My .02 on Kings.
I don't know how big a river your going to fish so some of this might not apply.
1st, it depends upon how fresh the kings are. Once they get in the river they start going down hill.
The sooner you get them the better. I've hooked fresh ones and I've hooked ones that have been in the river and are about to spawn, are spawning or are done spawning. These guys are a waste. Usually its like pulling in a log. Not much fight, lot of slowly wrenching them in.
Now the fresh ones are a different matter. They run like crazy, jump all over and win everytime. These guys however rarely hit flies, but when they do....
I fish a small river so that makes a difference. Hard to land a hot crazy fish in that situation.

I hooked one and it ran about 60 ft down river in about 1-2 seconds while jumping about 5-6 times peeling line like crazy.
It stopped for a second or two, I thought it tossed the hook. Next thing I know its running back up river right at me doing the pogo stick jumping routine again. I could not reel fast enough to get the line tight. The last jump was about 5ft from me and when it landed it splashed my face and was gone.
The whole fight lasted less than 10 seconds. But it took my heart about 5 minutes to slow down.

Me, I use either a 7wt switch rod or a 8wt 9ft flyrod, I have plenty of backing but never need it as the kings are so crazy when you get the fresh ones that if you try to stop them they break off or they just get off due to the crazy antics. That being said if I was just going for Kings I'd go heavy gear and try to slow them down, its the only way you could land a fresh one.
Now the skanky spawning ones are no big deal they might move around a little but nothing compared to a fresh one.
anyways good luck and report back.
Oh and when trolling for kings out in the lake, my experience is the rods are a 1/4 dia at the tip, they use over 50lb test line and kings still put up a decent fight but its not even close to the experience when hooking one in a river on a fly rod on 10lb test.

The type of water and condition of the fish will make a big difference in the equation. I have caught a lot of bright fresh kings on single hand and dh rods. My king rods are 10 wt SH and 8wt DH. Not all rods are created equal so some will work lighter and some heavier.

I have landed older kings on a 7wt sh but would never target them with a rod that light.

Here is my largest 10wt sh fish just because:

Nice fish, You don't see them that fresh in the rivers by us. They seem to hangout in the harbors and run the river after they are all olive/black. Alot of the piss and vinegar is out of them by then. For the most part when they are in the river they a PIA as they stack up thick in some areas. When you swing a fly thru 1/2 the time you end up snagging one.
Rarely do they hit a fly.

I do wish they would run sooner.

Wow thats an incredible catch Spey!

I decided on a guided trip next week. I'll hopefully get a gauge for how far along they are in the spawning process. Should be a good primer to two hand rods as I think thats what the guide said he uses.

Switch rods are a horrible concept in reality. Not sure if you ever have, but SH casting with a 11' rod is a shitty time and I can't imagine why it was ever marketed in the first place.

I think you'd be fine with a SH 8 wt for 15-20lb fish, but a 12-13' 8 wt would be well suited for that. 40lb BBG for running line, any of the shorter skagits available, some sink tips and you'll be in business.

If you haven't cast a TH rod before, don't worry. Skagit is stupid easy, just keep your stroke short and there is no reason you can't be slinging 100 ft of line on your first day.

Sounds like a good plan so far :) I've been reading that for reels I should go 1-2line sizes over what the rod weight is. So an 8wt TH would be a 9-10wt reel. I've got a pfleuger patriarch 9-10wt un-assigned at the moment that may fit the bill perfectly.

I have to disagree that Switch rods are a horrible concept. If you are trying to single hand cast them you don't understand them. They are meant to be able to fish dry and indicator lines as well as swing with spey style lines. That does not mean they should be cast SH.

I have been fishing switch rods since the concept was developed. While they are not my favorite tool for indicator fishing there are places they excel in that role. The location I caught this steelhead on an 8wt switch rod is one of those locations.



I was not sh casting it with the indicator line. I was two handing it with very long casts and very long stack mends. Casts and mends that I could not make with a SH rod and I am a damn good SH caster. Switch rods have also saved a few trips when clients were too wiped out to continue SH casting. A quick lesson on using two hands on a switch rod loaded with a switch chucker and they are back in the game.

Learn to use them before you condemn them...

Well, the whole switch rod thing was started to be a rod that you can both SH and DH cast. Google "switch rod" and every blog and whatever else is on the first page refers to the whole thing purposely advertised as being made for both. Regardless if they can actually do both, that was the sales pitch.

I am well versed in using TH rods OH, before I moved here I lived on the atlantic and used them quite a bit, and also built a CTS 12'9 OH designed blank, casting 600 gr OH.

I am also quite familiar with switch rods, my first TH was a 8119, and I also built a 3110 for trout. But, I can't think of a time I would prefer to use my 11' over my 12' 3wt, or where I wish my 12' 4/5 was a foot shorter.

I can't really comment on the bobber fishing you are talking about doing with a TH rod, I haven't fished with a bobber since i was a kid. Ashland fly shop has some videos of doing what you are describing, and in the rivers you have in OR I can see this being relevant. But lets be real here, this a pretty specific role that you are saying they are better than other options.


The guy is new to spey, and will have a much easier time casting a 12-13' rod than a 11'.

First salmon ive ever caught. Got it on a 10wt single hand. While not pure silver, it was an amazing fight. Tons of jumping and saw my backing.10/10 Would catch again.

I use 9wt two piece when fishing Kings and Cohos.  You're not able to manhandle them but it makes for some great hookups.  I've only broken one rod and it was on a King that ran down river 60 yds and turned back upriver.  I was hastily trying to recover the slack when The line fouled and wrapped around my second eyelet.  When he tighten the line it snapped it in half.  I always bring a backup rod/reel.