I settled on a 7, 9 and 12 wt rod some time back but of late have added a 10/11 wt also.
I prefer the BL5 Winstons for the heavier wt rods, a 7 wt Dorber E3, a 9 wt Cortland and not sure what I’m getting for the heavy 10 or light eleven. The 7 and 9 are my two go to rods for Reds, Bonefish and most inshore fishing. The 10/11 will be for Med Tarpon and Permit while the 12 wt will be for Tarpon and other big guys.
I fish 4 rods, two 8wts, a 9 and a 10, but I’ll use lines from 8-12wt depending on the situation
One 8 is a 10 footer and is for surf fishing… the extra length needed for mending over breakers when fishing in close.
The second 8 is the go-to. Light weight for all day use.
The 9wt rod gets used the least, but often it’s the kayak rod.
The 10wt gets used mostly when the wind is up … which can be fairly often around here.
I use 6 and 7wts for bay species like spotted bay bass, croaker, bonefish, halibut, and corvina. Inshore saltwater its usually 8 and 9wts for barracuda, bonito, calico bass, sandbass but I have a 10wt rigged and ready for smallish yellowtail. I usually use at least a 9wt around the kelp beds since the muscle compared to lighter rods is needed to lever fish from the kelp. I use a Sage Smallmouth and Largemouth rod for 'yak fishing. Its 10, 11, and 12, and 13s for dorado skipjack, yellowfin, albacore (true albacore) bluefin and bigger yellowtail. For sharks I have used 14 and 16wt rods. Most of these are Sage (RPLX, RPLXi, FLi) and Redington (CPS and older SSF) models. I have borrowed the 14 and 16wt Sage Xi2 rods. I have a minimum of 3 rods in 6,7,8,9,10, and 12wt and usually have at least 4 rods with me when fishing from a boat sometimes 6 or 7, all rigged with different lines and flies.
for salt I am very simple…10ft 8wt Loomis GLX for alll things 30lbs and under…8’10" 1 piece Loomis Pro 10wt for everything 30lbs to 200lbs…
7wt Cabelas XST. A cannon.
8wt Fenwick HMG. A pleasure to cast, powerful but smooth.
I’m a happy man in the surf with these weapons, the sun in the horizon and the line in the air.
Hi Chuck,
It’s been a while.
I’d love to be able to give you a better reason than this.
As much as I love to sight cast, geography leads to me to spend many hours making continuos blind casts, these " comfortable companions " are my choices.
Sage XP 697-4 ( 9’ 6" - 6 wt. with a S.W. reel seat. )
Scott S3s 907/4 ( 7 wt. )
Scott S3s 908/4 ( 8 wt. )
Powell Tiboron ( original version ) 909-4 ( 9 wt.)
Scott S3s 9010/4 ( 10 wt. )
If I’m put into the position ( which is very rare ) where anything above a ten weight is absolutely needed, any captain I’d hire will be providing it.
Best, Dave
By the way, I concur with Rocketfish about some of the house brands that Cabela’s offers, the XST and LST’s are both " finds ". My wife is a Loomis GLX fan, yet she’s filled the line weight gaps in her GLX arsenal with LST’s and having traded off with her from time to time, I’d say those rods are very light, pretty fast and very responsive.
For speckled trout (spotted weakfish) and smaller reds or flounder an 8 wt. Quarro, Loomis or Albright.
For jacks and small tarpon, snook and similar a 9 or 10 Albright overloaded by one line weight.
Albrights are at least 5 pieces for easy traveling.
Dave E–good to hear from you, it’s been awhile due primarily to my absence, I’m sure.
The ease of casting is why I favor those BL-5s. They cast like a rod two to three wts below their listed weight due to lightness and the soft tip. On the other hand they are still expensive, even after being off of the current offerings list for several years, from Winston.
I use 9-10.5 foot rods 3wt to 8wt with lines from 5wt to 13wt. Most of the work going to 10.5 foot 6wt rods with 9-11 wt lines. All for New England striped bass. Fishing conditions range from tiny water under-road culverts to big water ledges and cliffs.
I like my rods long, slow, and soft. It is tough finding heavier wt rods with those characteristics hence, why I stick with the lighter sticks.
I do like to play with an old 8ft fiberglass rod with ceramic guides in the salt that I got from someone throwing out their outdated old trout rod. It sings with a 5 wt peach Corltand line.
wow…I have never heard of such radical line overloading but if it works…what kind of rods are they? if I am reading this correctly you overline by as much as 5 line sizes?does your rod throw the lines far? and also how big are the fish? do you need a bigger reel? sorry for all the questions but I am very interested
St. Croix Legend Elite in 6 wt for schoolie striped bass and blues, 9 wt and 10 wt. for bigger fish, bigger flies and windy days.
Sage RPLXi2 in a 7 wt. for Florida! It does it all nicely.
Australian 2 handed surf fly rod, 8 wt x 12.5 ft. for the surf! Wow, it’s easy to cast and catches fish. While this is primarily and overhand rod, the extra length makes it easy to roll cast. I can stroll down the beach and roll cast (blind) into the surf without a backcast and cover more water quickly.
I go from a 5wt Winston XTR thru a 19wt Cape Fear Rod and lengths from 8’ thru 16’ for the salt. All of them have their times and place but I have favored my 2 handed rods since the early 1990’s for my feet in the sand surf fly fishing, mostly.
I really am not a proponent of this new wave of “switch rods” in line weights 10 and under and under 12’ in length unless one has a physical condition which prevents them from fishing 9’ single handed rods (otherwise there is no line speed advantage in using these short switch rods over a guy with a 9’ single hand rod with an average dbl haul).
With ones feet in the sand and two hands on the rod there is no reason to go short or light in line weights along our coastlines where wind and wave action is usually unfavorable during our best times to fish. JMO, Go long and heavy and fish when others must head in being unable to fish the conditions with their chosen equipment. I cannot count the number of oceanfront successful times I have had fly fishing during a Nor’easter or just a strong onshore blow with my 16’ 11wt using a shooting head system every fall. But, it works equally well out front with calm conditions as well. Even small fish put on quite a fight when on a 16’ rod (that is a lot of leverage length for the fish) 
I have two 6-weight TICRX TFO rods, two 8-weight TICRX TFOs, a 9-weight TICRX TFO and a 12-weight TFO.
I use the 6s and 8s the most. I have one of each rigged with floating line and one of each with sinktip line. The 9-weight is my beef stick for the Gulf of Mexico and has a sinktip line.
For the most fun with ladyfish, pompano, sea trout & snook on the beach in the summer an Orvis Trident #6 with a WF-6-F or the WF-7-I for the surf makes the fish fights fantastic. Although it’s considered a little light for the bigger flies & stronger winds that redfish & snook usually require leaves choices of: a Loomis GL4 #8 or a yet to be cast TFO #8, the Orvis T3 #9 which usually gets preference for the flats & mangrove shorelines, a TFO #10 for cobia & baby tarpon or for the even bigger fish an Orvis #11 TL Powermatrix, an Orvis #12 Trident or a Penn #12/13 for offshore. Been considering taking shorter rods like a #7 weight 8’ rod to the salt for the backcountry & a couple of 5’ + fiberglass trout rods to see how much enjoyment they would provide but never swapped out the flylines on to a salt water reel…saw a new Scott 7’ 11"(?) #9 weight at the last CHFF fly fishing club meeting that got kudos from all that had fished it…even for harbor tarpon around 125 lbs.; which might be even better than going to freshwater tackle in the salt:cool: