Today, in my part of Tennessee, the air temperature is good for fly fishing, but, with all the rain, that we needed, the rivers are "blown out" for wading. Although, I do have a spot on the Elk that I can fish from the bank when they are generating and may go there today. Been reading a lot from Dave Hughes' book, Wet Flies-Tying and Fishing Soft-Hackles, Winged and Wingless Wets and Fuzzy Nymphs which I highly recommend to anyone who is wanting to get into tying and fishing wet flies. In my opinion, this book gives you what you need to get started tying and fishing these flies without getting too deep into the subject. Nothing I dislike more than reading a book and having to get the dictionary out to figure out the "big" words which I feel were thrown in to "impress" someone. After reading on the ways to tie and fish these flies, which are explained and illustrated very well, I have some questions for experienced wet fly fishermen only. I am not interested in opinions or "what I would do in this situation" responses. I need input from true wet fly fishermen in order to answer some of the questions in my head. So, here are some of the questions I have:

Dave recommends a rod in the 8.6" to 9' foot length for most wet fly/softhackle fishing. He also recommends a rod that is on the "soft side of fast". My favorite rods to use are all Sages and are the XP's. I have an 8' 3wt and an 8.6" 4wt and 5wt. I really enjoy using these rods and need to know if they are too fast and if they are, what do you use for your wet fly/softhackle fishing. Please do not give me descriptions as medium fast or medium because different manufacturers of rods label their rods different and the actions will not be the same. I want to know the brand and model you are using that works best for you. From that, I can maybe come up with a rod that would be better suited then my XP's if you feel the XP's are too fast. If you feel the XP's are OK, than I can carry on from there. He does state that bamboo is great and I do own one, but, he also states that if the fishing conditions change from wet flies, he likes having a graphite rod instead so that he can switch to nymphs and other styles of flies that would not work as well on his bamboo. He uses the bamboo mainly on small spring creeks. In my area, I have no small spring creeks for trout and do have 2 medium size rivers.

He also recommends that the fly line be double taper rather than weight forward. Do you agree and is this what you use and feel would be best?

Thanks for the input and I hope you understand what I am trying to accomplish here. I enjoy my wet fly fishing and am trying to see if my equipment is keeping me from getting the full enjoyment and is it restricting my flies from performing at their best.

Thanks