I was recently invited to join Winston Rod Company's prestigious Advisory Team. Thus far, the "Green Team" consists of legendary saltwater guide Bruce Chard, scandi casting guru Andre Scholz and the first lady of fly fishing, Joan Wulff.

It’s an honor to be part of the Winston family. For years, the company has produced some of the finest crafted fly rods on the market. Their attention to detail, unique tapers, superior materials and over-all craftsmanship has created an extremely loyal customer base. Many of you more than likely already bleed green.

What excites me the most about joining Winston is the new BIII TH series of Spey rods. I recently cast the final round of prototypes. All I can say is that Winston rod designer Annette McLean dialed up some true sweethearts in this family of two-handers. They will blow you away! The new rods should be available sometime this month.

Stay tuned for all my thoughts on the new BIII TH family of Spey rods.

Visit the NEW Winston Rod Co. website

Winston's new line of Boron III TH Spey rods are due to hit fly shops any day now. I was lucky enough to test drive the new two-handers a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd give you a sneak peek at the new series. In addition to reviews on the new Boron III TH spey rods, I've included spey line recommendations with the "Larimer stamp of approval".

Besides the hand-crafted quality Winston is famous for, the new two-handers feature Boron III technology which makes the rods incredible responsive, light in hand and extremely strong. In addition, down-locking reel seats bring the weight lower which helps increase line speed off the tip of the rod. Finally, Winston rod designer Annette McLean dialed up some heart and soul in the new tapers. Over-all, you'll find the new Boron III TH rods slightly faster than the older BIIx Spey rods. However, they still maintain that sweet Winston feel.

Winston 6110-4 Boron III TH Spey Rod

The new 6110 Boron III TH is the smallest gun in the Winston’s new BIII TH Spey rod family. It’s incredibly light and responsive when lined with a 360 grain Airflo Rage Compact. That said, it casts like a light six. By that I mean it’s super fun with a floating line. However, don’t expect this stick to rip a Skagit head with 12’ of T-14 and a big, weighted fly. It will do sink-tips with a 420 Skagit Switch, just have reasonable expectations of what it can handle. The softer tip section on the 6110 should make it a fun streamer rod for big trout and smallmouth. Purchase the 6110-4 Boron III TH

Winston 6116-4 Boron III TH Spey Rod

The new 6116 Boron III TH is the perfect little Spey rod for dry line summer steelhead. With a 390 grain Airflo Rage Compact this thing was a cannon! More so, it has enough in the tank to cast fairly heavy sink-tips and weighted flies when paired with a 450 grain Airflo Skagit Switch. I can also see this being a wonderful rod for hucking sculpins and mice at big Alaskan rainbows. Purchase the 6116 Boron III TH

Winston 6126-4 Boron III TH Spey Rod

I loved the new Winston 6126 Boron III TH! This thing is a summer steelheader’s dream with a 390 Airflo Rage Compact. The rod’s powerful tip coupled with Winston’s unmistakable smooth action was a pleasure to cast. Don’t let the finesse of the 12’6 #6 weight fool you; it chucked a meaty tip incredibly well when teamed up with a 450 grain Skagit Switch. This may be the finest one salt summer steelhead rods ever built! Purchase the 6126 Boron III TH

Winston 7129-4 Boron III TH Spey Rod 

Winston’s new 7129 Boron III TH will no doubt become an instant classic in the world of Spey casting. The rod’s smooth, silky feel coupled with incredulous power made one of my favorites in the new Boron III TH Spey rod line up. Lined with a 510 grain Airflo Skagit Switch the rod is unstoppable. -Hucking big sink-tips and heavy flies was a pleasure. When the sun drops below the canyon wall, a 450 grain Rage Compact commands the water. I also had a chance to throw a 510 Airflo Skagit intermediate on this rod and it jammed. In summary, the new 7129 Boron III TH is the perfect “all around” Spey rod. Purchase the 7129 Boron III TH

