I get asked this question all of the time. "What's the best all around fly rod"? The answer is simple - it's the one that feels the best during most fishing conditions. Now, that answer is not a cop out but the truth. One rod may feel like a dream under one condition and totally suck under another. You want a rod that feels good and fishes well under as many different conditions as possible. You don't want to be like the newbies in this sport who seem hell bent on turning fly fishing into golf with a bag full of rods for EVERY Condition. Here's what I look for in a rod for trout fishing:
First, We will leave material out of this and focus on the most popular rod building material: graphite. I love bamboo because it is beautiful and if well made fishes well too. Some of the old "factory rods" were best used as tomato stacks. Fiberglass has it's following and I would never give up my old Fenwick which was as good as fiberglass got 40 years ago (a great dry fly rod) but I have my doubts about the newer fiberglass rods which seem too "progressive" (read "slow"). They don't have the zip of my Fenwick.
One does not need a dry fly rod, a nymph rod, a streamer rod and so on. Just a rod that does most things well.
A Small Stream Rod - 7.5 feet to 9 feet in a 3wt. The Swift, the Mill and the North are small stream and you can cover all sections of these river with those lengths. Mine is an 8.5 foot 3 wt., of a moderately fast action, matched to a 3 wt double tapered line. I can nymph with this (don't need a nymph rod) and then use this crisp rod to launch dries. Now, I seldom use weight on the on these rivers under normal conditions. A weighted fly cast with this setup leaves something to be desired. (Double tapered lines don't throw weight very well). If the flow is high and I have to use weight I'll bring along a 3wt WF line to solve the problem.
Big River Rod - When I know that I'll be fishing larger water like the Millers, Ware and the EB I'm bringing my 9ft 5wt with a weight forward line to the show. It is a moderately fast rod that handles heavy stuff really well yet can blast a size 16 BWO out there quickly and into the wind to boot. (big rivers are windy). I can fish EVERYTHING with this rod, period!!!!
A few notes:
1.You don't have to go ultra light with a dry fly rod. I had a client catch a brown on a size 30 fly using his 6wt!!!
2. As I said before, I guide hundreds of fly fishers and very few show up with a nymph rod or even own one. These rods are not, generally speaking, good casting tools. I own one, given to me as a present, and it is the worst dry fly rod I've ever cast.
Your Comments
As I've said many times, the Comments section of this blog is a blog-within-a-blog and no other New Englad fly fishing blog shows this king of engagement by its readers. Case in point: my last 10 blog posts before this one had 132 comments. All blog formats cannot distinguish between a readers comment and the authors comment. Comments by me totaled 45 or 34% of the total. Your comments totaled 87 or 66% of the total. Some blogs have author comment totals that are 50% of the total or even more!!! You have given us reader engagement and that's what I want. There are no drive bye page views here. You guys are readers!!!
Ken
P.S. The Swift is still producing as client Ray shows us above. First trout on a Partridge and Orange and not at the Pipe or the Y Pool!
21 comments:
I decided to switch things up and fish the Deerfield for the first time yesterday. It's a bit of a drive for me from Boston, but I had the whole day off, so I woke up early and hit the road. I drove the length of the river from Greenfield to Fife, stopping for a big breakfast at the Trail TOC Diner. I fished the two C and R areas, and then also poked around behind Deerfield Academy in the Lower Section. No luck for me nymphing or throwing streamers. I saw one other guy out there, and he was blanked as well. There were two drift boats fishing around the Hoosac Tunnel rail bridge. All in all, a fun trip, even if the fish were groggy from that cold snap.
1. Small stream rod: Scott G 8.5' 4 weight...its about 25 yrs old, if I need to get further than 25-30 feet out I will up-size to the 3rd rod in the list.
2. Big stream rod: Winston LT 9' 6 weight....again about 25 years old. It does everything well but excels at casting streamers IMO. Windy days, multi nymph rigs and this is the best rod I have. Montana's Madison and Colorado's Colorado, the Housatonic and Deerfield have seen this stick many times each.
3. My tweener rod: G Loomis Streamdance GLX 9' 5 weight that is very sweet. Its not super fast probably a medium fast+ action that can handle everything...if I am not fishing in wind on a big river this will often be my choice. It was my go-to rod for Colorado's Arkansas River which is generally a little smaller than say the Farmington but its at high elevation and has a bit of wind most days but you are throwing small flies for the most part so it fits the bill perfectly. This is a great Farmington or Millers rod.
