Rods for smaller fish

[CM_Stewart]

The post yesterday on Fish&Fly http://www.fishandfly.com/index.php?news=3132 was intended to be an April Fool's Day joke. What I think is funny, though, is that they think it's funny. There is a fabricated "quote" attributed to a Sage spokesman: "The rationale behind this exciting new development is that not everybody lives on triple A rated trout streams or next to perfect saltwater flats full of bonefish. Some of us only have ponds full of panfish like pumpkinseeds and bluegill nearby, or local streams with minnows or maybe even tiny wild trout perhaps if you are lucky. In any case, even the smallest modern rods are often way over-gunned for these tiny species and so the "mini" range was born." I don't know about you, but I think that assessment is actually pretty accurate.

There really are a lot of people who have small local waters with small local fish - that they don't fish for. I suspect there are three main reasons for that: (1) Most fly fishing publications glorify fish as long as your arm and exotic locales, completely ignoring the pond at the edge of town that is overpopulated with 4" sunfish, or the little brook that has fish (just not trout) as unworthy of interest - or worthy only of April Fools day scorn. (2) The rods everyone has really are overkill for small fish. (3) People have forgotten how much fun they had as a kid catching fish - even if they weren't trout, weren't big, and weren't in Alaska, Chile or Kamchatka. If you have a rod that a 4" fish can put a good bend in, and a line that's light enough for the excitement to turn to panic when the fish turns out to be an 10" largemouth instead of a 4" sunfish, then you can have fun catching small local fish in small local waters. And with gas going to record highs this summer, there will be a lot to be said for local waters.

Another funny thing is that there already are rods designed for catching those 3 and 4" fish. They just aren't made by Sage. They're made by Daiwa - their Soyokaze model, which means "gentle breeze" in Japanese. They are intended for catching Tanago, a Japanese fish which doesn't get over about 4" long, another fish that looks a lot like a sculpin, and a species of shrimp called "kleptomaniac shrimp." The rods look a lot like miniature versions of tenkara rods. They are telescopic and collapse down to 19" long. The longest one, at 10'2" weighs only 2 ounces, and because they don't use reels, it really is just 2 ounces in your hand. The shortest one I carry is 6'6" and weighs just over one ounce. The longer ones, at 9' and 10'2" cast and fish very much like ultralight tenkara rods.

I guess Fish&Fly thinks fishing for small fish is funny. With the right equipment I think it's fun.

[Steven]

My "home" creek has 2"-4" blue gill and creek chub. I fish it with a 6'6" 3 wt. Is it like going to SW Wisconsin and fishing for trout? No.

But it's still a great way to spend an afternoon.

[Rick Z]

I fish those local ponds all the time. With a little work the fish get bigger.
I get gills from 8' and un. Crappie are 12 to 14 inches.
Put a nice bend in the pole. Usually 3 and 5 wts. No Sage.

Rick

[ghjacobs]

Nothing in any kind of fishing is better than a small mountain creek full of wild Cutts, and Brookies. Fishing my 1 wt, and a small dry fly.

[Buddy Sanders]

GhJacobs,

Ever fish the Mancos?

Buddy

[Buddy Sanders]

I realize the author was making an April Fools joke...

But I like little fish.

They are usually easy to catch (dumber? less wary? more agressive?) and that suits my skills.

I enjoy the action of lots of strikes.

I'm not gonna eat them, so I feel like I'm helping to educate them.

Even if the fish are small, I'd rather throw dry flies at little brook trout in a fast mountain stream than work nymphs under an indicator for an occasional bigger fish in a large river. Fifty 4 to 10 inch fish seem better to me than two or three 12 to 20 inchers.

A bunch of little smallmouth that will hit a small deer hair popper with reckless abandon every cast or so on a summer evening is a lot more fun to me than using a sinking line on deeper structure to get the occasional two pound or larger fish.

AND, once in while, while doing this, the stars align and a much larger fish intrudes on the fun....a 20 inch rainbow or a four pound smallmouth is a lot of fun on a 2 to 3 wt. fly rod.

I even HAVE a 'mini' fly rod. Years ago I bought a 'micro light' spinning rod (actually several of them). 4 1/2 feet long, tip about the thickness of pencil lead. Has cork grip with slip rings that take a fly reel easily. Throws the running end of 3 wt. WF line perfectly, if not too far, and even a 4 inch smallie or brook trout can put a bit of a bend in it. Still has enough backbone to handle larger fish.


So it's not just a joke as far as I'm concerned. It's all bout the fun.

Buddy

[LadyFisher]

Over time and too much 'spare' money, a bit of snobbery has developed in our sport. I didn't like it 15 years ago when we started putting FAOL together, and I don't like it any better now. Let them eat cake (so to speak) and leave our fun fishing alone. We don't need them.
LF