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Good question Robert,
Our guess is that you could really control pulling anything thru anything (fish/vegetation) by tippet size.
Therefore the remaining "variable" would be the size of the bug tossed. Let me ask how big a bug do you wish to control on your toss, then we can guess as to the rod wt. needed to toss the line needed :-)
A Kevin Doran Rat (http://www.flyfishnorcal.org/php-nuke/m ... age&pid=86) would generally take a 9wt - 10wt to toss comfortably. We have done fine tossing some stuff (small hair bugs and surfcandies) for LM's on our "ought" when BG's became boring.
If only one rod (arrrghhh) we would chose one to toss our biggest bugs.
......lee s.
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Robert ,I would have to stick with my 5wt.9footer.
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Good question! Without a doubt, I would pick my 9 ft 7 wt Sage RPL. It is not as fast as some of the newer models so I can cast it all day without getting worn out. Soft enough to enjoy catching bream and crappie and has enough backbone to easily handle 9-10 lb bass without killing them by playing them too long. Do I sound convinced???
Jim Smith
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An 8'6" Granger Special. Pure heaven!
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My Sage RPLX 990-3 is about perfect if I could only have one. Plenty of backbone for hauling fish out of cover. Handles 11wt shooting heads and 30ft of LC-13 for fishing deep or casting huge flies. I have a number of other rods in 5-9wt from Sage, Orvis, Redington, Fly Logic, an Winston but the RPLX is my favorite.
If I had to replace it, that would be a Sage Xi2 of same size.
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Very interesting answers guys. Thanks for the responses. Boy, it's tough for me to decide too but I'm going to join Okie and go with a 7 1/2 ft. 2 wt. for the sheer pleasure of it. I know I'm giving up some backbone to horse one out of cover and I won't be able to cast the really big poppers into the wind as well as the bigger rods would but I'll trade all that for the fun of a small bass or gill on a light rod and after all is said and done aren't "small" bass what we catch 90% or more of the time anyway and with a Jim Hatch/Buddy Sanders/Chevy Van style foam popper, you can throw a pretty big popper with a 2 wt. and since most of my bass fishin' is from a tube or wading, I don't have to throw it that far anyway.
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Robert,
You may not want to limit yourself to a 2wt line for your purpose. We toss an 8wt level on our "ought" and it handles a smaller (#6-#4) hair popper fine, for short shots especially. There is somewhere along a level line that does load a rod....if the line ain't too small.
....lee s.
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Lee,
Thanks for the tip. I'm using a 3 wt line on the 2 wt but your idea is interesting.
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Don't overlook shortening your line 5'. this put you into the belly faster and will improve the ability to turn heavy or wind resistant flys. If you have the taper disgram for your line, you can get some idea of what you can do from it.
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I'll take my cutom built Forecast 7.5ft 4pc 4wt. I use a Mastery Headstart wf5f line on it and can throw upto size 4 poppers with ease. I built it with a Pac Bay graphite spinning seat, with stained cork insert, and chrome Fuji Alconite single foot fly guides. This rod casts smoothly and fights your better than average bass with plenty of power. Best part about it, it cost about $60 to build.
Lou