What assortment of rods to have.

[Rambo]

I live in Arizona and own a 5wt rod and would like to pic up a couple of other rods, I was thinking of getting a 3 or 4 wt. rod for smaller creek's but not sure if the 4wt rod is to close to the 5wt I have and would also like to get a 8wt rod for fishing bigger fish. I will be mainly be fishing here in Arizona but have a couple of trip's that I would like to go to in California around San Francisco, Park City Utah and Washington State. I am new to fly fishing and am starting to find out that I will be traveling this next summer and might have to take my fishing gear along. I want to make sure I have a assortment of rods if needed. Any help appreciated.

[gzacckey]

The 5 wt will suit you fine for most general purpose trout fishing. Whether you go smaller or larger depends on where you will be fishing and the expected conditions.

Windy conditions on bigger water may require heavier wt. rods with faster actions. Tiny trico fishing in low water may require 2 or 3 wt. An 8 wt. rod is pretty big for trout and even seems heavy for most bass fishing but I'll leave that discussion to more experienced west coast anglers.

Here is PA I mainly use a 6.5 ft 3 wt. or a 9 ft. 5 wt. for most of my fishing. I typically fish small streams (avg. less than 25 ft.) or mid-size streams (avg. 50 to 75 ft.). I have heavier and lighter rods but these get the most use.

There is one other thing I would like to mention that may be obvious. It's easier to travel with 3 or 4 piece rods. It easier to find a spot in your car or luggage.

Good luck!

[Lucky489]

I a from AZ also.

I started fly fishing when I joined the club about 4 years ago. Then the sickness and addiction overcame me.

7'9" 3# TFO finese
9' 3# I made from Hook & Hackle IM6 blank
7'6" 4# G Loomis
9' 4# TFO TICR
9" 5# Orvis Zero Gravity midflex
9" 6# Saltwater Echo 2
2 9' 8# Saltwater Echo 2
9'6" 9# Sage RPL
9' 10# Saltwater Echo 2
9' 10# I made from a Dan Craft FT rod blank
2 9' 12# TFO TICR=X

And am currently starting a CTS 9' 16#

And 13 reels for them. The 4# share a reel in I rarely ever use the G Loomis. I have owned 4 other rods, but donated to the club when I upgraded.

I have tied up about 25 flies in my tieing carrier, but I own a Renzetti Master vise and a Renzetti salt water traveler.

I need help anyone know a good 12 step program I can start.

I actually have components to build another 5# and then I want a 2#, Oh yeah I have the blank for a 16# also.

Ba

[sagefisher]

Rambo,

Good question and an important one.

Since you have a 5 wt, then get a 3 wt for small streams and make it 7 foot 6 inch to 8 foot in length. The slightly shorter rod really helps out on brushy streams. When fishing small streams you are usually only making really short casts as line control is the key factor in catching fish in that type of water so the shortened length does not hurt your casting.

As for bigger rods, that really depends on what type of fish you are targeting. I usually try to jump a size when buying rods, i.e.: 3 wt to 5 wt. However, in the 5 wt and 6 wt area of rods, I don?t jump a size. 5 weights are a great rod, but when it is really windy or you are going to be casting a heavy streamer then a 6 wt rod is really nice to have. A fast action 6 wt can take on most winds and heavy flies. The 6 wt will handle smallmouth bass fishing with no problem.

If you are thinking of fishing saltwater or fishing for largemouth bass, then a 7 wt is good, an 8 wt is great. While you normally won?t be making really long casts to largemouth bass, when they do hit you need to get them out of their lair, out into open water, really fast. The 8 wt will do that. You really want a good reel with a great drag system for that rod.

Hope this helps.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[JohnScott]

Rambo -

I agree with Sagefisher on the smaller rod - a 7'6" medium or slow action 3 wt is great for fishing small streams. Can't speak to the larger rods - except to say that I use a 5 wt whenever the wind is too high, the water is too big, or the casting distances are too great for the 3 wt. I'd be inclined, if I were looking for a bigger rod, to go to a fast action 7 wt.

Lucky 489 -

Listen up !!!!! Start your 12 step program by sending me the three TFO rods and matching reels. PM for a mailing address. I will help out by reimbursing you actual postage.

John

[DG]

Rambo,

I will add my voice to the chorus here. Adding a shorter 3 or 4wt to the collection will let you enjoy fishing smaller streams and smaller fish, bluegill, mountain trout, and so forth. While I normally espouse skipping a rod weight, there is a big difference between a 9' 5wt and a 7'6" 4wt.

If you are headed to WA to fish for steelhead or salmon, an 8 is a good choice. A 7 might be a hair on the light side for chinook or some of the steelhead you may find in WA, although with experience you will be able to handle them just fine with lighter gear. I can't speak to using the 8 for bass, stripers, or what have you, but a heavier rod does come in handy when the flies get big and wind-resistant.

I would recommend relieving Lucky of his 7'6" 4wt Loomis, since he doesn't seem to be using it much.

If you become a flyfishing fanatic, as many of us are, your collection will soon resemble Lucky's.

[Eight Thumbs]

Rambo,

I started with a 6 weight Orvis Clearwater Outfit and fished with it for almost a year before I started looking for another rod. I decided to go all the way up to a nine foot Orvis Clearwater 9 weight since I was doing a lot of lake fishing for LMB, hybrid and stripers. I like that outfit, I got another just like it in a month or two. For the heavier rods, I tried to put more space between the rod sizes, figuring that heavy rods require a larger difference to detect a meaningful difference (Weber's Law).

Then, I started working on the smaller sizes and bought two Orvis Clearwater four-weight outfits. One was a seven footer and the other, my favorite rod of all time, was a nine footer.

I finally added my light weights for brim and small trout a couple of years later. I bought a seven foot, two-weight Cabala's Clear Creek outfit. I was so impressed with the quality of that rod I bought a seven foot, one-weight outfit in the Clear Creek series.

My working premise was always to have a larger gap between the heavier rod sizes and smaller gap between lighter sizes and obviously no gap between the 1 and 2 weights. You really can detect a noticeable difference between the one and two weight when casting and playing a fish. I've been very happy with my choices and honestly wouldn't change rods, no matter how much money I had available. 8T

[fishin' fool]

Read Sagefisher's advice, and read it again. Then, if it were me, I'd follow it.

[dudley]

I own rods in sizes 3-10
The ones I use the most?
4-6-8

[modocdan]

Rambo, Rambo, Rambo............................................. .........................................
Did you say "I might have to take my fishing gear along" ? Did I miss something???
I don't get "might" that don't make no sense.......
Don't "mIght" also mean "might not"
as the younger generation says "DUDE??"
.................ModocDan