Emerald Water Anglers

Fly Fishing Seattle and Worldwide

Seattle Fly Shop, Guide Service

& Global Travel Outfitter

•A Carbon Neutral Company•

fly fishing climate alliance

Visit our Seattle store

Shop our online store

Sign up for our Newsletter

one percent for the planet
  • Seattle Fly Fishing
    • Puget Sound
    • Yakima River
      • Cle Elum River
    • Mountain Creeks
    • Snoqualmie River
      • Middle and South Forks of Snoqualmie River
    • Cedar River
    • Warm Water Fly Fishing
    • Olympic Peninsula Steelhead Rivers
      • Bogachiel River
      • Hoh River Steelhead Fly Fishing Guides
      • Queets River
      • Sol Duc River Steelhead Fly Fishing Guides
    • Puget Sound Steelhead Rivers
      • Sauk River
      • Skagit River
      • Skykomish River
      • Snoqualmie River
      • Stillaguamish River
    • Columbia Basin Steelhead Rivers
      • Cowlitz River
      • Grande Ronde River
      • Kalama River, WA
      • Klickitat River
      • Methow River, WA
      • Wenatchee River, WA
    • Albacore Tuna
    • Our Seattle Fly Fishing Guide Staff
  • Women’s Fly Fishing
  • Classes & Schools
    • Private Fly Fishing Instruction
  • Travel
    • Fly Fishing Destinations
      • Alaska
        • Intricate Bay Lodge
        • Wild River Guides
      • Colorado
        • Black Canyon of the Gunnison
        • Roaring Fork River
      • Hawaii
      • Oregon
        • Deschutes River
        • John Day River
        • Oregon Coast Steelhead
        • North Umpqua River
      • Africa – Tiger Fish
      • Argentina
        • Salta – Golden Dorado
        • Tierra del Fuego – Sea Run Browns
      • Bahamas – Bonefish
        • Abaco Lodge
        • Bair’s Lodge – South Andros
        • H20 Bonefishing – Grand Bahama
      • Belize
      • Bolivia – Golden Dorado
      • Brazil – Peacock Bass
      • Canada
        • Skeena River Meadows, B.C.
      • Christmas Island
      • Cuba
      • Greenland – Arctic Char
      • Honduras – Fly Fish Guanaja
      • Iceland – Atlantic Salmon
      • India – Golden Mahseer
      • Mexico
        • Tarpon Caye Lodge
        • Zihuatanejo
      • Mongolia – Taimen
      • New Zealand
      • Russia
        • Kamchatka – Rainbow Trout
        • Kola – Atlantic Salmon
      • Scotland
      • Seychelles – Giant Trevally
      • South Pacific
      • Spain – Pyrenees Mountains
      • Venezuela – Los Roques
    • Hosted Fly Fishing Travel
  • Reports
    • Blog
    • Puget Sound Tides, Wind and Food Forms
    • Yakima River Hatch Chart
    • CFS – Washington River Flows
    • CFS – Oregon River Flows
  • Shop
  • About Us
    • Our Seattle Store
    • EWA – Environment and Sustainability
    • Upcoming Events
    • Contact Us
    • In the Media

Redington CPX Spey Rods: Definite Bang for the Buck!

February 2, 2011 by adminewa

Since August of 2010 I have been casting and fishing with the new(ish) Redington CPX 12’9″ 7 wt and 13’3″ 8 wt rods.  Here is what I have to say about them:

First of all, I love the price!  At just shy of $400 both of these rods deliver big and perform as well as any other rod in their class.  Of course, spey casters as a whole tend to be on the more particular side when it comes to rod actions, and how a rod feels when loading it up with a D-loop and sending one out over the water can either make or break a rod for some guys.

I like the CPX 12’9″ 7 weight best for summer/fall steelhead fishing but it is a great winter rod as well.  It casts well with medium to lightweight tips and small to medium sized flies.  It even performed admirably with a 10 foot chunk of t-14 and some decent sized intruders and leeches for some early winter steelheading.  This rod would do well with a scandi head for waking dries on rivers like the Wenatchee, Klickitat, Deschutes and Grande Ronde.  It would also be a great stick for dollies on the Skagit/Sauk and big Alaska rainbows.  Team it up with an overweighted Rio Outbound line and you would have a mean 2 handed overhead rocket launcher for targeting silvers and pinks in the late summer/fall on our Puget Sound beaches.

Personally, I am not married to any type of rod action.  Most of the guys I know like a medium-fast rod that bends progressively, loading deep into the butt section.  The guys who fished with me and cast both of these rods preferred the 7 wt.  While it is a fast action rod, it has just enough give to load well even when using short heads.  The rod cast well matched up with  a Rio Skagit short 525 grain line and also performed with the Airflo equivalent, a Compact Skagit 540.  I did not try it with a Rio Skagit Flight head, but I would guess it probably bombs with a 525 grain.

For the price this rod is extremely versatile and would be an ideal setup for someone looking to get into fishing with a full spey rod or someone wanting a second rod that will do a lot.  Matched with different lines, tips and flies you could be set up to target larger fish species pretty much anywhere.

At 13’3″ the 8wt CPX is your go to winter steelhead rod for the PNW.  I really like this rod, but some other guys I fished with felt that it was too stiff.  I will admit that it is an extremely fast action rod.  If you are used to casting more traditional, fuller flex rods you will probably not like how this rod casts, but this stiffness serves a purpose.  The thing I like most about this rod is that it has the backbone to pick up just about anything and send it into outer space!  It is designed for shooting line.  In this sense it is not really a spey rod in its traditional form, it is a Skagit rod.