Winston 7133-4 Boron III TH Spey Rod

How could Winston’s new 7133 Boron III TH trump their old Boron II 13’3 #7 weight Spey rod? For starters, Winston made it lighter and more responsive. Rod designer Annette McClean also dialed up a little more power in the tip while maintaining that sweet Winston feel we all fell in love with. If you like a traditional Skagit, a 540 grain Airflo Skagit Compact is magic. If you fall into the short head-long rod camp, a 510 grain Skagit Switch is just silly fun. For dry line work, go 450 grain Rage Compact and unleash the fury. Purchase the 7133 Boron III TH

Winston 8136-4 Boron III TH Spey Rod 

The power, clean tip recovery and lightness of the new 8136 Boron III TH surprised me. Despite the fact that it takes a 600 grain Skagit Compact or a 510 Rage, it casts small. By that I mean that while the 8136 is a big water stud, it feels more like a 13’ #7 weight in your hands. Yet, it will jack your biggest sink-tips and gnarliest intruders into the stratosphere. If you like the feel and taper of the new 7133 Boron III TH, look no further for your next big water stick. Purchase the 8136 Boron III TH

Winston 8140-4 Boron III TH Spey Rod

The new 8140 Boron III TH, the big brother to the 8136, is what I consider as a long belly stick. It did well with a 600 Skagit Compact but honestly, not as well as the 8136 BIII TH. However, lined with an Airflo 8/9 Ultra Spey it was a machine. I didn’t have an 8/9 Delta spooled up during testing but my gut tells me it would be spot on. Purchase the 8140 Boron III TH

Winston 9150-4 Boron III TH Spey Rod 

The big gun in Winston’s new Boron III TH Spey series is for those few rivers where distance does matter. It’s no secret that I’m not a long belly guy. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed ripping big casts with a 9/10 Airflo Ultra Spey. I did try a 660 Skagit Compact with a 15’ sink-tip on the rod. -No fish will go uncovered.  Purchase the 9140 Boron III TH

*All "Purchase Links" go to the Gorge Fly Shop in Hood River, Oregon. For all your Spey casting gear,visit their website.

Late November is a time I cherish. After watching people wail on steelhead all season, I actually get to hang out with my buddies and do some fishing!

Here's a cool shot I took of a November buck landed on a new Winston Boron III TH Spey rod by my close friend and industry sales rep, Eric Neufeld.

The more I fish these sticks the more I love them! The rod I seamed to gravitate towards this fall was the 12'6 for a #6 weight, lined with a 450 grain Airflo Skagit Switch. It's light in hand, super responsive to cast and man-handled Deschutes & Klickitat steelhead up to 12 pounds.

I love this rod so much I plan on using it for low-water winter steelheading when light tippets are a must in clear water.

• Winston Boron III TH Spey Rod Review & Lining Recommendations
• Purchase the 6126 Boron III TH from the Gorge Fly Shop (affiliate link)

Thinking about buying a new Spey rod? Here's a few of my favorite Spey rigs for the fisheries I guide on and host trips too. All affiliate links go to the Gorge Fly Shop in Hood River, Oregon. If you have any questions about the rods, please don't hesitate to email me.

Dry Line Steelhead Spey Rig

For dry line Spey fishing on rivers with one salt summer steelhead, my weapon of choice is the Winston Boron III TH 6126-4. It's an incredibly light and responsive stick yet powerful enough to drive long casts into a stiff evening wind on the Deschutes. 

• Winston Boron III TH 6126-4  Buy Now
• Hatch Finatic 7+ (Large Arbor Spool)  Buy Now
• Airflo Rage Compact, 390 grains  Buy Now
• Airflo Ridge Running Line, 30 Lb.  Buy Now
• Airflo 10' Salmon & Steelhead Poly Leader, Intermediate  Buy Now

The 6126 will also handle sink-tips with an Airflo Skagit Switch, 450 gr  Buy Now

Skagit/Sink-tip Rig

My favorite rod for sink-tip fishing is the Winston BIII TH 7129-4. It's a stout enough rod to fish on summer rivers like the Dean and it'sperfect for any of my winter rivers. That said, it's not over-kill for smaller Deschutes fish. If I only had one rod in my arsenal this would be it! Rigged with an Airflo Skagit Switch, it chucks big sink-tips and heavy flies with ease.