Len,
At least you got out and that's important.
BobT,
I knew you'd chime in!! I have a LOT of rods that I try to cycle through and get wet at least once every two years. After my wild and crazy rod paying youth I've settled down to two graphite of the same brand in 3 and 5 wt and two bamboo rods of the same wieght. I do have a 20 year old Orvis 9ft 8wt that I want to work those Sandy Creek browns with.
Ken
I have used rods in 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 weight. The last two years I have been using an Orvis Recon 3wt with a double tapered line. Great for all I've done. From the Swift to the Bighorn in Montana! It handles everything I've caught without overplaying any fish, even the Bighorn browns and rainbows. Handles everything from size 26s to 10s.
Tom Perry
Ken,
I have posted this before, but I love my 7' Fenwick bought in the 70's with saved up money. It does most everything I need it to do in the close confines of a brushy stream and if I am lucky enough to connect, it performs darned well with that also.
If I could have one rod back that I let get away it would be the 8.5' Sears Ted Williams Approved rod I bought back in '69 as a teenager. I lost interest in using it after I bought the Fenwick and it got sold at a tag sale. That rod would do a nice job even today, especially in high sticking situations if I still had it.
Best Regards, Sam
Couldn't help myself. I have more...too many more but my first rod 8ft Fewick Glass 6 weight that throws a 5 perfectly gets worked out a few times a year. Another favorite is my first PREMIUM rod...a graduation gift from high school 1985 a 8ft 4 weight "Special Dry Fly" Thomas and Thomas...If I know I am throwing nothing but drys this is the rod...I have fished big nymph rigs and streamers on it too but when its loaded with nothing but the line a well tapered leader and a #14 comparadun...you cannot beat it! I also always drag along a 9ft 4weight Albright EXS...it was kind of a carbon copy of the Sage XP which was a favorite of mine until it broke...they sent a new model back which sucked and somehow I found this rod in Dave Goulet's shop when Albright was run by Jim Murphy...he had some nice rods both at Redington and later at Albright..its kind of my "beater" rod but is pretty agreeable to most anything you try to do with it so its always there.
Tom Perry,
Good to see that you're using ta DT line. It's a great roll casting tool that few people own,
BobT and Sam,
If there was one rod I wish I had back was my Shakespeare Wonder Rod made back in the 60's. It was a WHITE fiberglass rod that was a rocket launcher and it took a lot of teenage abuse until I stepped on it. I saw a Paul Kaukonen film once where a friend of his was landing monster Atlantic Salmon with that rod.
Ken
Even though I have over 20 "trout rods" I will agree that a 9' 5wt is a do all rod and probably all one needs. More important than the rod is the line IMHO! Makes all the difference (good or bad) in how a rod feels and performs for you.
Hello Ken,
Oh, I like my rods too :)
Small Stream - 7 1/2 ft T&T LPS
Big Bend - 9 ft Sage Z Axis
BUT, I still break out my first rod from when I was 10 I begged to get it at the Indian Hill General Store in Greenville, ME in late 70's when I was a kid. $40 Cortland Rod/Reel 6 wt canon. I learned almost everything I know in some shape or form on that cheap rod. I still break it out every so often. Goes to show you don't REALLY need to spend the $$ :)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all!!
Andrew
Anonymous 9:03am
You nailed it when it comes to the line!. I don't like the "textured" lines because they are too noisy. God knows how many rods that I still have but if I mate them with a good line I know I can catch "trout"!!!!!
Andrew,
You are a fly fisher because you can, if need be, make any rod perform!
Ken
Winter solstice, 12-21-17, the daylight starts longer tomorrow.
Gary,
Yes, and then comes the long slog through January BUT in late February the sap begins to flow but I'll be in Florida on March 1st so winter ends early for me. I deserve it!!!!
