Northwest Fishing Reports

Guys, I know i have been posting a lot.. and have been getting great answers to my questions. I really do appreciate it.

Heres another one.

Okuma SST 10 ft 6 float rod in 8-17 lb rating........ are they good float rod? should I look at something different???


THANK YOU

I just got one about a month ago and it's a decent rod. If you are going to use it for float fishing it is a good rod for the price, but if you are going to be drift fishing I would use something a bit more sensitive. My only problem with it is that for some reason my reel wants to keep falling off even if I tighten it all the way on.

I have the 6-12 lb for steelhead and love it. Hard to beat it for the price in my opinion.

Do you feel that the 6-12 is pretty light for like floating eggs for coho?

I had the 10-20 SST that I used for my float rod. Caught several Kings and too many coho to count. Great rod that someone wanted far more then me.

It's a little light, but I don't see why you couldn't use it for Coho. Though it may not handle the larger fish too well. I'm not sure though. I picked up one a few years ago, and I've only used it for steelhead. But I have landed a few small Coho on it and I didn't have any problems doing so. Overall it's a pretty good rod, and the price is hard to beat.

WoolyRunner wrote:Do you feel that the 6-12 is pretty light for like floating eggs for coho?

Almost every single coho I caught in the river this last year was on a 1-4lb test rod. That is more then enough rod.
But with that said, I picked up the 8-17 sst a little while back, for the price its a pretty good rod. Can't really go wrong with it.

rappuhd wrote:I have the 6-12 lb for steelhead and love it. Hard to beat it for the price in my opinion.

I use this rod paired up with a spinnig reel and 8# braid for pinks and trout. With the length of the rod and the braid you can cast light weights (jigs, spinners) a long ways and EVERY fish looks like a BIG fish

The 8-17 should be fine for Puget sound steelhead..

WoolyRunner wrote:Guys, I know i have been posting a lot.. and have been getting great answers to my questions. I really do appreciate it.

Heres another one.

Okuma SST 10 ft 6 float rod in 8-17 lb rating........ are they good float rod? should I look at something different???


THANK YOU

I have fished this rod for a while. It is a noodle, for such a heavy rod. There really isn't a backbone to it, it's just really bendy. The 8-12 float rod has a lot better action, a lighter tip, with strength in the butt. The noodly nature of the 8-17 makes casting uncomfortable to me. It's really only necessary to go that heavy when you're fighting big kings in current. Silvers beg for light tackle, with the clear conditions that you're fishing them in. I fished the side drifters for drift and twitching and the 8-12 float rod for bobbers. A much better choice.

I used my 8'6" 8-12 steelhead setups for coho this last season and they worked great. I used a 7'9" 8-15 to catch chum in the Green, also worked great! I think the reel/drag is more important then the rod's rating though.
I finally broke down and got a 10'6" float rod, 6-12lb but haven't had a chance to use it yet. I plan on using it for coho as well.
Outdoor Emporium puts the lamiglass x11 on sale for ~$68 from time to time, great rod at that price and beats out the SST at ~$70-100 in my opinion. Nothing wrong with the SST though, would be a good rod to pick up.

I also sold an 8'6" 8-12 to a fishing buddy to get him off the 6 foot ugly stick. He managed to land several coho's and a few kings on the puke with it. I would have kept it but I didnt like the feel of the 8 footer. It did finally break on a big nasty chum tho.

Also keep in mind that I have found the Okuma warranty to be even better then lamiglass. I have got several new tips from Okuma for different rods and have always got them very quickly and without any problems. Even when it is my fault has only cost 14.95 or so.