Who uses a 2wt?

[Janus]

Looking for a winter project and am thinking of building a 6'6" 2wt. Not sure why, but i seem to have all the other wts covered and was looking for something different. To those who use a 2wt what type of fishing do you use them for? Is it a rod you reach for often? For some reason I have always thought of them as a novelty and have never given them much thought. I fish for gills in the summer and a 3wt sometimes seems too much on some ponds so it got me thinking...
Janus

[fishaholic69]

I also own a 3wt. a 2wt couldn't be that much different. at least I would think.. prolly small bass gills or trout would be ok on it. to me my 3wt still doesn't do the gills and smaller bass around here justice. they don't take it to the reel hardly ever. only had 2 bass take me to my reel this year on the 3wt. i heard of a guy landing a great lakes steelie on his 4wt last week! he says he was bass fishing and it grabbed his bugger. almost got one on my 5wt tfo on a brown bugger bass fishing the same day but he missed the bugger when he came at it.

[Gardenfish]

several of us fish a one weight rod. Mine is a Sage SLT (the first SLT model) and it is not a toy nor a novelty. THis is a strong rod and did just fine on 13" cutthroat trout. Go for it. When ya get into small fish it is a joy. There are many posts on the topic of 1 wt. rods, but I could get the search engine to cooperate. Built the 2 and fish the heck out of it.

[ohiotuber]

I fish a lot for BIG gills with both my 8' St Croix Legend Ultra 3 wt & my 6'6" 2 wt (Forecast 2pc blank) that good buddy Joe Valencic built for me. At least in my rods, there is QUITE a difference. The 3 wt is a good deal "faster" & casts MUCH better in the wind, but BOTH are a hoot when a 9" to 11" gill or 2 lb bass is on the other end. As much fun as the 3 wt is, there is a MAJOR difference with that "softer" 2 wt when a big ol' honker is yankin' away! I also love fishing the 2 wt fishing for brookies in the Virginia mountain streams. The foliage blocks the wind well there, so it's really not an issue.
Build that 2 wt...you won't be sorry. Then give me a holler & I'll show you what REAL gills are, & they WILL test a 2 or 3 wt....here are a few examples...









The bottom picture is the 2 wt...the gill was 9" to 9 1/2"....the top pic is 11 1/4". Slightly longer & a LOT wider than the gill in pics 2 & 3. My buddy Gary told me I should also have had a "head on" pic of THAT monster.
Mike

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I fished a new one weight at the Idaho Fish-In. Best fish on it was a 15 inch cutthroat trout. Nice casting rod. Not a toy or novelty.

Tuber, those are some huge "Gills". Nicely done. Can I fish your pond?

REE

[chris from canada]

2 wt's are a blast!!

Don't pass up the oppeotunity to build one, and fish it.

I built a 4 piece 2wt, and have caught some decent sized fish on it; from trout to pike.

Go for it!!!

Be warned though; fishing them is very adictive.

Take care,
chris

[Bamboozle]

I guess I have to be the dissenting voice...

I have a 7'9" 2wt that I use for trout. If I had it to do all over again I wouldn't have bought it. It is a pain when it's windy and just doesn't do the things I need it to do when I need it to do them like turn over a really long leader with a decent sized fly. As a matter of fact I didn't fish it at all this year. I have found that a 3wt works much better for me for those times when I feel a lighter line is important which really isn't too often.

Yea you can catch big fish on it and yea it isn't a toy but if half the time I'm compromising, why bother? As an convoluted example; yesterday I went fishing in a high fast cold stream on breezy day. I neglected to bring what I would normally use in those conditions a 9'0" 6wt. Instead I opted for a 7'6" more moderate action 5wt. Yea I caught fish and did all things fishermen do but I had a miserable time doing it. The rod just wasn't the right tool for the job at the time. My buddy who brought a short 4wt had an even worse time. Bottom line; there are times when certain tackle choices will result in fun if you hook up, those same choices are the wrong choices if fun is desired BEFORE you hook up.

Of course YMMV.

Lighter lined rods don't always equal the bigger fish feel. If I was looking to kick up the fun a notch I'd build a 3wt glass rod. A decent sized ANYTHING on a light line glass rod is a hoot!

[Panman]

I have a 10 ft 2 wt that I use for pan fish in open water. It is a blast to fish provided there is little or no wind. However when the wind blows the 2 wt goes back into the tube in favor of a 4 or 5 weight.

I agree with the others in that you should give one a try.

Tim

[Jeremy]

I have a Sage SPL 8'2" 2wt and when I'm fishing graphite it's one of my favorite trouting sticks!

And it does well on gills too, (along with an SPL 1wt!)

Jeremy.

[Slate_Drake_9]

I got my first 2 weight in the early 90's and loved it. I still wanted something lighter, so I got my first 1 weight in the late 90's and my second and favorite 1 weigh a year or so later. It's an Orvis superfine 7'6" model. I've landed trout up to 6 pounds on it without hurting the fish. It's my go to graphite rod most of the year. I've had no problems using a 15 foot leader with it on any day that a 15 foot leader could be cast on any other rod. My wife's favorite rod is her 6'6" slow action 2 weight. I find it a little too short for my liking, but it is a nice rod. She's had no problems with wild browns up to 5 pounds so far.

My experience with rods is that the slower they are the better the fight of the fish and is not necessarily related to line weight. The difference in my 1 weights is like night and day. I have 6 weights that are much slower and make the fight feel much better than my fast action 1 weight.

As a side note, my favorite 1 weight was still a little too much for brookie fishing in my neck of the woods where a 6 incher is a monster, so I had a 00 weight bamboo rod built and love it. The biggest trout I've brought to hand on it was a 17 inch brown I didn't know was there. It did test the rod's strengh and made me nervous, but it survived unharmed.