Ken
Textured lines....yuck...I have cast them but never bought one...I don't know who came up with them but they are so annoying...I hardly remember ever seeing one onstream but they must be out there because they are still being sold several years into their introduction. I prefer true sized lines as well-just because the line says 5 weight doesn't mean your rod will load...you may need a 6 on these modern rods...I prefer to keep one of the variables constant for my own sake and that is the line. Many if not the majority of the high end lines are actually a line size or more in grain weight heavier than they are advertised. The loops they add on are of marginal significance to me-I have cut most of them off in favor of a nail knot extension. My favorite lines are currently the RIO LT & Gold series and the Cortland 444 lines for trout. SA makes great lines too but I don't use them much-their line weights are all seemingly wrong. I use Airflo lines for most of my saltwater applications-I was turned onto them when they first came here from England and they are excellent lines but I have not tried any smaller than a 8 weight yet.
BobT,
I hate textured lines too. They sound like someone cutting a pine board with a hand crosscut saw when they false cast. Many lines are on the heavy side of the limit so folks will think they shoot better, all at the expense of presentation I would guess.
Ken
For what it's worth.I have become partial to the new Hardy Zeherus Ultalite 8'9" 4wt as an all around rod on the Farmy.It's a full flex a super lite rod. So far I have used this rod for dries down to #30, wets and nymphs.I expect it would handle small streamers.It will support tippet down to 8x. Very light in hand,sensitve,casts well to around 40'and has the backbone to handle bigger trout. As far as fly line I've become partial to the Orvis Hydros Superfine (SA) series of lines.
Dan,
Sounds like you have found your favorite, all around trout rod and that's a very good thing!
Ken
Great post. I'm sure we all have more rods than anyone needs, but we love the sport and variety is the spice of life.
How about a post on the worst rod you've owned (or tried)? Not to bash any brands, but I'd like to hear comments and I know it may help people avoid mistakes (I have three I could write about!)
THE WORST ROD.... Interesting! I named my favorite rods but not the brands because sometimes a good rod maker throws in a clinker and the rest of the rods shouldn't suffer because of that. I say that nymph rods are casting junk regardless of the maker and that is that BUT maybe we should open this up to individual rods by certain makers that SUCK, at least as far as the readers are concerned.
Ken
My worst rod by far....is not a trout rod but a saltwater rod. I got one of the first new generation faster action Orvis rods back in the 90's to cast to stripers from a boat. That was a fine rod, not sure what the model was other than a 9'ft 10 weight. I broke it on the gunwale of the boat a couple years into it...not the rod's fault. They sent me a replacement rod that was good too but again, rods and boats don't play nice all the time so a dozen years into it I broke it...sent it back and they sent back the latest and greatest pre-Helios ...I think it was a T3 or Power Matrix...anyhow that thing was terrible absolutely unload-able without huge effort from the angler or up-sizing the line to probably a 12 weight. I moved to Colorado and didn't break it out until two summers ago...cast all day to boiling stripers on the North Shore and felt some elbow pain about halfway through the day. Woke up the next day to head out for some more striper action and literally could not cast my elbow hurt so bad. Spent the day driving the boat for my brother and casting a spinning rod intermittently. I had trouble casting anything but a light trout rod for a year...the twinge in my elbow kept re-surfacing...spent six months in PT and its finally back to normal...This is not an Orvis bash...my brother has a 9 weight Helios that is a great pain-free casting tool. They all make some duds.
Sounds like a real clinker! I once bought a "handyman special" bamboo rod. The maker was the great Paul Young of Michigan and the rod was his "Prosperity" rod, all 3 pcs. 9 feet for a 7 wt line. (I didn't buy it from Young, of course, but from a company that specialized in bamboo rods). I thought it would make a great salmon rod. Rigged it up with a 7 wt line and it didn't cast. Put an 8wt line on it and no improvement. Borrowed a 10 wt line and it was a slight improvement. I restored it to make a mantle piece with it but then met Hoagy Carmichael, the bamboo historian, at a fishing show. He said that the "Prosperity" blanks were not made by Young but the work was subbed out to South Bend. Young finished the rods. So, I ditched the butt end, fitted a reel seat and handle and re-spaced the guides. It's now a 6 footer for a 4 or 5 wt line. Talk about making lemonade!!!
Ken
A very underrated line IMO is the RIO LightLine DT. It is a true line weight and if you fish an older Graphite/fiberglas/Bamboo rod its money. I love it on my Winston 5wt and Orvis Bamboo. Try it on a faster rod like my Hardy Zenith 5wt and it way underperforms!
Instead of spending money chasing the best rods, try different flylines and I guarantee you will be impressed by the improvement the right flyline taper can make in your casting/mending!
Post a Comment