If you like fishing deep with heavy sink tips and big flies, this rod is for you.  My favorite setup for this rod is a Rio Skagit Flight 600 grain head matched with a MOW 10ft t-14 tip and a big intruder.  If you are thinking about this rod as your first rod, or if you are used to fishing with a more moderate action rod I would recommend loading it with a Flight 650 instead.

That said, I still have not found a combination of fly/tip that I cannot cast easily with this rod.  It will do well for anybody that fishes for steelhead in the winter, and will shine on big rivers with deep slots, heavy current and BIG fish!  On a recent trip to the Olympic Peninsula I got a chance to test this rod’s mettle against a big wild buck and it did not disappoint.

On a side note I also tested out the new Redington Delta 9/10 reel with this rod.  Not only does the gunmetal finish make a handsome match for the gloss black CPX, but the sturdy machined aluminum frame and overbuilt drag handle big fish no problem.

Overall, I am impressed with Redington and the new line of products they are offering since Sage acquired the company.  Kudos to their staff and team of designers.  I look forward to seeing what they will have to offer in the coming seasons.

If you are interested in picking up a rod I would highly recommend checking out Skate The Fly for your purchase.

Filed Under: Emerald Water Anglers Tagged With: CPX, Emerald Water Anglers, Pacific North West, Redington, Rio, Skagit Casting, Skate the Fly, spey rods, steelhead

Light Switches and Saltwater

July 2, 2010 by emeraldw


So it isn’t as though this is new but I get the feeling many have been sitting around, waiting to see if the fad of “switch” rods was going to go as fast as it came. Unfortunately I just don’t see that happening.

Pushed by recent interest in trying these new light weight switches by some clients, we have gone ahead and picked up a number of them to see if there was something relevant in our area where we could see using them, and we have.

Puget Sound is the perfect fishery for swinging or stripping baitfish patterns for aggressive sea run cutthroat. When our steelhead rivers are all blown and dedicated spey sport is still wanting to partake, game on! Locations in the Sound have enough current that is appears to be a river in front of you and allows for a natural lift, place, sweep and cast for spey casters and then the fly can work across current very naturally and does indeed get picked up by the marauding trout in the area.

Not that these couldn’t work on trout rivers all over, in fact I bought my first “switch” rod from Scott in 1997, the 11’9″ Arc seen above to use on the Gunnison where I was guiding at the time. Back then there weren’t really any lines that worked well on it and most wondered what on earth I would own one for and many more wondered why Scott even made it.

Well those days are WAY behind us and now we have lines and heads that work exceptionally well on these rods from Rio, S/A, Airflo and others. The other option here is to use appropriate grain weighted standard Weight Forward floating lines, this is actually a great option if the over head cast is going to be your prime use.

For us, our new found love for them is actually on Puget Sound for sea run cutthroat. It is a fun and exciting way to fish the beaches as well as gives the opportunity for other anglers to learn some new casting skills that will make them better anglers in the long run.

While nymphing with one in a river could be one application, we prefer to use them with Compact Scandi heads and utilize a variety of casts from 2 hand over-head casts to pokes, single speys and snaps to change direction on moving fish.

Some of these slightly heavier rods are going to be wonderful summer steelhead sticks on rivers where and when wind isn’t an issue and others will make sweet streamer trout sticks on larger water. Some will cover what is left in between.

Are we just getting bored with same old single hand casting or is there a genuine need/niche for rods like these? Good question. I believe there are some legit reasons for why someone would benefit from these and learning how to spey/underhand cast.

One is the age old reason that a roll cast is ever brought up to beginners learning to fly fish. No room for back casting. I believe a single spey and even the snap T and double spey are more dynamic casts that allow anglers to be more accurate, cover more water and do so in a more calculated fashion.

Secondly is that learning these casts will make ALL fly anglers a better angler period as these casts are all achievable with your single handed rod, clear down to your 000wt from Sage. Yep, that rod can come alive with these casts and these longer rods make learning how to do it, very easy.

Thirdly, as we begin to fish longer distances in the same watersheds, line management is a key factor in realizing success. These longer rods will allow even semi novice anglers a much easier time with mending than a more common 9ft 5wt will.

The lightest switch we are using is the Echo SR 4wt and are waiting for the 240 grain Compact Scandi head to make its way to the public so we can really give it its fair shake.

Probably one of the toughest aspects of figuring out which rod to buy is a side by side test. Actions are all over the board from company to company as are the lengths from 10’6 5wt Redington to 12’6″ Echo by Dec Hogan.

There are a few we don’t have yet but will by end of the summer to round this out and going in everyone should know there are some that are great as small spey rods and others that are going to perform much better as an overhead casting rod, even though they will obviously do both. As with nearly everything in this sport, final judgement is quite subjective from angler to angler.

Any questions, let us know, happy to answer them. Happy 4th of July to everyone.

Filed Under: Emerald Water Anglers Tagged With: Airflo, compact Scandi heads, Echo, Emerald Water Anglers, G Loomis, Puget Sound, Redington, Rio, S/A, Scott Fly Rods, Seattle, spey casts, spey rods, switch rods, TFO, Washington, Winston

Contact Us

  • Reservations/Contact
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Speaking Engagements
  • In the Media

Emerald Water Anglers

4502 42nd Ave. SW
Seattle, WA 98116
10-7 Mon-Fri, 10-6 Sat, 11-5 Sun
206-708-7250

Contact Us!

Reports and Blog

  • Scales : Our Blog
  • Events
  • Fishing Reports
  • Dave McCoy Photography

2021 Copyright © Emerald Water Anglers. Global Fly Fishing Specialists

4502 42nd Ave, SW Seattle, Washington 98116

Copyright © 2021 · EWA Genesis on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in