A friend joined me recently to fish the surf for striped bass.

The California native, visiting the Northeast, was a trout fly-fisher, and never before fished the surf, or for stripers.

He had brought his 5-weight for trouting on the visit, but asked whether he needed a heavier rod for the striper fishing, saying he’d been wanting to buy a 7-weight.

Raising my eyebrows, I told him I’d lend him a heavier rod.

I had no doubt that the trout sharpie could land a striper on the 7-weight,
or even a 5.

My concern was whether anybody with a light rod like that could bang out a cast far enough in the surf with the larger flies necessary for stripers.

The short length of a lighter rod was the concern.

But I didn’t know about the new ShortStix from G. Loomis.

ShortStix, designed for stripers and bluefish, are fly rods noticeably shorter than usual.

Designed with advice from Northeast fly-rodders Mark Sedotti and Ian Devlin, the rods create exceptionally high line speeds and tight loops, when used with the new “short-head” fly lines, G. Loomis says.

The Airflo Sniper and the Wulff Ambush are examples of the short-head lines.

ShortStix are meant to achieve surprisingly long casts, even with large, bulky flies.

The rods come in four models that are all 7-1/2-feet long.

The models are an 8/9, 9/10, 10/11 and 11/12.

The rods can also be used in freshwater for fish like pike or muskies.

On the trip, I was concerned whether my friend, after I insisted he use the larger rod I lent him, would hit the water and declare that the size was unnecessary.

We caught no stripers on the trip.

Welcome to surf fishing, friend, I thought.

I could see bait and stripers occasionally busting beyond casting range, beyond the bar, where the west wind had blown them.

The surf is no trout stream or freshwater lake where an angler walks onto the banks and has a reasonable chance of catching every day.

But my friend, on that cold, blustery, late-fall day, didn’t mention anything about the pole being too much rod.

Still, there’s someone who’d like a ShortStix, I bet.

When I caught stripers several trips later, in easterly wind, I posted a photo of one of the fish I caught on Facebook.

“Like like like,” my friend wrote on the post.

Yep, he’d like a ShortStix.

For more info about the rods, visit the G. Loomis ShortStix webpage.

The striper from the Facebook photo.