T&T Contact rods

Upacreek

Upacreek

Freshly Spawned
Hello all,
Does anyone have any fishing experience with T&T Contact II fly rods? I am interested in the 10'-9" 3wt and the 11'-2" 3wt. From what I have read the 10'-9" can fish dries when needed but the 11'-2" is limited to nymphing only. Any experienced feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
 
I have no experience with those rods, but you might want to wait for the new Diamondback rods. They are designed by the same guy (Joe Goodspeed).
 
No personal experience with those two longer models. The 10' 3 wt is my favorite trout rod at the moment though. extremely versatile. I don't tight line nymph more than say 20-30% of the time, but this rod is great with a standard line as well. tosses a 150 grain spey lite scandi or skagit line too. I haven't heard nearly as much about these two longer rods as the 10 footers for what it's worth.
 
I have the Contact I 10' 8". I'm sure it will throw a dry just fine, but it's not going to feel like casting a regular dry fly rod. Echo Shadow X would be better for that.
 
I have the 10'9" 3wt Contact II. It gets most of its use on the lower Deschutes. I actually have only done a little dry/dropper fishing with it. I usually just take a conventional rod along with me rigged up for dries or dry/dropper (you're usually never far from your car on the D) and I think that is what a lot of people do. You can definitely throw a dry/dropper with a euro-leader, the thicker the leader butt, the easier it will be.

According to the designer, all of the contacts can throw a conventional fly line decently, but I've never strung up a 3wt line on my rod. Too busy nymphing! Plus, if I'm needing to throw a dry fly far enough out there that I need to use a fly line, I'd just use my normal 4 or 5wt. I'm sure you could string up the 11 footer with a line and it would work decently, but I really think that stick is designed for nymphing big rivers. If I fished the Deschutes every week, I probably would have gotten the 11 footer.

I've been thinking about getting the 10' 2 or 3wt next for small streams and dry/dropper fishing everywhere, but at almost 900 bucks, I'm waiting to see what Joe designs for diamondback. I'm guessing that rod will be cheaper (or maybe not?). I am a sucker for the unsanded blank though. We'll see!

You might want to check www.theflyfishingforum.com It has more of an Eastern US slant, so euro nymphing is very popular over there. There are tons of threads on the contact II over there. The 10' 2 and 3wt seem to be the most popular.

Also, I see that you are from Oregon, Deschutes Angler and Portland Fly Shop are T&T dealers. I'd stop in and ask them what they think.
 
Great information, thank you. I appreciate the input.

I have never tried bringing two fly rods while fishing. However, I do usually bring enough other parts and pieces to cover various fishing conditions that are encountered on the water. On that subject; even though I don't have any interest in Tenkara, that may be a good way to carry two rods.
 
DerekWhipple said:
I have the 10'9" 3wt Contact II. It gets most of its use on the lower Deschutes. I actually have only done a little dry/dropper fishing with it. I usually just take a conventional rod along with me rigged up for dries or dry/dropper (you're usually never far from your car on the D) and I think that is what a lot of people do. You can definitely throw a dry/dropper with a euro-leader, the thicker the leader butt, the easier it will be.

According to the designer, all of the contacts can throw a conventional fly line decently, but I've never strung up a 3wt line on my rod. Too busy nymphing! Plus, if I'm needing to throw a dry fly far enough out there that I need to use a fly line, I'd just use my normal 4 or 5wt. I'm sure you could string up the 11 footer with a line and it would work decently, but I really think that stick is designed for nymphing big rivers. If I fished the Deschutes every week, I probably would have gotten the 11 footer.

I've been thinking about getting the 10' 2 or 3wt next for small streams and dry/dropper fishing everywhere, but at almost 900 bucks, I'm waiting to see what Joe designs for diamondback. I'm guessing that rod will be cheaper (or maybe not?). I am a sucker for the unsanded blank though. We'll see!

You might want to check www.theflyfishingforum.com It has more of an Eastern US slant, so euro nymphing is very popular over there. There are tons of threads on the contact II over there. The 10' 2 and 3wt seem to be the most popular.

Also, I see that you are from Oregon, Deschutes Angler and Portland Fly Shop are T&T dealers. I'd stop in and ask them what they think.
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I have the 10'-9" on the way. What reel are you using? The Galvan GEN 3.7 seems to be recommended from what I have read. I understand that reel weight is pretty important with euro rods in particular.

I'll be fishing the Middle Deschutes, The Fall River mostly, sometimes the Metolius and Crooked below Bowman Dam.
 
Upacreek said:
I understand that reel weight is pretty important with euro rods in particular.
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It's a personal preference thing.

Some folks like the lightest rod and reel possible. That reduces shoulder fatigue, but can increase wrist/hand/forearm fatigue.

Some folks like a balanced setup. That reduces wrist/hand/forearm fatigue, but puts otherwise unnecessary weight on your shoulder.

Some folks like a butt heavy setup. This is bad for fatigue, except it makes the swing weight feel lighter and it has some benefits for tuck casting and so on.
 
jaredoconnor said:
It's a personal preference thing.

Some folks like the lightest rod and reel possible. That reduces shoulder fatigue, but can increase wrist/hand/forearm fatigue.

Some folks like a balanced setup. That reduces wrist/hand/forearm fatigue, but puts otherwise unnecessary weight on your shoulder.

