Aside from longer casts, what are the benefits of a 2-handed rod?

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downriver79

Steelhead
I keep kicking around the idea of getting a switch or spey rod. But then I go fishing and realize that I can cover about 90+% of the water I fish with my 9' 7wt and a skagit head. I've gotten to where I can manage 10-15 strips of running line depending on how deep I'm wading, which can get the fly out 60-80 feet. On the Trinity, that covers most of the water. I love having the ability to drive around and bust through brushy banks, without needing to break a rod down to drive down the road, etc. When using my pontoon to get from spot to spot I can just tuck my rod into the sidepocket/rod holder fully assembled. With 2+ more feet of rod sticking out I'd probably have to break it down to 2 pieces to float down the river. When I start weighing the pros and cons, It seems like a bit of a hassle just to cover a very small bit of water. Does it really make much difference when it comes to anything besides longer casts like swinging a fly, mending line, etc.? Thanks in advance for any insight!
 
With a long-belly line, your fly spends a greater amount of the time actually fishing. The cast is already made in the time it takes to strip in the running line used on any of the heads.
 
Mending and line control are improved with a 2 hander in my experience. My 91440 could manipulate the line at 100ft easily. They also throw larger bugs and heavier tips more easily. If you're 60-80ft and in the zone without back casting, then you're probably fine without one. That's a hell of a lot better than I ever managed on a single hand skagit. Even on big water, I feel like casting 100+ is more for me, not the fish.
 
Much more control mending line with a longer rod. That can help you keep a swung fly in the zone longer and catch more fish - in some places with a long rod enough rod you can even keep the fly right over their heads until they come up for it.
Also great for drift control if you are bobber fishing.
 
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Like Pink Nighty wrote, it sounds like you don’t *need* to use a 2 hand rod for what you’re doing, but in addition to the added mending/line control from a longer rod, you may find that 2 hand casting is just fun and an interesting change of pace and you may learn things that translate to single hand fishing.
 
SurfnFish said:
performance aside, DH rods support low strain, dropped shoulder casting which is great for those recovering from shoulder procedures or dealing with just common wear and tear.
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This would definitely be helpful as my shoulders are in pretty bad shape. Using a skagit head on my single hand has helped a lot but I still feel it on days when fishing requires a lot of repetitive C-Spey casts with a single hand.
Evan B said:
Less about how far you cast and more about how far you DON'T throw your back cast. It's about casting with having minimal back cast room.
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This is surprising. I figured that a longer rod would require more room for back cast than a skagit head on a 9' rod.
 
Matt B said:
Like Pink Nighty wrote, it sounds like you don’t *need* to use a 2 hand rod for what you’re doing, but in addition to the added mending/line control from a longer rod, you may find that 2 hand casting is just fun and an interesting change of pace and you may learn things that translate to single hand fishing.
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Definitely more of a want than a need. I guess what I need is justification for it, hence this thread. 😁 Thanks!
 
downriver79 said:
Definitely more of a want than a need. I guess what I need is justification for it, hence this thread. 😁 Thanks!
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Look into something switchy in the 11-12 ft range maybe? A little less cumbersome broken in half, a little lighter in the hand, still cast far af and require only a little more space for your d-loop than a 9' sh.
 
Ah nah. No justification needed just money!!! 🤣


When I first got into spey 20+ years ago I had a 13’6” 7/8 type rod. It was cumbersome. Long belly spey lines were the thing. Think I was throwing a windcutter line. Gave up for on it for a decade plus. A coule of years ago with shoulders not the same I picked up an 11’0 “ 7 weight switch and really enjoyed it. I have added a 12’0”- 8 weight since. I find that length of rod is my comfort zone especially with the Skagit and AF Compact type heads. Just kinda zings the line out there easily and in tight situations too. YMMV.
 
Pink Nighty said:
Look into something switchy in the 11-12 ft range maybe? A little less cumbersome broken in half, a little lighter in the hand, still cast far af and require only a little more space for your d-loop than a 9' sh.
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I've had my eye on a barely used 11' 6wt Cabela's TLR Switch Rod that's pretty reasonably priced. There's also a Cabela's LSI 12'6" 7wt available in the same price range. If anyone has any experience with either one of those, I'd love to get your input.
 
downriver79 said:
This would definitely be helpful as my shoulders are in pretty bad shape. Using a skagit head on my single hand has helped a lot but I still feel it on days when fishing requires a lot of repetitive C-Spey casts with a single hand.

