Printable View
Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm basing this assumption on the postings here on FAOL. I know you guys and gals like your 6'6" to 7'6" rods in 2 to 4 weights. I have a 7'6" 4 wt but I just find it not as practical as the 9' . Including my arm, I get about 12' reach with a 9' rod. Out here in California most use 9 foot rods, 4 or 5 weight, for all kinds of fishing in streams, rivers and lakes.
Greg
My wife and I do a bit of fishing from a tandem canoe. We are less apt to invade each other's space with shorter rods.
But I use shorter rods almost everywhere. Primarily I think because they are my favorite rods to cast.
Jim
I have rods from 5'6" to 14'.
There is ONLY one reason for that.
I WANTED THEM!!!
I think the small rods are just plain fun.
------------------
Ken
"The memory of a fisherman is more like fiction than journalism, that is, it doesn't ignore the facts, but it is not entirely bound by them, either."
John Gierach
Greg,
It may be an eastern thing, where there are more trees, foliage, brush, etc. on the streams and small rivers. Just a guess.
However, I have rods from 6'10" to 9' and the most fun is had with the little 6-10. It's a custom; Cabela's Stowaway 8'6" 3wt. with the butt section dropped. It feels like you're one with the fish instead of fighting that big rod for control.
Maybe that's why Lee Wulff liked that little 6' 5wt. bamboo so much.
Actually, if you wanted to get an answer to your question for next to nothing on a rod that will last you a lifetime (no commercial), pick up a Cabela's Clear Creek 6' 5wt. for $99. I fish with tons of guys out here that have the 7.5 3wt. 3pc., beat the hell out of it and they're still going (bunny commercial).
It's a whole different feel and approach but not a replacement; just an expansion of your fun.
Jim
It is not just an "Eastern Thing", it also is helpful, in the "Upper Midwest", where we have dense foliage to the stream edge. Also, many of these streams have mucky bottoms, so it is impossible to go wading.
Rarely do we have a need to cast more than 30 feet (9 meters. Most of the casting, calls for a roll cast, or sideway cast (standing sideways to the stream with the rods tiptop, extended out over the stream), casting upstream.
A long fly rod, is more of a bother than worth, fishing these types of water. Also the fish a wee bit on the wee size. Anything over a 4 weight rod would be unnecessary. for these waters, it is nice to use leaky hip waders. They make great chaps to keep the burrs and bramble off of the trousers, and you can cut off the stocking feet, and tuck the cuffs inside your stockings.
~Parnelli
They also work great on the small tree covered streams of the southeast where a longer rod tends to catch in the overhead branches. My 7 ft 2 wt is also a terrific rod for bream fishing with small flies.
Jim Smith
Georgia
Out here in the South West I use a 7Ft 3wt and a 7'4" 2wt on the small stream and creeks. some times there is just no room to back cast a big rod and I find the "little" guys more accurate.
Then there are the days with my 9ft 3wt and 8'6'' 5wt and my...well you get the picture to many rods and not enough days!!!
------------------
The best time to go fishing is when it's raining and when it's not
Most of the water within an hours drive of my house is small stream pocket water. Less than 20 feet wide, small enough to jump across in a few places. Thick over grown fir and pines on each bank with limbs that overhang the water, forming a sort of 'green cave' In between pockets of good water there are dense willow thickets with only a few deer trails to provide access. I often have to crawl on my hands and knees to get to the water. If I fished a rod over 7'-6" I would spend most of my time gettting tangled, or worse yet snap my tip section.
That sounds like fun crawling through the brush to the little stream overhung with pine and fir boughs. Really, what a great way to get lost for a day.
Jim, you may be right. I should get one of these little rods just for the experience. If it puts a smile on your face it will mine, too. I might have to build one of those little 2wts.
Likewise, Greg, I have a 7'6" 4wt and I consider it my small brushy creek rod; and there are some occassions I'll use it on some small ponds. I like my 9' for the more open river and mill pond applications.
I suppose there's an attraction to what we first really learned with. In my case it was an 8' rod and this size is just so handy and workable for me. Should I be heading out for some area or waters that I'm not familar with or never fished before, my first choice to tote along is the 8 footer ... I can make do with that rod.
Dale
Small streams,Big Lakes,Large wide rivers,Tight brush...If I am wading...or in a canoe or other small water craft....I can move to where I need to be to make the cast needed with any lenth rod....
I like a shorter rod because I get better control of most everything with them..casts,line and fish....I have a 5'6" 5wt. thats fast becoming my all time favorite!!!
Has the line wt. and backbone to do all I require of it...
Also the waters and cercumstances can change drastically in very short order.. I rarely carry less than two rods..even while wading,Even if it's after a very long hike into where I am doing that wading..with water craft...it's seldom less than 4...one of those WILL be a 17ft. Dapping outfit....lol...and all will differ in line wt. and lenth...all part of the fun!!
But the brunt of my fishing is done with lighter (5 wt. and under) rods...7'6" or less in lenth...casting distance is rarely effected by the lenth of the rod I'm useing....
------------------
"I've often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before" A.K.Best
Everyone wants to excel in this sport but at the same time we let traditionalists place restrictions on our tactics, methods, and ideas. I always assumed that fly fishing was a sport that allowed imagination, creation, adaptation, investigation, dedication, education, revelation? : Fox Statler, On Spinners (Not the dainty Dry Fly kind) "Spinner'd Minner Fly"
"Wish ya great fishing"
Bill
Hi Greg,
Different strokes for different folks,
and different fisheries. Lake Moultrie in
South Carolina is my prime fishery. Home
of the last 3 world record red eared
sunfish. It's a 60,400 acre man made
impoundment created in the early 40's.
I mostly target the cypress swamps on the
North shore of the lake. Still waters, so
mending is not an issue. It took some
searching to find a little bass boat skinny
enough to fit between the cypress trees.
Even with the 4 to 6 foot 3 weight rods I
use, the cover is sometimes too dense to
lay out a decent cast. Many of my prime
fishing holes are probably smaller than
your living room and some smaller than your
bath.*G* The short rods work very well for
me in this fishery and seem to be the best
tool for the job. They basically do
everything the longer rods do, but in
moderation. Suits me to a T.*G* Come try
it some time. It's a hoot. Warm regards,
Jim
A friend built a rod such as Jim S. speaks of. He loves it. We have done similar with a 3wt LL, building an "optional" short butt section.
If you decide to do as Jim did, why not order an extra mid section (the one you use for the "short butt"), then you can build the rod "long" AND "short". http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif
....lee s.
There is a spot on the stock tank (farm pond) at my mother-in-law's place that is so tight in the bushes that I have to hold the rod handle far back and there is no line out of the tiptop. Indeed, not all the leader is out of the tiptop!
But there sure are a lot of great bream hiding down in that hole. Its more jigging than anything else. The shorter the rod the easier to fish that spot.
------------------
RRhyne56
[url=http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com:c758b]Sweetness On The Water[/url:c758b]
[url=http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com:c758b]http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com[/url:c758b]
IM = robinrhyne@hotmail.com