The FishUSA Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Rods - Everything You Need to Know

By: FishUSA Staff

October 31, 2023

The Flagship Salmon & Steel Rod Series - Overview

Introducing the FishUSA Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Rods - our exclusive models designed, tested, and approved by our own dedicated anglers at FishUSA and Pro Staff members. We have separate rod families for both salmon & steelhead spinning rod models and centerpin models. Let's take a look at each rod family individually and dive into what every length, action, and power excels at.

FishUSA Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Spinning Rods

Our custom made family of salmon & steelhead spinning rods ranges from nine to 11 feet in length. We plan to expand this series in the future with more lengths and actions, but there's still a rod to cover all salmon or steelhead fishing applications as is.

Each rod is characterized by strategically placed 36 and 24-ton graphite in the rod blanks and tip sections. This not only allows the rod to be incredibly durable, but offers an exceptional amount of backbone while fighting fish and still maintaining a soft tip section to protect light line and leaders. Each salmon steelhead rod model is a 2 piece for traveling convenience, but still offers the preeminent features for performance, durability, and comfort.

The FishUSA salmon steelhead spinning rods are built with Sea-Guide Hero Hi-Grade stainless steel rod guides. These high-quality guides won't chip and contribute to the overall performance of the rod, allowing for smooth line movement and improved casting distance.

Here are some other notable characteristics of the Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Spinning Rods:

Sturdy Fuji reel seats
Comfortable ground cork handles
Durable hook keeper
Elegant dark blue metallic finish
One-year limited warranty

There are currently seven unique models in the Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Spinning Rod family. Each rod is designed to excel in a specific technique or situation. Below are explanations of what each of these salmon steelhead spinning rods is perfect for.

FFSHIP-SS-902M - 9'0" Medium Power

The 9' Medium action FishUSA Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Spinning Rod is your ideal hardware chucking rod. This rod has plenty of backbone to throw some of your heavier salmon and steelhead lures (1/4oz - 3/4oz) but a soft enough tip to protect your leader from splitting runs, big headshakes and rolls, and gnarly salmon teeth. This soft tip also helps keep treble hooks pinned.

Recommended Salmon & Steelhead Lures To Throw With The 902M

FFSHIP-SS-962L - 9'6" Light

The 9'6" Light Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Spinning Rod is your go-to when fishing small tributaries with light line and small presentations. This salmon steelhead spinning rod can double as a float fishing rod or a very light hardware rod. Great Lakes tributary anglers love this length and action of steelhead rod when having to drop down to 4lb leaders and single egg or other finesse presentations. If you fish tributaries that tend to run low and clear often, the 962L is the rod for you!

FFSHIP-SS-962ML - 9'6" Medium Light

The 9'6" Medium Light Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Spinning rod is the big brother to the 962L we discussed above. This salmon steelhead spinning rod still excels with light line and finesse presentations on smaller water, but has a bit more backbone. This rod is ideal for when fishing small tributaries that have large fish or lots of structure such as brush or boudlers that may require you to put a little more pressure on hard-fighting salmon or steelhead in order to land them. This is an excellent rod for Great Lakes anglers and beyond for fishing small - medium sized tributaries!

FFSHIP-SS-1062UL - 10'6" Ultralight

The 10'6" Ultralight Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Spinning Rod was designed to fish very light line or leaders and very delicate presentations. This salmon steelhead rod has a true ultralight action, meaning it bends deep into the blank of the rod when under full load. This ultralight action is what makes this spinning rod ideal for finesse presentations with very light line. Small floats with single egg patterns, 6mm beads, or other small presentations, a small amount of split shot, and 4lb test are what the 10'6" ultralight Flagship Salmon Steelhead Spinning rod excels at. Light leaders and small hooks are easily protected by the rod's deep bend and soft tip. It's also a thrill to hook a big fish on this rod and watch it bend almost to the cork!

FFSHIP-SS-1062ML - 10'6" Medium Light

The 10'6" Medium Light Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Rod is your go-to when you're fishing moderate-size float fishing applications or chucking light hardware. This rod is rated for 6-15lb line and lures up to 1/2oz, so you'll have no issue using 6-20g floats or throwing your average-size spoons, spinners, or crankbaits. This is likely one of the most universal, all-purpose, rods in the Flagship Salmon Steelhead line up, for use everywhere from Great Lakes tributaries to the Pacific Northwest!

FFSHIP-SS-1062M - 10'6" Medium

The 10'6" Medium Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Rod is your ideal heavier float/hardware rod. It's excellent for fishing larger tributaries or throwing spoons, spinners, and crankbaits on the heavier side. This rod is rated for 8-15lb line and for up to 3/4oz lures, so it excels with deep slip or fixed float rigs that require lots of weight. This salmon steelhead spinning rod has a very solid backbone, but still maintains a soft tip and great action thanks to the rod's unique graphite blend. If you love to fish big tributaries for big fish, this is a rod you'll want to add to your arsenal!

FFSHIP-SS-1102L - 11' Light

The 11' Light Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Spinning Rod is ideal for moderate - light float fishing applications. This salmon steelhead rod's 11' length allows you to easily manage line on just about any drift. It's rated for use with 4-10lb line and has a plenty soft enough tip to protect it, and also keep small hooks pinned during violent headshakes, runs, and rolling on the line. This salmon steelhead spinning rod exhibits a surprisingly strong backbone while fighting a fish thanks to its unique blend in graphite. If you're looking for a light action float rod the 1102L Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Rod is a great fit for you!

FishUSA Flagship Centerpin Rod

Just like our spinning rods, the FishUSA Flagship Centerpin Rod is designed, tested, and approved by our own FishUSA anglers, staff, and Pro Staff. We played around with quite a few samples and options before landing on our model available now, and we feel it's more than ready to tackle big steelhead and salmon from the Great Lakes to the West Coast.

The Flagship Centerpin Rod also consists of a blend of 36 and 24-ton graphite from tip section to cork, allowing the rod to have a soft tip while mainting a very powerful backbone to fight big fish with. When you hook the salmon or steelhead of a lifetime, you don't want to be undergunned!

As of right now, we only have a 12' Medium model available, but we plan to expand the rod family in the future. 12' is right in the sweet spot for length for a centerpin rod - enabling long casts, but still being able to fish smaller water without it being overkill. At that length, it's also easy to manage line for just about any drift. The medium action also allows you to fish a wide range of different strength leaders and float fishing presentations.

Other notable mentions of the Flagship Centerpin:

Sea-Guide Hero Hi-Grade guides - marine grade SS316 stainless steel will not chip
Comfortable and durable ground cork handles
Signature dark blue metallic finish
Durable hook keeper
Limited one-year warranty

The Flagship Salmon and Steelhead Rods were designed with the REAL angler in mind. As a hardcore salmon and steelhead angler, we know you're going to put these rods to the test, that's why we did the same before putting them in your hands. We're extremely proud of these rods, and wanted to set them at as low of a price point as we could while still packing them full of high quality, very dependable features. If you have any further questions regarding the Flasghip Salmon and Steelhead Rods, don't hesitate to reach out to us via our Contact Us page.

Pick up a Flagship Salmon & Steelhead Rod today and let us know how you like it!