This is surprising. I figured that a longer rod would require more room for back cast than a skagit head on a 9' rod.
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If you're properly anchoring your cast and not doing an overhead cast - by that, I mean doing actual spey casts, then you shouldn't have a whole lot going behind you at all. Especially with short heads like a Skagit.
 
My -2 cents worth. starting with shorter rods I think is easier (switch etc) and using short Skagit heads helped me. Love Commando heads they helped to get the feel for rod load and in tight no room behind ares. Always remember to slow down, hands out in front & bottom hand pull. Good video is “Fishing Two handed rods” by a Finish fellow Anti. And starting the day just doing a few roll casts helps me.
 
skyrise said:
My -2 cents worth. starting with shorter rods I think is easier (switch etc) and using short Skagit heads helped me. Love Commando heads they helped to get the feel for rod load and in tight no room behind ares. Always remember to slow down, hands out in front & bottom hand pull. Good video is “Fishing Two handed rods” by a Finish fellow Anti. And starting the day just doing a few roll casts helps me.
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Just to be contrary I find that the LONG rods are easier to learn on than the short ones. The long rods force a slower cast in my experience. Which, of course, can lead to problems swapping to a shorter rod after you've learned. That said, I do find that using a short rod does have the advantage that its easier to just look behind you and watch your d-loop, which I finally figured out sunday when I was on the river.
 
Thanks for all the insight everyone! You've given me some pros to add to the pro/con list. Now I just need to figure out the weight and length.
 
I'm still on a spey journey. I have travel a long way. Comments in no particular order.

I like fast 1H salt rods. The older I got the faster I got tired. I started using single speys and overhead casts with a 2h switch rod on flats boats and I don't get tired and I'm just as accurate. Sometimes I'm even faster on the cast with 1 false cast and to the fish.

2h is just cool! You can fish more situations than you could overhead and you don't have to physically move as much to optimize your position. Mending with long rod??? I'm not convinced. I'm using heads with mono runner that could be 50+ feet away. Mono runners don't mend. What little mending that can be done the extra 4 or 5 ft of rod isn't going to mean much.

On small water like most trout streams it's single hand spey with a 1h rod. I tried to love trout spey and my conclusion on that is just "nah...." but using spey casts with right line on a 1h rod is the bomb! It's fun and it expands what you can do with a 1h rod.

We all love fighting fish on fly rods. They are traditionally about 9 ft. The fight on fly is just special. The fight on a 14ft rod just isn't! I hate it. The longest spey I fish are switch length. That's about the limit of where the fight is good. I'm not crazy. Interviews with the great Lanie Waller he will tell you the same thing and also did his spey journey only to end up never fishing more that a switch rod.

Rod speeds! No one talks about it with 2h rods. I've had deep loading slow ones and tippy fast ones. 90% are slow progressive deep loaders. I hate that. Trebuche action is what I call them and it feels bad. That's why when people have spey cast issues the answer is to always slow down. I don't have the time for that. I'm fishing faster rods in salt. I'm fishing optimized 2h rods on beaches and they are faster. Scandi rods are faster. That's what I like. I think it is easier to learn on faster rods because overhead casting is more similar to touch and go spey casting. Water anchor casts just waste energy to me and I tend not to use them. The crazy thing is you can aerialize" a water anchor cast and make it a touch and go. I'll leave you with that blasphemy.
 
offensivename said:
Just to be contrary I find that the LONG rods are easier to learn on than the short ones. The long rods force a slower cast in my experience. Which, of course, can lead to problems swapping to a shorter rod after you've learned. That said, I do find that using a short rod does have the advantage that its easier to just look behind you and watch your d-loop, which I finally figured out sunday when I was on the river.
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Well I did learn on the long rod first. Probably helped me a bit. In time I’ll probably try to go back to a 13-14 footer but for now I’m enjoying the two I use. 7110 and 8120.
 
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