Best Fishing Rod for Salmon

Looking to buy that salmon fishing rod for yourself or someone special? Inside this guide to salmon fishing rods, we cover the best option for starting out salmon fishing and some more advanced options.

As a disclaimer, this guide is written with the river angler in mind.

Fishing the saltwater by mooching or with downriggers requires a different approach to fishing rod selection.

Also, as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases you make via the links below. Using the links below costs you nothing additional, but allows us to keep putting out quality content that hopefully helps you to enjoy the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest.

First Salmon Fishing Rod

There are several important aspects to evaluate on any rod:

• Rod length – Size does matter! If you are float fishing a longer rod helps you mend line
• Rod action – Stiffer rods are not meant for all species of salmon and rods that are too light will not provide good enough hook penetration for king salmon, unless you are using smaller hooks
• Line weight recommendation – How much punishment can the rod handle before it’s expected to break?
• Lure weight recommendation – How heavy of a presentation you should use to make the most of casting
• Reel type – Spinning or Casting?

Let’s get straight to it! If you are looking to buy your first salmon rod or buy for someone else, who wants to get into this awesome form of recreation, their first salmon fishing rod, the below rod is what you want to start with:

Why is this the best salmon fishing rod?

OK, so it’s really just the best FIRST salmon fishing rod.

Any fishing rod is going to be designed for a specific use. When you are first starting out, you want to be able to do a mix of techniques as you are not sure what will work best for where you love to fish and how you love to fish.

You also don’t want to spend too much. You want your spending level to match your commitment level, which when you first start out is understandably small.

The Okuma SST-S-962ML is cheap, high quality, and versatile.

Let’s see how the Okuma SST-S-962ML stacks up in our categories we defined earlier:

• Rod length – 9’6″ allows you to mend line in both float and drift fishing applications which are the most popular techniques for salmon fishing in rivers. 10’6″ is ideal for float fishing, but 9’6″ will work in many conditions and is more optimal for drift fishing. 9’6″ will also work well for fishing with spinners or jigs.
• Rod action – ML as in Medium Light is a great rod action type. Why not just use a stiff heavy rod? I want my salmon fishing rod to have give to it. So many coho salmon are lost as they pull, twist, and shake their heads. Setting the drag correctly and having a rod with some give to it will make a huge difference in your hook-to-land ratios. They can also bring in some beefy kings. Too light and you won’t have the penetrating strength on a king salmon, so ML is a great all-around action for a salmon fishing rod.
• Line weight recommendation – 6-12 lb test. I use much heavier main lines like 20-30 lb braided line and 20 lb test leaders, but because I don’t set my reel drag too tightly, my rods don’t break. 6-12 is a solid all-around line weight range for an all-purpose salmon fishing rod.
• Lure weight recommendation – 1/4 oz to 1/2 oz. This means you can easily cast 1/2 oz float setups, drift fishing with 1/2 oz or less weights, or throw size 5 or smaller spinners. All of which are the most popular applications for salmon fishing.
• Reel type – Spinning is the easiest to master as it takes the hassle out of casting. You may someday move to a casting reel, but I still use spinning reels in many applications.

This rod will not only get you started, but as you specialize, this rod will become specialized for drift fishing or throwing spinners, so there is no later regret on this great purchase to get started with. You can read all about river fishing for salmon tips and techniques. I will also be adding the best rods for each technique in that article.

Before you finish, why not add a cheap but high-quality Daiwa spinning reel to the mix?

These reels perform well, and last a long time. They hold plenty of braided or mono fishing line and provide good drag to help fight those big king salmon.

Looking for more details about purchasing a fishing reel? Head over to our page dedicated to purchasing a fishing reel for salmon or steelhead.

Your Second Salmon Fishing Rod – The Float Rod

OK, so you’ve got the starter rod, you’ve been going at it for a bit, gaining experience and confidence and now you want to buy that pro setup.

I have not evaluated every rod on the market. I own quite a few rods, but I can tell you exactly what I use and love.

Your second rod purchase for salmon fishing in the rivers of the Pacific Northwest is this:

	$ 249.99 Regular Price
St. Croix Onchor Cork Salmon and Steelhead Casting Rod – 10'6' – Medium Light

I have caught countless kings, coho, steelhead, chum, and everything in between on this type of rod.