Some folks like a butt heavy setup. This is bad for fatigue, except it makes the swing weight feel lighter and it has some benefits for tuck casting and so on.
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Thank you for the input, I typically try to fish a balanced setup or barring that one that is a little butt heavy. I'm not a fan of tip heavy setups though.

I have zero experience with Euro rods and techniques, although I have experimented with Euro leaders on my conventional single hand rods.
 
Upacreek said:
I have the 10'-9" on the way. What reel are you using? The Galvan GEN 3.7 seems to be recommended from what I have read. I understand that reel weight is pretty important with euro rods in particular.

I'll be fishing the Middle Deschutes, The Fall River mostly, sometimes the Metolius and Crooked below Bowman Dam.
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I use the GEN 3.5 and I love it. I use 6x almost all of the time, and the drag is smooth and the adjustment is really fine. It holds up to redbands on the lower D. I have it loaded with 100 yards of 20lb and the cortland nymph line with the .017 mono core. I think it could actually fit a three weight line on it. I went with the 3.5 instead of the 3.7 because the 3.5's weight seemed to fall in the middle of T&T's recommended reel weight for the 1093. I bet the 10'9 is in the middle and would be comfortable with either reel. I am not a huge "swing weight" kinda guy, but some people really put a lot of stock in it. A couple of ounces, sure, but a half an ounce or less doesn't seem like a big difference to me. But, I admittedly have not a/b'ed both reels on a rod. Galvan also sells a .5 oz brass weight you can stick on the reel to add some weight.
 
DerekWhipple said:
I use the GEN 3.5 and I love it. I use 6x almost all of the time, and the drag is smooth and the adjustment is really fine. It holds up to redbands on the lower D. I have it loaded with 100 yards of 20lb and the cortland nymph line with the .017 mono core. I think it could actually fit a three weight line on it. I went with the 3.5 instead of the 3.7 because the 3.5's weight seemed to fall in the middle of T&T's recommended reel weight for the 1093. I bet the 10'9 is in the middle and would be comfortable with either reel. I am not a huge "swing weight" kinda guy, but some people really put a lot of stock in it. A couple of ounces, sure, but a half an ounce or less doesn't seem like a big difference to me. But, I admittedly have not a/b'ed both reels on a rod. Galvan also sells a .5 oz brass weight you can stick on the reel to add some weight.
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Thank you for your insight. I am going to go with the Galvan 3.7 for the reel; it's a great feature that you can use the appropriate size Torque or Rush spools on the GEN reels.

How do you like the Cortland line? I haven't used their fly lines much and wonder how they fish compared to the offerings by RIO and Airflo.
 
Go with the Airflo. All of their lines are top shelf in my opinion. I have a Cortland and Rio line that I can’t really tell much of a difference between them.
 
Upacreek said:
Thank you for your insight. I am going to go with the Galvan 3.7 for the reel; it's a great feature that you can use the appropriate size Torque or Rush spools on the GEN reels.

How do you like the Cortland line? I haven't used their fly lines much and wonder how they fish compared to the offerings by RIO and Airflo.
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To be honest, the line rarely leaves the reel anymore. You don't really need a euro line unless you are competing under FIPS rules, or if you really want that fly line feel for line handling. I do like the fly line feel for handling, but I have worked down to a leader butt of 20 feet of 6lb chameleon and am mostly used to it. I'm an Airflo guy, but I did buy the Cortland line because at the time, it was the only mono-core euro line I could find so I could blood knot the core to my leader butt. The rio and Airflo lines still seemed to have that Czech/Polish influence with the sighter, I wanted something with a stiffer core for fishing further out. Those lines were also FIPS compliant, and Cortland had thinner lines available. Rio sells a mono core now marked as "technical" that is thinner and the core extends 15 feet as a leader butt. I'd try it if it didn't cost 75 bucks.
 
DerekWhipple said:
To be honest, the line rarely leaves the reel anymore. You don't really need a euro line unless you are competing under FIPS rules, or if you really want that fly line feel for line handling. I do like the fly line feel for handling, but I have worked down to a leader butt of 20 feet of 6lb chameleon and am mostly used to it. I'm an Airflo guy, but I did buy the Cortland line because at the time, it was the only mono-core euro line I could find so I could blood knot the core to my leader butt. The rio and Airflo lines still seemed to have that Czech/Polish influence with the sighter, I wanted something with a stiffer core for fishing further out. Those lines were also FIPS compliant, and Cortland had thinner lines available. Rio sells a mono core now marked as "technical" that is thinner and the core extends 15 feet as a leader butt. I'd try it if it didn't cost 75 bucks.
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Thank you for taking time to write your thoughts and experiences on this thread. I really appreciate the time you have taken. I like the feeling of fishing with fly line over the same experience with mono. I first tried mono on one of my spey setups. You can definitely shoot further with mono however, the waters I fish don't really require extra distance. I also didn't care for the experience with line coiling in wintery conditions. I found a great deal on a new Rio FIPS line, so I will give that a go, at first. I usually experiment with different lines on all my rods, so I'll eventually settle on one favorite for my setup.
 
I have stuck with chameleon for my leader butt, and after a good stretching, I really don't have coiling issues. It might be more of an issue in colder weather, but I'm usually wasting my time chasing steelhead when it's cold.
 
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