• Winston Boron III TH 7129-4  Buy Now
• Hatch Finatic 9+ (Mid Arbor Spool) Buy Now
• Airflo Skagit Switch, 510 grains  Buy Now
• Rio Slick Shooter Running Line, 50 Lb.  Buy Now
• Airflo 10' sink-tips in T-7, T-10, T-14  Buy Now

For dry line fishing, try a 450 grain Airflo Rage Compact  Buy Now

The RL Winston Fly Rod Co. recently invited Jeff Currier to be a member of its prestigious Advisory Team.

Jeff resides in Victor, Idaho with his wife Yvonne where he bases his globe-trotting career in fly fishing. He is an active member of the R.L. Winston Rod Co Professional Advisory Team as well as Scientific Anglers, and Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures.

Jeff is a fly fishing lecturer and well known fish artist. He has taught the skills of fly fishing, guided fly fishers throughout Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park and escorted fly fishers on six continents.Jeff has fished in forty-seven countries and caught over 300 species of fish on the fly! Jeff’s articles, photographs and artwork have graced the pages of magazines, catalogs, brochures and books. He is the acclaimed author of Currier’s Quick and Easy Guide to Saltwater Fly Fishing and Currier’s Quick and Easy Guide to Warmwater Fly Fishing guide books.

Jeff is also a well sought after expert for television, radio and numerous fly fishing films. Jeff led Team USA to its first ever top-ten finish in the World Flyfishing Championships in Jaca, Spain. During the competition Jeff managed to fool fish on every venue and placed third in the individual standings, becoming the only American ever to take home a medal in the thirty year history of the Championships.

Jeff lectures throughout the United States and Canada on nearly every aspect of fly fishing. He demonstrates fly casting, teaches seminars on the basics to the advanced skills of fly fishing and presents many fly fishing destination programs ranging from his home waters to the most remote corners of the globe. Some of his shows take you to destinations you’ve never heard of and will leave you in awe that such creatures can be enticed to eat a fly!

Jeff brings a sense of humor, enthusiasm, approachability and forty years of fly fishing wherever he goes.

You can follow Jeff’s fly fishing adventures, exploits, tips, advice, photography and story-telling on his expanding blog and informative web site.

www.jeffcurrier.com

Joan Wulff is considered by many to be the first lady of fly fishing, which makes sense considering everything she has accomplished throughout her career. Whether it's winning casting competitions, designing fly rods for the RL Winston Rod Company or helping a new angler become a more proficient caster, Joan does it better than most. In short, she's one bad-ass lady with a fly rod!

As a member of the Winston Pro Advisory Team, she recently produced a series of short videos on single-hand casting. The first five videos cover casting fundamentals. Joans style is easy to understand and well thought out. If you want to become a better caster, do yourself a favor and watch them!

Stay tuned for her advanced casting videos which are due out soon!

I’ve had the great privilege of designing a new series of “trout sized Spey rods" for the Winston Rod Company. Working with rod design guru Annette McClean, we are releasing three models in the Boron III TH Microspey family this September.

The Microspey series and grain windows:

• #3 weight, 10 ½’  (270-190 grains)
• #4 weight, 11’     (330-240 grains)
• #5 weight, 11 ½’  (390-300 grains)

As the name implies, these are not “switch” rods… In other words, we didn’t try to make the rod do everything. Most switch rods are incredibly fast action through the butt section making them akin to spey casting a 2X4 piece of lumber. On the contrary, the Microspey taper has a slightly faster tip with a smooth and groovy mid and butt section giving them more of a traditional medium-fast Spey action coupled with the unmistakable Winston feel.

