I primarily fish for Walleye and Pike using a 7' medium action ugly stick with an okuma spinning reel loaded with 20lb braid. I

[cjudson]

I primarily fish for Walleye and Pike using a 7' medium action ugly stick with an okuma spinning reel loaded with 20lb braid. I am looking to get into more trout and steelhead fishing and I was wondering if a different set up would be optimal.

[bayouwoof]

Most people around here use a 9' pole for Steelhead, whether it's bait or fly fishing. I use a Shakespeare combo with an open-face reel and monofilament. We have a lot of algae here and it makes a mess out of fuzed multi-strand line. Few people fish for trout here on the river. But a friend stocks his pond with trout by using monofilament and salmon eggs and no pole!

[DakotaMan]

That will be fine as long as you use a Florocarbon leader. Trout are more line sensitive than pike and walleyes. You may also want to use lighter line depending on the size of the fish you are targeting. I've caught a lot of Lake Michigan rainbows, lake trout and steelhead that topped 20 pounds and was happy to use 17 pound mono all the way to the lure. If you are talking under 10 pounds, you can drop way down in line size.

The 9 foot rod allows you to use lighter line more effectively or to bend your rod down to take up slack in a downrigger strike but a 7 foot rod will get you lots of fish.

[Dave Rohde]

Personally{in keeping w/situational,environmental;all applicable variables while maintaining plasticity)I prefer a 9'MH Fast Action phenotype. Reel = Size 40 spooled w/10-12 Lb. Fireline[coloration in accord. w/H2O attributes] Brands...***PERSONALLY*** St.Croix Avid Series Reel=Daiwa Procyon,Penn Slammer Series. When casting, a 3'Seaguar interfaced via back2back uni-knot is employed. Good Luck!

[Dave Rohde]

Typo**** Seaguar Fluorocarbon ****

[Macelka]

That's a great rod, just consider a lighter reel and a lower weight line. (6-10 lbt)

[Solitario Lupo]

IMO I would switch it up. For trout and steelhead anglers use lighter gear. Some even use up to a 4lb line. A light action rod around 9ft. Class 3 reel with good drag. 6lb line should do the trick.