Anyone ever build a one-piece fly rod for Steelhead?

That would be an awesome rod to fish with I would guess. But traveling with it could cause problems if its over 8 foot long. Would have to make some sort of pvc pipe case to attach to your vehicle for transportation. 

If im not flyin , Im noodleing , Love the forgivness a noodle rod gives you. Relentless bend. I would be curious to own a 10'6" one piece. Could have a lot of fun with that kind of rod and not just for steelies. Maybe crappies , bluegill and bass. I use my 2 piece 10'6" noodle for pan fish as well as steelies. Sure is fun to see a crappie turn sideways , digg in and bend it.

Helalump,
 
Yes you can use flies easily with a noodle rod, but you do not need to use fly line.  Basically, you can use the flies pretty much as you would use bait.  The idea is to get a natural drift.  You may have play around with the weight a little because most flies are smaller and weigh less than bait.  For example, if you tie on a #12 sucker spawn add a very small split shot about 8 inches up the leader, followed by another about 12 inches up and maybe one more about 18 inches up.  You may also want to put one just under the float.  The reason for using very small shot and spreading them out is to get the fly or bait down and keep the leader in a more vertical orientation to the float.  This allows the fly or bait to drift more naturally, preferably in front of the float.  This keeps the fly or bait from being dragged  behind the float, which is not what you want to have happen.  If it looks like the fly or bait is being dragged, adjust the weight and the distance from the fly or bait to the float.
 
You may have to play around with more or less weight, how deep you are fishing in order to get the right dirft. 
 
Good luck.

I don't see the point of a 1 pc rod in this case.  Modern rod technology has eliminated the flat spots that you used to find on older multi piece rods.  There would be no benefit of having a 1 pc rod (from an action/feel standpoint).  About the only benefit is that you don't have to align 2 or more pieces before you can fish.  But, transporting a 9' rod would be way more of a pain than it is worth.

Thanks,
Rick

casts_by_fly,
Point well taken.  Forgive my ignorance, but what length, action, and line weight would you suggest for Steelhead? 
Thanks,
    Mike

hefalump,

Anything from 9-10' in 6-8 wt. Pretty much any rod you find in one of those ranges will do just fine for steelhead in Erie. For the PA streams a 9' rod will do well enough, though I do prefer more length myself. I also tend to fish lighter rather than heavier so my own choice would be a 10'6" 6 wt for a single hander or my 11'9" light 7 wt for a switch rod. That said, I started with a cheaper/soft 9' 8 wt. I've fished rods from my 7'6" 5 wt fiberglas (wouldn't recommend that again) up to big switch rods and 8' wt single handers. They all got the job done.

Thanks,
Rick

When I used it for Trout... it seemed livelier when fighting a fish.  Probably more to do with it being an ultra light than one-piece.