Just wondering how many of you have a 9’6" 5-weight fly rod. If you have one, what kind of fishing do you do with it and what types of waters do you use it on? Does the extra 6" make much of a difference? I typically like medium to medium-fast fly rods, but did cast a Sage Z-Axis 9’6" 4-piece 5-weight the other day and thought it didn’t feel too stiff (the kind of action I associate with most Sage rods). It might be a great rod for nymphing, fishing big waters, and lake fishing out of a float tube. It might also be a nice compliment to my older 9’ Sage SP and my Scott G2 905/4. Any comments/thoughts/advice would be appreciated!
Don’t know if I would ever trade my 9ft 5wt T&T – sweet rod for medium rivers, big water and ponds and lakes; actually all-round use for trout etc. – great nymph rod as well as dry fly rod – guess I use it just about more than any other rod in my arsenal – so I don’t think extra 6" would make that much difference to me – I’ve cast a 9’ 6" 5wt custom rod – medium action – liked it – certainly threw line out well – but I still prefer my 9ft T&T
I have (built) that rod you test cast and love it. I never tried the same rod in any other lenght so i can’t say it’s “better” or "worse’ than others but it’s a great rod. I mostly fish nymphs with it but have fished dry’s and some streamers. It does feel a bit less “stiff” than my XP’s. Waters include: Bighorn, Pyramid Lake, Lower and Upper Sac., Mcloud and the Fall river.
Rich
The longer rods make it easier to play with more line out on the water. With the longer stick you can pick more line up off the water and allows you to place it farther away from you, like mending over eddies and the like.
I like single handed flyrods of 10 1/2 feet for that reason. The longer rods will give you a little more distance in casting but they really excel at line control once the cast lands.
My fishing distance is limited not by my casting distance but the amount of line I can actually handle during the ‘fishable drift’. The longer rods allow me to handle more line to extend that drift.
9’6" for 5 or 6 wt seems to be the mopst popular choice for stillwater fishing in Britain. I’ve never used one myself but I assume it does offer some advantages when handling long casts.
When nymph or wet fly fishing on moving water I prefer my 9ft 9 inch for the same reasons
Micropteris stated unless the stream is real brushy then i go to a shorter rod. On still water I switch between the 9/9 and a 9 ft’er and really don’t notice much difference.
Tim
I had a 9’6" 5wt RPL many years ago, and it was one of the best nymphing rods I have used (or so my faded memory tells me). It was stolen, and I replaced it with a 9’6" 5wt SP.
The SP is a cannon. It will cast a mile, shoot line like nobody’s business, and all that. But it wears me out, and I gave it up in favor of shorter, lighter rods over the years. I personally do not feel that the extra 6" of length is worth the weight penalty for most of my fishing. Now most of my fishing happens with an 8’6" 3wt instead. I can cast about ten feet less with it on a good day, and it doesn’t wear me out.
I have the Winston BIIMX in the 5 wt and I love it. I put the RIO Gold 5wt line on it because the guys at my local fly shop told me the line was a half size bigger, and said that the extra size would help the rod load faster, and does it ever! It throws the line like a cannon, which I need in the wind here in Nevada. I have a 6wt BIIX winston that I thought was the last rod that I would ever need, but when I came to my senses and remembered that he with the most toys wins, I bought the 5wt mx and loved it.
I have that exact rod and love it! Nymphing and big water distance casting - it does an awesome job.
When I retired 12 years ago and really got back into fly fishing, I went with a group to the Missouri River in Montana. I was told that I should buy a 10 foot rod for nymphing. The reason was for easier mending. I reviewed all the choices Sage offered and decided that if I was going to spend that kind of money I would get the most length I could get, so I bought an 11 foot Sage XP. I now also have an 11 foot Sage Z-Axis.
That extra distance makes nymphing sooooooo much easier. To begin with when you make your cast, making a reach cast is really effective. That extra two feet (or in your cast that extra 6 inches) creates a very nice upstream mend in the line. Then once the line hits the water, there is virtually no effort to toss in a BIG mend, just a flick of the wrist and you toss out a 6 foot or more mend upstream. Also, if you nymph fish in the old style of High Sticking it, that extra length really comes into play then as well.
A couple of times I have used a 9 foot rod for nymphing and I find that to achieve the same type of cast I am really working my whole arm and upper body to compensate for that lost 2 feet.
The other time the extra distance, be it 6 inches, one foot or two feet, is really handy is when you are sitting out on the lake in your pontoon boat or tube and trying to cast. That extra length helps keep the line off the water for a longer cast.
I use my 9 foot rods mostly for casting dry flies and another for streamers and I always carry one as a spare or backup rod. If you buy the longer rod you will learn to appreciate that extra distance when nymphing. Out here in Washington and Montana and Colorado, I find that I do a lot of nymph fishing.
Larry 
—sagefisher—