Anyone fish this rod? I'm contemplating getting one built up. Curious what people who fish this think of it.
I have a Sage 2106 CT which I LOVE, it's my go to salmon/steelhead rod. However I find it a bit underpowered when the water level is up or fishing faster runs. Under these conditions I go for my old (brown blank) Shimano Convergence, 10"6, 12-25 line rating.
This rod is great but a bit heavy, and what the heck I just want to buy a new cool rod. Why not?
I've heard the Rainshadow 1263 is close in power to a Sage 3106. If this is true then I think the blank would be a good match for what I'm looking for. I don't need a new rod to be 100% as powerful as the Shimano, but close to it would be nice. It certainly needs to have a fair bit more "jam" than the Sage 2106CT.
I see on the spec sheet for RS that the 1263 has a line rating of 8-12. Hmmmm.....my 2106 CT has a line rating of 8-17. I'm a bit worried that the 1263 will be similar in power to the 2106 and I'll wish I had gone with a beefier RS blank like the 1265. Buuuuutttt, the main goal in getting this new rod is to have something beefy like the old Convergence, but noticeably lighter.
The Convergence is a heavy rod and does not feel/balance well with a smaller baitcaster. One needs to put a 400 size on it for the rod to feel well balanced. A smaller reel makes the rod feel tip heavy and it's undesirable to fish with.
Why not just buy a Sage 3106? Well, I just want to try something different and I have heard nothing but good about the R/S blanks.
Ideally the new rod will be as light as possible and be able to pair up nicely with a smaller baitcaster like a Currado 300, but have enough power/jam to fish higher water and handle springs + chum with minimal trouble.