Arm yourself.
Photo: Cameron Miller.
So far our posts on Kanektok king rigs have focused on our friends’ go-to setups for a typical day on the water, but many Kanektok king anglers like to be have more weapons than a single go-to rig. George Cook is one of those guys.
Here’s an overview of George’s quiver, with a little bit of the justification for each setup.
‘Small Ball’
- Sage 8129-4 Z-Axis
- Rio Skagit 600 body, no cheater
- Sage 6010 reel
- “If there gets to be a bunch of wind, I’m taking the shorter rod. It’s much less affected by the wind. I’ll also fish the 8129 because it packs a ton of power in a short amount of stick but leaves less daily strain on the caster.”
Go-To Rig
- Sage 9140-4 TCX
- Rio Skagit 700 body, 5 foot cheater
- Tibor Riptide
- “This rig represents the return of a traditional great king rod. This is the heir to the throne of the vaunted 9141-4. It’s the new .30-06 of spey rods – powerful and versatile.”
‘Long Ball’
- Sage 10150-4 or 10160-4 Z-Axis “depending on how much Advil is in my boat bag”
- Rio Skagit 750, 5 foot cheater
- Tibor Spey
- “This is the rod you reach for when you need to cover a lot of ground.”
- “Even the 15 and 16’ rods are still best suited with a 5’ cheater, although the 7.5’ cheater can have its place. It’s my option than the usability of the 7.5′ is greater when the sinktip length is in the 7-11′ range vs the 11 – 15’ range.”
- “On this rig I’ll go with a shooting line setup like the GuideLine or the ‘secret society’ type setup that uses a straight mono running line like Berkeley Trilene Big Game mono. This rig is all about covering ground, so the running line applies here.”
AFS Setup
- Sage 8129-4 Z-Axis
- Rio AFS 8/9 hover head
- Sage 6010 reel
- “This very well may become the rig of choice, just because this is one of the more wicked casting setups of all time. The one caveat to this AFS type of rig is that fly size and weight has to be scrutinized with a tighter eye than the throw-it-all Skagit format. But there’s some neat lighter-dressed flies like the Hobo Spey, the Scott Howell signature intruders, and overall lighter-dressed flies that will work just fine.”
More From George On King Fishing
Hy im agustin avelaneda 48 years old , fanatic fly fisher.fish since 88 in most argentina rivers, browns,rainbows,sea trouts.
began using two hands a few years ago when saw rio spey modern cast dvd!!seen those gurus was amazing and change my mind drastic!!!
hearing “Im george cook..(with that heavy voice and then cast to the other side of the river!!!!amazing)
I dont know if this goes to george or not but i want to conect him and talk a few things of limay medio river in argentina where he was fishing with a guide frien of mine(dany ortega and his opinion of using there spey rods and which ones)
on the other side a friend of mine told me he was preparing an alaka trip for 2012 in august and i want to go, we have time for talking !!
if i can conect with him will be auwsome
very interesting webb!!!! i can stand up from tha chair
agus
Hi Agus, thanks very much for stopping by!
I’ll pass your email address on to George – I’m sure he’ll drop you a line.
Have fun out there!
thanks andrew!! waiting for keep in touch with george.
other subject:
always my dream was fishing big steel heads in canada(for sure after i saw lany wallers video with those giants on dry flies) but now i see alaska big salmons and steal heads too and my mind is not 100 percent sure which place to go if i have a chance one day.or to begin with.
if you have to compare bouth fishing?
Imagine a fly sikness(in a good way) fisher that wants the fish of his life in a week , also learn a lot or getting better in spey,enviroment, wich one do you have to choose.
i saw alaska videos ,ed ward and others ,thats great are they in
bouth places?are the guides you are going to fish ?
for sure there is a lot to talk , just give me an idea if you can
regards
agusss