These rods take trout fishing to a new level! I had a chance to test the prototypes on the Deschutes and numerous rivers in Alaska. I can't wait to fish half pounder steelhead, smallmouth and landlocked salmon with them... They are mega fun!

In addition to the Microspey project, I am designing two new lines for Airflo built specifically for smaller two-handed rods. –More on that project soon!

More fun Winston Spey stuff:

• Larimer's Recommended Spey Equipment
• Winston BIII TH Review & Lining Recommendations

I recently had the great privilege of helping design a series of "Microspey" rods for the Winston Rod Company. These new mini two-handers are a blast to cast and fish! To learn more about the Microspeys and my design philosophy, check out this interview on the Winston Blog.

My good friends at Winston Fly Rods just launched a brand spankin new website. The new platform features all of Winston's incredible fly rods including the new Boron III TH Microspeys. More so, the site features videos, a blog and tons of other fun stuff to keep you distracted from work.

Check out the new Winston website.

Check out this great trout Spey video from the folks at Headhunters Fly Shop on the Missouri River in Montana. Good to see the growing interest in chasing trout with two hands!

More Articles on Spey for trout:

• Spey Fishing for Deschutes Trout
• Winston Microspey Rods
• Building Welded Loops in Airflo Sink-tips

Spey fishing for trout may be one of the fastest textures of our sport. For good reason… It’s mega fun and incredibly effective! Like single-hand fishing, there are line weights that can cover many techniques much like #5 weight single-hander. Conversely, there are rods that work well for specific fishing situations. Today’s post covers the full array of two-hand weapons used for chasing trout and the techniques applicable to each line size.

• #6 Weight Spey

Six weight Spey & switch rods are great tools when you’re throwing extremely large, heavy streamers. Think 2”-4” sculpin and leech patterns and massive Alaskan rainbows. They posses the lifting power to pull big sink-tips from the depths and can handle trout in the “Big Jerry” category.

• #5 Weight Spey

For medium to large flies and big trout, a #5 weight Spey rod commands the water. They can handle fairly large sink-tips when dredging for “Walter”. A #5 weight Spey is also a superb instrument for mouse fishing, which is about the most fun you can have standing up. Although a #5 is heavy for soft hackle fishing, they will perform with heavier tippets like 3x. Finally, they’re fantastic tools when the wind is blowing.

• #4 Weight Spey

I consider a #4 weight Spey rod the most versatile of the line sizes. If you were only planning on owning one spey rod, this would be a good choice. Most #4 weights are light enough to swing soft hackles and caddis pupa but still have enough in the tank for hucking a moderately heavy sink-tip like T-10 and a small weighted bugger. Plus, they’re still stout enough to handle “Bubba” sized trout.

• #3 Weight Spey

If you’re looking for a rod to swing soft hackles & caddis pupa or for indicator nymph fishing, look no further. A #3 is light enough to handle 5X tippet (I’ve done 6X) –and small flies (I’ve gone down to #22 but don’t recommend it). These are also incredible tools for fishing dry flies, especially big stones and hoppers in those tough to reach seems just out of single-hand range. These smaller rods are not as easy to fish heavy streamers with, however, a skilled caster can make them work just fine with small to moderate baitfish patterns. Finally, while Walter and Big Jerry might give a #3 Spey a run for it’s money, it will handle 10” to 20” fish with no issues. (I’ve seen 25” rainbows & Dollies landed on a #3 Weight Microspey)

So there you have it… Obviously a #4 weight Spey gives you tons of versatility and is a good choice if you’re just getting into the sport. However, if you’re a serious angler you’ll soon find that like single-hand rods, it’s hard to own only one.

