I got some good news at work this past week, good enough where SWMBO agrees that I can proceed with looking for another fly rod.

My only rod now is a Sage FLi 9' 5wt. I bought it to be my "all-around" rod, and it does pretty well. I fish a lot in the local tailwaters, normally nymphing under an indicator. The rod does well for that.

But I also really like fishing in the Smoky Mountain park. I stay off the larger areas, preferring to fish the smaller streams. While there are larger fish scattered here and there, I'm pretty much catching small stuff. The 5wt seems like overkill for these fish.

I want to work on becoming a better dry fly fisherman, but I may still need to fish nymphs now and then. With this in mind, I've hit some local fly shops to cast rods.

Don't get me wrong, I like my Fli, but I didn't want another Sage. I cast an old Winston a few months ago and it was incredible. Relaxing I guess you'd call it. So I started with Winstons - a couple of 4wt WT's and a BIIx. I could NOT make the WT's work. My rhythm was just off with those rods something fierce. The BIIx was better by far for me, but still did not feel like I was hoping for.

I also cast a trio of Sage rods - a TXL, an XP, and an SLT - all 3wt. I have to say that the 7' 6" SLT was the most amazing feeling rod that I've cast. I felt like it had a more relaxed stroke, but I could still make it work. It also seemed to work better with shorter line out than the XP. The TXL just felt too small - probably the grip size.

Today I cast a St. Croix Avid (not the same price class, but I thought it worth a try) and the Scott G2 4wt. I really thought the Scott would be "it". Nope. So far for my "feel", I'd rank the SLT tops, the BIIx next, and the G2 after that.

Odd, I really didn't want to get another Sage, but it's looking like that's the way I'm going to head at present. I'ts still a ways off, so I've got plenty of time to talk myself out of it. I'm still torn between 3wt or 4wt. It probably means I'm not really ready to buy yet.

[This message has been edited by 92Esquire (edited 15 July 2006).]