So, like every year, the family has no sweet clue what to get me for Christmas. Well, I think I would like to have a nice trout rod/reel to fish speckled or brook trout on the streams. I only trout fish a couple or three times a year so I don’t want to spend a whole pile but my St. Croix Avid 9 foot 8 weight with Teton Tioga is just a little much for brook trout. I really love my Avid which I use for Atlantic Salmon and smallmouth bass, but with the little trout flies, it just pounds them too hard, not to mention no play at all when you hook one. I would like to stick with the St. Croix, maybe the Triumph or Reign in an 8 foot 4 weight. For a reel I am leaning toward a Tioga, they work so well.
What do you think? What would you choose for length/weight? I only have ever used an 8 weight for everything.
Check out the Sage SLT. They are discontinued and there are some real firesale prices out there.
I just picked up a 7’6" 3wt and it’s one sweet casting rod. You can really feel it load up and the short 3wt is both very handy on the small streams and the smaller fish actually play well.
I landed a 16" brown today using 7X tippet. It has enough backbone to handle a reasonably large fish and the tip is soft enough to protect the light 7X tippet.
I have a St. Croix Imperial (I think it’s the predecessor to the Reign) and while a nice rod, it cannot hold a candle to the SLT.
Dwight. one of the sponsors here, Global doRbeR, has a whole range of small stream rod that you might want to look at. Some wonderful stuff, I own 2 of their rods and couldn’t be more pleased. No connection other than being a satisfied customer.
I’m not necessarily recommending that you ask Santa for a 3-piece, 7ft. 10in., Sage 00-wt. ultralight fly rod, because this rod is a bit pricey.
Still, since you live in Canada the Christmas reindeer flights will be shorter and faster, which reduces the delivery cost, right? Also, you are wanting to focus on brook trout, which – correct me if I’m wrong – tend to be smaller trout as a rule, and many people consider them the best-eating of all the trout species. If I lived in brookie country I would fish for them for all I’m worth.
Anyway, I own a Sage 00-wt. and I wanted to let you know that it (and any other ultralight or lightweight rod) will probably do fine as a brookie rod. I can say this because I just returned from the FAOL Idaho Fish-In. While there, I caught seven western cutthroat trout out of the powerful Lochsa and Selway rivers. While I never was lucky enough to connect with a large cutthroat (which I’d define as one longer than 14-inches) the 8-to-12 inchers I caught were handled quite well with my double-ought. If you had a 00-wt. rod don’t see why the typical-size brook trout couldn’t be caught by you with equal fun and confidence.
So…I would recommend that your brookie rod be nothing heavier than a 3-wt. Don’t be afraid of going lighter than a 3-wt. Don’t be afraid to go all the way down to 000-wt.
As for rod length, I guess that depends on the width of the rivers you intend to fish. No, I said that wrong: it depends on the width and nature of the environment surrounding the rivers that you intend to fish. An in-close environment calls for a shorter rod, whereas a wide-open river with few trees and shrubs and no steep banks behind allows the use of a longer rod.
Good luck with Santa, and with those brookies. It gotta be a great thing to live in brookie country.
I just picked up a 9’ 4wt Winston Vapor for trout season here in Ks. I haven’t used it on trout yet, but with the way this rod fishes and fights LMB, SMB, BG, crappies, green sunnies, and yellow perch, I am convinced that it will be a superb trout rod! I even hooked up with and landed an eighteen inch Drum in my pontoon, that put the Ross Rythm 1 to the test. This rod casts small trout flies, dries, and even size 6 Clouser minnows effortlessly. I am very much satisfied with my decision as I am sure you will be when you decide on your new trout rod. TROUT SEASON STARTS IN SEVEN DAYS AND I CAN’T WAIT!!
Oooohhh, an 18-inch drum! That had to be one wild ride!
If I’m not being too nosy, what fly did you fool him with? A drum is one of the fish I haven’t caught yet in Kansas – not with fly tackle, anyway. I’ve caught lots of them with spinning tackle, using nightcrawlers and Mepps spinners.
If we knew what type of water you plan on fishing, it might be easier to recommend a rod length. Also, if you really like you Avid, why not buy another one in a shorter length and lighter line weight? And a smaller Teton reel.
Although I fish a 5wt, a 4wt seems anymore to be the new standard weight for trout fishing. If you’re fishing smaller streams, you might want to look at a 7 1/2’ rod. If llarger ones, then 8 1/2’ - 9’ might be better.
One other thing to think about, is what size flys will you be fishing with? And will you be fishing mostly dry flys? Nymphs? Or a combination of both?
I’m glad you poted this Dwight. I’m in the same boat. I use Avid 7 wt on warm waters and now I’m thinking about replacing my 5wt Premier with something bit better. I fish both the streams and stillwaters for trout and currently considering either Avid or Legend Ultra. However I am open for any suggestions about different rods - brands.
I have total of 4 St. Croix rods and love em all.
This year, on the small streams, I was always hung in the bushes, you walked down the middle of the stream typically fishing the sides and I was always caught up. I use flies in the 10-14 range like muddlers and drys, the odd #16 nymph. This year, we were catching 12-16 inch trout, some of them sea-run. In the larger rivers I would use my Avid908, because you run te chance to pick up an Atlantic Salmon, it is the smaller streams where the salmon don’t hang out that I would like to target.
Maybe I will just get a new Avid and tioga, at least I am used to the action, maybe an 7.5 or 8 foot in a four weight.
I just bought myself a St Croix Avid 9ft 4 wt. I’ve only had the chance to fish with it once, but it has definitely replaced my 9ft 5wt Cabela’s Genesis as my go-to rod for trout. The action of the Avid is not quite as fast as that of the Cabela’s rod, and overall it’s just a much sweeter-feeling cast. Also it’s a better fight with a 4wt than a 5.
I have a TFO Lefty Kreh Professional Series 7’6" 3wt too, for a certain close-quarters stream I fish, and I’d say I like the action of the St Croix a little better than the TFO, but I’d have to try the two brands side-by-side with identically sized rods to say that for sure.
This is my first year of serious fly fishing and I think I caught over 100 trout (biggest was a 16-incher), mostly on the Cabela’s 5wt. I also have a TFO 9’6" 8wt which I intend to use for bass, pike and maybe some carp too, but I was having so much fun with the trout fishing that I never even got the 8wt wet. I may get out with it yet this fall, but bowhunting for deer is my main interest this time of year.
I don’t mind revealing the effective patterns I use. It’s the ones I don’t catch fish on that I am too ashamed to tell about. I caught that drum on a size six olive Slump-Buster, that I added olive turantulegs to. Last summer I was float tubing out at El Dorado casting a big puglisi style bluegill pattern with a rattle tied on it, and caught another drum. I thought, ’ this has to be the biggest bass of my life’, until after a long run, I finally brought him to hand. In my experience, drum run harder and give much more fight than carp. Having said that, I’ve only caught a handfull of drum on the fly, but have done both carp and drum in one day and the carp had nothing on the drum in the river, with current as an added factor. Drum in lakes don’t seem to run as far as carp in a lake though, but give off violent diving head shakes!
By the way, have you checked out the thread on white bass? I think BG222 and I are going to try to set up some kind of an outing in the very near future. The more the merrier!