Bass popper question

[SteveGibson]

What weight rod do you recommend when casting large bass poppers/flies. I remember in my early years, I used a 9-weight, which seems like overkill. However, casting large poppers can be a chore on smaller rods.

[cycler68]

A popular recomendation is to use an 8 wt. rod. I can vouch for this as I have tried to cast some large flies with my 7 wt. An 8 wt. just handles them so much better.

[Eight Thumbs]

Hey Steve,

I still use two nine weight rods for my big poppers and flies even in fresh water. I fish a large, deep lake (Hartwell in SC) and distance IS important not only the LMB but particularly for stripers and hybrids. The extra backbone doesn't seem like overkill when you are trying to keep the big boys out of the brush and tree tops. Just my 2% of a dollar; I'm sure others will disagree. 8T

[WarrenP]

This is not a question or problem for me anymore since I won the Sage Smallmouth Bass fly rod! Sorry!

This rod takes care of that problem and it is so light in the hand that you can use it all day. If anyone spends a lot of time casting larger flies and poppers, this is the rod to get.

I am very proud to have won this rod and I can highly recommend it to anyone.

[flybinder]

I do a lot of LM Bass fishing and have tried various weight rods over the years.
The lake, across the road from my house, has a lot of bank side vegetation that's a real bear to either go over, or through so I often fish "over it" to reach certain hot spots that hold bass.
I also, often use my 'Toon, to fish this lake and others in my area and like to keep my bass bugs as high off the water as possible on my backcasts.
So, to solve both situations, I started using a 10' 6wt. T & T rod, with a Bass taper WF line.
With a shortened leader, ( 6' x 5X usually), to turn over the poppers and deer hairs, this combo works exceptionally well!
Just, another .02 worth.

[tailingloop]

I use 8 or 9wts for large popping bugs, gurglers, crease flies etc. Since 8 and 9wt rods are often designed to load optimally with 40-45 ft of the rated line extended, if I will mostly be making casts shorter than this, I will upline by one or two line weights to help load the rods. If I expect to be making both short, medium, and long casts, I will use the rated line.

[Philly]

For smallmouth and largemouth on the local creek I use my 8 1/2 ft 5 wgt. On larger rivers and lakes, I'll use my 9 ft 6 wgt. With the materials available today it's not that difficult to tie a 5 or 6 inch long fly that can be cast with 6 wgt or a 4 to 5 inch fly that can be cast with a 5 wgt. These rods will also handle poppers/sliders/gurglers and Crease flies up 3-3 1/2 inches long..

[cbyak]

I fish for smallies and lm from a yak in rivers, streams and lakes. The biggest 'hook' I throw is a size 4. I have several rods in my trunk. An 8.5' 5 wt with 6 wt line and a 9' 4 wt with 4 wt line. I am not trying to cast a great distance because I can usually position the yak to make the cast reasonable. But I am managing elements such as trees, bushes, current, wind, boat movement so it can be interesting. I have a 9' 6 wt that I keep at a lake cottage and also use from a yak.

[mohawkriverdan]

8wt ..Why?...why not? I can chuck anything a country mile with an 8 but a six limits you. Id put my 8 wt FLi up against a 6 wt Z-Axis. That being said, I also respect the effort put forth into casting big bugs on light lines.

[Flyandtie1]

I use a Stiff 6wt. I have thrown a 3/0 clouser minnow with large dumbell eyes on the 6wt. It wasn't pretty but I managed to get out there 30 ft which was all that was needed.