Read about the family of Microspeys I help design for Winston

Spey fishing for trout is no longer considered a novelty. Anglers have realized that Spey fishing covers tons of water with a variety of techniques. -Swinging streamers, wet flies and caddis pupa is deadly on the long rod. More so, indicator nymph fishing with a two-hander changes the game. Dry fly anglers are even finding Spey rods useful for big water stonefly and hopper fishing. Furthermore, anglers are finding how beneficial two-handed rods are for tight casting conditions, mega long drifts and superior hook sets. Finally, Spey fishing for trout is simply fun!

-Need any more reasons to try Spey fishing for trout?

Articles on Spey Fishing for Trout:

• Spey Fishing for Deschutes Trout
• Spey Fishing for Trout -Montana Style
• Cold Weather Layering

Articles on Trout Spey Equipment:

• Airflo Skagit Switch
• Winston Microspeys
• Choosing the Right Spey Rod for Trout Fishing

I recently took a trip to the Durango, Colorado area to chase trout with the new Winston Microspeys with my friend Greg Darling from the Gorge Fly Shop. We started off on the world famous San Juan River. While the San Juan is a classic tail water fishery where most anglers are fishing 7x and size 24 midge pupa, it does have some good swing water.

Our first day was a little frustrating. Despite fishing stinger style streamers, the trout kept grabbing our flies but missed the iron. That evening we were given some local knowledge that dramatically improved our results the following day. Our host Steve from The Rainbow Lodge suggested trailing a midge larva or annelid (worm larva) behind our streamer if the fish are missing the streamer. On day two the trout responded to our trailer flies extremely well. -It was a great lesson to learn.

After two days on the Juan we headed north for a fun evening at the Ore House restaurant in Durango. If you like big thick steaks cooked to perfection, fine wine and tasty whiskey you owe it to yourself to spend an evening at the Ore House!

The following day I had the great privilege of fishing the Animas River with guide Will Blanchard from Animas Valley Anglers. Will graciously took us to some of his private water south of Durango. The Animas is a pretty little freestone river that is perfect for swinging flies with Microspeys. Outside of the amazing setting with the San Jaun Mountains lingering in the distance, the trout were eager to eat our streamers. If you're ever looking for a great guide in Durango, Will is your man.

My only regret on this trip was that it wasn't long enough! The Durango area has so many great rivers within easy striking distance, you could fish for a week and not even come close to exploring all of them.

So many of us have fallen in love with Spey fishing. -And why wouldn't we? It's mega fun! Our passion for the long rod doesn't have to stop at anadromous fish!

Join me this Saturday at the Royal Treatment Fly Shop in West Linn, Oregon for a free seminar on everything you need to know about chasing trout with Microspeys. My talk will cover equipment, techniques and the lessons I've learned from the Deschutes and other fisheries around the country.

I'll also be tying some of my favorite flies for swinging up trout!

Starts at 10:00 am -More details from Royal Treatment

I’m obsessed with the fusion of Spey rods and trout fishing. Although I love single-hand casting and fishing, Spey rods offer a new challenge in the trout game. Plus, it’s easy to fall in love with Spey casting because it’s so incredibly fun! Outside of the casting, I’ve discovered that Microspey rods are unbelievably effective tools for fishing streamers, wets and nymphs while wading. Even dry fly fishing can be deadly in the right situations.

If chasing trout with Microspeys sounds fun to you, please join me for a Winston Spey casting clinic in Montana this April. You’ll learn about the equipment, Spey casting techniques and fishing applications. I’ll have an arsenal of Winston Spey and Microspey rods to test drive as well.

Most dealers are offering a “Fundamentals of Spey” clinic in the morning and a “Mastering Spey” clinic in the afternoon. Clinics are $150/per caster for four hours. To book your clinic, please contact a Winston dealer that is hosting classes.

I hope to see you!

April 4th - Grizzly Hackle, Missoula, Bitteroot River  (406) 721-8996

April 5th - Frontier Angler, Dillon - Big Hole River  (406) 683-5276

April 11th - East Rosebud Fly & Tackle, Billings - Yellowstone River  (406) 839-9397

April 12th- Montana Troutfitters, Bozeman - Madison River  (406) 587-4707