Fly rod advice

ORIGINAL: Skip16503

IMO a 10' 7 WT is ideal for Steel

ORIGINAL: Blue Elver

With due respect to the other posters, I don't think they've answered your question, though nonetheless they've given you some good advice with respect to a different problem. You said that the problem with the rod you have is that it didn't allow you to get any "leverage" when you were fighting a fish. You then asked if a longer rod would help with that problem. By "leverage", I assume you mean sufficient strength in the rod to bring a fish to the bank in a reasonable amount of time and to not have to chase every fish 50 yards downstream. If that is what you meant by leverage, getting a longer rod is not the answer. To demonstrate this, look at the biggest fly rods made by Orvis and Sage. For Orvis, it is a 14wt at 8'6". For Sage, it is a 16wt at 8'0". These rods are meant for blue water fishing for marlin, sharks and the like. The shorter the rod, the more leverage you can apply against the fish.

You stated in a second post that you had a 7wt reel. You did not specifically say that you had a 7wt rod. I don't recall ever seeing a 7wt rod with a length of 8'6". Your rod sounds more like a 4wt or 5 wt to me. Though a 4wt or 5wt can be used to bring in a steelhead, especially on the PA tributaries which are small and don't have particularly powerful currents, I don't think many would recommend that a beginner use a rod of that weight. A 7wt rod seems to be the default choice for steelheaders using single hand rods. A 7wt is powerful enough to allow an angler to bring in a fish quickly enough to avoid over-stressing it while also allowing the angler to enjoy the fight. A 7wt rod 10'0" in length isn't going to give you more leverage. Using a strict definition of leverage, it is going to give you less, however, the advantage it will give you is the ability to keep more of your fly line off the water when high sticking or indicator nymphing, which makes it easier to get a dead drift so you achieve the most natural presentation of your offering to the fish. Also, I think that your trouble fighting fish is likely due to lack of experience. I think there is a difference in the way you fight a larger game fish on a fly rod and the way you fight one on spinning tackle. There was a recent post on the Deneki Outdoors blog about how to fight large salmon on a fly rod. I'm sure you could find it with a search on Google. So, in short, switching to a 10'0" 7wt rod will probably help you to hook more steelhead which in turn will give you the chance to hone your technique on subduing them with a fly rod.

Tight lines.
Very good first post. I agree 100%. I use a 10'6" 7 wt. It is a custom built rod. A Christmas gift from my wife. Two of my fishing bud's use 8'6" 5 wt's. One always seems to land more fish than me, the other one seems to land about the same as me.I have seen steelhead caught on various combo's of rods and reels and have arrived at the conclusion that the skill of the angler appears to be the decideing factor on the ammount of fish caught and landed. That goes for other species of fish as well. Aquire the proper gear for what you choose to fish with, then do your best to learn how to use it.