My best friend Tim and I have spent years adventuring in search of fish all over PA and elsewhere. He’s been a loyal customer of mine and has a tendency to push his rods to the brink. After owning the Flagship ESS egg rod and a heavier rod for fishing jigs and lures for salmon, he wanted something in between.
The XST1141-2 was in order to make this a reality. Using Batson factory cork and ALPS reel seat, up to the KLSG guides, this rod has a serious flare to it. Tim wanted a bright rod with no metallic, so blaze orange and white were chosen to give it that extra eye appeal. This rod has already landed hundreds of fish and will continue to do as long as it’s in 1 (two) pieces.
Dave was a local customer who found me though our Steelhead Video on Leatherwood Outdoors. He expressed to me his need for a better handling spinning rod with his input into the handle and length. He also wanted something on heavier side for the occasional king salmon he might encounter.
Enter the MHX series from Mudhole Custom Tackle. These rods are work horses and no frills. The 9’6” 1142-2 fit the bill perfectly for what my customer wanted to do. This will dog any steelhead or brown trout but still have enough backbone for a 40 LB king salmon.
Featuring a custom turned handle and Pac Bay Aluminum spinning reel seat, the rear handle was kept longer in a true spinning type of setup. Using the KLSG guides from Fuji and finishing with size 8 Running Guides for winter fishing, they are wrapped solid with gunmetal, black and silver trim bands,
Straight Forward attack model XST1141-2. Featuring a 9 inch rear super cork handle from Batson, ALPS reel seat in size 12 and Fuji KR concept guides this rod is the diamond amongst gemstones in steelhead alley. Unfortunately the blank is discontinued, but this is arguably the ultimate Pennsylvania/Ohio/NY Steelhead setup, the Do it All From Jigs, Plugs, Eggs and everything else in between.
This ESS series rod found it’s home in Ohio for spring steelhead. Built on a 10′ 2 PC 6WT moderate action fly rod blank this rod is designed to fish eggs first and foremost.
Featuring the Fuji KR concept Alconite guides and Fuji downlocking reel seat, the handle is kept short to use the entire butt section of the rod when fighting a fish while keeping the shock absorbing qualities of the moderate action tip section. Thread is Prowrap smoke screen NCP with Red NCP and Blue Metallic Trim
This Michigan style grip is for a female angler looking to target steelhead in Pennsylvania. She has expressed to me her need for a shorter handle system and she can’t find a fast action factory rod setup to her liking.
That’s what’s the best about custom rod building! What you envision and need can be made. Enjoy this unique handle and check back for the completed rod soon.
If you follow any of us on Social Media you have no doubt seen us use these before. The soft plastic has become a staple jig for us over the past decade. Steelhead that are as pressured as those in PA waters see the same thing time and time again every minute of every day non-stop. Why not try something different?
Berkley Power minnows come in a few variations, all viable options. The Gulp! series, Power Minnow, Twitch Tail Minnow and the Sparkle Dropshot Minnow following the old style discontinued Realistix series are all offered from Berkley. Some of the Best Colors have been Watermelon Pearl and Smelt.
A late spring steelhead that took a 3 IN Power Minnow fished under a float
The action you can impart with a 1/32 or 1/80 un-collared jig is irresistible. In deep water setting a Styrofoam float and effectively jigging the float itself can also be very deadly to cruising or podded fish. There are also instances in fishing Frog or Pocket water where a float can be employed.
Steelhead in Lake Erie feed on a variety of baitfish, emerald shiners being the most popular. They won’t turn down a properly presented plastic minnow willingly.
This rod is built on what is my opinion the perfect length of blank for fishing any river or stream along Steelhead Alley. 9’6” seems to be the do-all happy medium that we have found, although some prefer longer or shorter. This rod is a 2 PC MHX blank, although I have limited experience building these I was very impressed with this blanks power and action. The customer requested that a Rainbow Trout Skin decal be placed between the split grip handle, which was turned out of some excellent quality cork from Custom Fly Grips.
The Reel Seat is SZ 17 Graphite Hardware with a Green Box Elder Burl insert that was custom turned and polished. Guides are the Fuji K system transitioning to the running guides for optimum casting distance and performance. In my opinion the K guide system is the absolute best option there is. Forest Green Purple and some metallic trimbands accentuate the guides and stand out wonderfully on the dark blank.
If you’d like inquire about a high performance rod geared for steelhead fishing please contact me today!
Steelhead Season is Upon us here in the Great Lakes. Fish have been coming into the lower sections of the larger streams and although not in great numbers, there’s enough to keep us busy. Anglers often run into a hard time fishing the low and gin clear structure less shale bottom, but this is a time to do some serious damage once you understand how to get it done. Here at Laurel Ridge Rods we like to employ a variety of methods in order to better make use of our time and gas money.
With the abundance of other anglers it makes Fly Fishing tough, although not impossible. The shadow, brightness and weight of a fly line slapping over grouped up stressed out fish is a sure way to guarantee your flies will be nothing but thoroughly washed. I also see about 93% of fish accidentally foul hooked by fly fishing in PA, it is simply unfeasible in the majority of cases in the clear water. That’s not to say some don’t do well, but further less don’t.
Various baits and jigs on spinning rods are what we have found to produce the best results for consistently catching fish in the unique PA waters. Some of the techniques we use range from single cured egg fishing with a size 16-22 hook and often times 0 split shot. Also, do not look over some popular lure and jig selections. We use everything from lures designed from Panfish and Bass. We will be writing future articles explaining these techniques further. For now enjoy some of the pictures of some Early Season Steelhead from Pennsylvania, all taken on rods built by Laurel Ridge Rods
Tim Irvin with the First one of the Season before Daylight
This is a Fly to Spin conversion for a customer looking to Downsize the ESS series rod and translate it to trout fishing. So is born the TSS series, or Trout Specific Series. This rod features a split grip wave and rubberized cork butt cap. Split Grip Decal, Forecast size 16 Graphite Spinning Seat and FUJI KR concept guides in black. Thread is a mix of forest green and green metallic giving the rod a perfect match to the forest green blank with a bright contrast.
If you are looking for a small stream trout setup to fit your needs, look no further. This is what we do people!
This is a 4 PC 3 WT fly rod from the RX6 Line at Batson Enterprises. This rod can handle everything from a size 22 griffiths gnat to a size 2 streamer. Known for being notoriously strong for their rated line weight a 4 wt line would not be objectionable on this rod.
Reel Seat is a BUL5 with Birds Eye insert, handle is natural cork with rubberized cap, thread is pro wrap black with blue trim, guides are ALPS BUD blue and finishing with ALPS single foot guides. Overall pleasure to build for my customer chasing wild brown trout around PA.