First of all, I had a really hard time finding a suitable link to share on Amazon. In fact, I’m confident they don’t sell a single 10’6 float casting rod suitable for float fishing for salmon and steelhead anymore.

If you click the link above you still have to choose the exact model, which is this one: ONFCC106MLF2

The rod I use most is a 10’6 St Croix casting rod with almost identical specs to the above Onchor Cork series rod.

I’ve owned my 10’6 float rod for about 15 years now, it has egg goo stains all over the reel seat and up the length of the rod. This fishing rod is fantastic! So why this rod? Let’s take a closer look:

• Rod length – 10’6 allows you to make this your primary float rod. Who wants to switch back and forth between drift gear, float setup, and spinners? You need a dedicated float rod and this is it.
• Rod action – The action is perfect for fighting almost any species of salmon and steelhead. One thing you pay for is the ability for a rod to have hook setting power to drive home a 3/0 hook into the jaws of a king while still having give and not being too stiff. I can land more coho on an even slower action rod, but this has put numerous coho on the banks as well.
• Line weight recommendation – 6-12 lbs. I setup my reel with 30 lb braid, set the drag right and never worry.
• Lure weight recommendation – 1/8 oz – 3/4 oz. This is perfect for casting any float setup you will need.
• Reel type – Casting. OK, so this is not the spinning reel you probably grew up fishing on. You may need to get used to it a bit. Don’t let that deter you. Float fishing with a casting reel is so much easier! You can simply reel down to stop releasing line and you will never find yourself caught doing the awkward spinning reel bail closing thing while a fish has pulled your float under.

Speaking of casting reels. I use the same casting reel for every casting rod I use on the river.

The Shimano Curado. Load it with 30 lb high vis power pro. Seat it on your Okuma Guide Select Pro rod and you will be catching chrome like a pro.

Best Fishing Rod for Coho, Pink and Sockeye Salmon

First of all, as you’ve seen from the previous couple of rods, the best rod is based on the particular technique you use to target whatever species you are chasing after.

So why, are some rods just better for some species of salmon? I will explain.

When it comes to chinook salmon, it’s all about driving that hook home into a very tough jaw so that it doesn’t come off during the battle.

While chinook are often known for making long drag-burning runs, the ones you most want to eat, that are freshest from the salt can be quite spastic and full of energy and random movements that will put a strain on any gear setup.

However, as long as you have enough backbone or a small enough hook, you can bury it and really have a great hook-to-land ratio on chinook salmon.

What does that have to do with the best fishing rod for coho, pink, and even sockeye salmon though? I told you about chinook to make a point about contrast with these other species that I want to explain the most appropriate fishing rod for.

These other species and I’m really thinking of coho in particular, and in general, these other salmon species have softer mouths and spastic movements that can make it extremely challenging to keep them hooked, especially with barbless hooks.

In fact, if you aren’t fishing with the right fishing rod, drag setting and hooks you can literally lose every single coho salmon you hook when fishing barbless for these energetic and spastic fighting salmon.

Okay, so at first glance, the above rod may look a little light, and yes that’s because it is a little light.

But, what you give up in backbone you gain in super bendy slower/medium action that absorbs every twitching, wiggle, and flop of the feistiest coho salmon.

I’ve been on a river fishing for chinook with spinners and floating fishing with eggs and got into a pile of coho and after losing 4 in a row on my chinook gear, I said “screw it, I’m coming back with my coho gear tomorrow!”

And yeah…I didn’t lose any coho the next day with the super light rod that absorbed all their tom foolery.

Additionally, this rod can make fishing for pink salmon, even more fun, but also may become your new favorite steelhead fishing rod as well.

Word of caution though: While, you can catch a chinook on it, a 10 lb+ fish will really test your fish-fighting skills on this rod.

I pair it with the same fishing reel as the first rod, and fill it with 20 lb braided line.

With this setup, you would do well to keep your hook size smaller than 1/0 (size 2 is ideal). Don’t fish those big vibrax spinners with this rod either, but you can fish some smaller size 3 stuff.

Don’t set your drag too tight either, you want these fish to run, but you do want the drag tight enough to really bend the heck out of the rod when a fish is on before line is getting pulled out.

Wrapping up

Hopefully this quick rundown of best fishing rods for salmon helps you get someone (or yourself) into this great outdoor pursuit.

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