How large of a fly, like a bass popper, do you suppose would be the realistic upper limit to a 2wt rod?
Having landed a 35.5 lb fish on a 5wt, I have no doubt a 2wt could land most bass around here. A lighter rod REALLY protects the tippet better. Its the casting I wonder about. I moved from a 5wt to a 6wt with an Airflo 40+ WFF line to cast the blockhead poppers better. These are not aerodynamic flies, and the 6wt helped the casting immensely. I do break off more bass, however, because of the stiffer rod...even though I'm usually using 11 lb tippet, and most of the bass are probably less than 5 lbs.