Hello, I know this has probably been covered but I am so forgetful. I just received a great little 2wt outfit. I have heard the arguments about wearing out a trout by fishing with too light a rod. I am against that argument. I have heard the debate about using the same tippet break point…one on a six wt and one on a 3 wt rod that the fish can be landed quicker on a six wt. I disagree. The tippet will break at the same force you put on it on either rod. Soooooo…now my question is this. I have never broken a rod. Let alone broken one with a fish on. So…what size trout can I catch and or fish for with my new little two wt? I see no reason on my small stream that I cannot use my two wt. But there are some pigs in there. You gotta be real lucky to hook into one. Very rare. Still…and I know you size a rod based on the flies you wish to cast. But will my 2wt rod break under the load of fighting a large fish…or will it just take longer to land the fellow? Do you normally break rods because you are underodded…or only because it has been previously damaged somewhow and breaks when you have a fish on? Given no dings on the rod…how much of a fish can I land with a 2wt? I know…I can go find out. I will learn a lot simply by just catching a few fish on the rod. Any suggestions or information would be appreciated.
Gemrod, I’m iterested in the responses to this one myself, I have wondered about that too when fishing with my cane( if I hook into a monster will my rod break?)
Most rods that break when fighting a fish break because they bend to much in the section that breaks. Most of the time, this happens when the angler puts too much bend in the tip section, often when holding the tip high while landing a fish. But it can happen anywhere - I have seen rods break in the mid section or even down near the grip due to poor fish fighting technique. You can catch fish weighing several pounds with that 2wt rod as long as you do not put too much bend in the rod. If necessary, you can point the rod at a fish and fight it right off the reel, though you are more likely to break the tippet that way. With a heavier rod, you may be able to apply more pressure without bending the rod too much, but you can still land large fish with light rods.
A couple of years ago I hooked a very large trout in a small eastern Sierra creek on my Sage 3wt LL rod. The Alpers Ranch fish hatchery raise some very large fish which are stocked in small numbers throughout the eastern Sierra including small streams like the one where I has having a great time casting to 6 to 10 inch brown trout. I hooked what was probably one of these fish with, a large double digit rainbow. I am certain it was over 10 lbs because it got it to hand a couple of times (I did not have a net) and it was obviously larger than my previous best trout of 10lb. I eventually lost the fish because the size 18 hook bent out , even with 5x tippet. I fought that fish on the lower 2 feet of the rod, keeping the rod angle low to the fish and using sideways pressure. There were a couple of times when I thought it might break at the rod grip so I just changed the angle of the rod a bit. The fish was in a big pool in a small stream so the current was not too intense. Did I wish I had a heavier rod - yep. Did the light rod work yep. Would the fight have been shorter with a heavier rod? Maybe, or I might have just straightened the hook faster:) I wouldn’t pick a 2wt rod if I was expecting my typical quarry to be say 4+ lb trout, but I wouldn’t be afraid of tackling such fish either.
I learned how to fight fish on a fly rod fishing for saltwater species. Those experiences gave me the confidence to fight ‘large’ fish on light fly rods.
You can do a little experiment with your rod to see just how much you can pull with it. Tie on a leader with a loop on the end. I suggest using 6x or 5x tippet when testing your 2wt rod. Connect the loop to a spring scale and have someone hold it. Pull with your rod as if you were fighting a fish, trying different angles and have the person read off the amount of pressure you are applying. You will learn a lot by trying this, including how little pressure is really applied at the end of the leader and how changing rod angles and where the bend is along the rod will affect the amount of pressure you can apply.
Well…you sound like your pretty set in your opinions. I will say you can catch a pretty good size fish on a 2 wt but if you haven’t landed it in about 3 to 4 minutes you will probably be putting back a fish that will go belly up in a couple of hours time, no matter how nicely he swims away. (at lease in the waters around here…to warm) The warmer the water, the shorter the play time. Lactic acid build up. With that said…
I had a really hard time getting a large bass on on my 2 wt. I had to put the rod down and bring it in by hand lining it. The issue is, what does it take to keep the fish out of obstuctions…and a 2 wt isn’t very good at that…in fact you really can’t keep them out of the wood if they decide that’s where they want to go. Rods mainly break for a couple or reasons. The most common is hitting the blank with a bead head or split shot. The rod may not break right away but it may have a micro crack…and it is doomed to fail at some point. Throw in a big fish and thats all she wrote.
The other way I’ve watch rods explode is when the angler grabs the shaft of the rod to reef on a big fish. Steelheaders are famous for this. FLY Rods are not designed for that. So if I PLAN to go after some pigs, I take a 4 or 5 wt. If I get a real pig on a light rod, I have broken them off right away when I know it’s impossible (I’ve had Atlantics hit a fly on my 3wt). I’ve pulled my fly away from a brown on purpose, that was 30+ inches when it came out after my fly on a 3wt. I’ve also landed a steelhead on my 3 wt…very skinny water, small hole and not a very big steelhead…about 4 lbs. I gave myself a time limit. 4 minutes max… If I didn’t get it by then I would break it off. I got it in 3 minutes. I also landed a surprize rainbow trout on a 2 wt. I was helping my grandson go for blue gills. It was at a local club pond where the policy is to catch and keep trout (Stocked), so I could take my time to play it, because it was going to be a dead fish anyway. If you love your rod…I wouldn’t plan to hunt pigs with it. 2 wts have very little backbone. You’ll know what I mean when you get a good size fish on it.
gemrod…
i have hooked and landed a 6 1/2 pound bass on a sage sp 1 weight. i thought it was going to snap but it held fast! i agree with tailing loop, you have to watch the bend in the rod and adjust accordingly.
I have broken several rods, almost all of them through my own dam* fault. The only 2wt rod I ever broke, however, was on an 8-inch brook trout, when I set the hook. That ticking sound I had been hearing was the rod coming apart at the ferrule, and when I set hard… I never managed to break my 1wt, and the two 3wts I broke involved hitting the water at high speed and a ceiling fan…
As for what you can catch on a 2wt, anything you so desire. I caught panfish, bass, trout, several steelhead and one coho on my 1wt, with no damage to the rod or any more strain on the fish than if I had used an 8wt.
I never noticed that it took me longer to land a fish with a light rod than a heavier one, although I certainly see other people to whom that applies. I am a firm believer that the person holding the rod is the #1 factor in landing a fish, with tippet second. You can put 6# of pressure on 6# tippet, REGARDLESS of what rod it is attached to, and the flexibility of a light rod means a strong head shake is, IMO, less likely to pull harder than the tippet can take, since the rod gives. That can’t be said of a heavy, stiff rod.
Use the butt of the rod on a bigger fish, not the tip, and don’t try to stop a screaming run. Also don’t pick up fish with the rod S and stay away from tippet that is heavy enough to use as anchor rope.
That being said, I would advise most people starting to use a 2wt to stick with trout under 18 inches, bass under a couple pounds, and to have a blast with the panfish.
DG
I am in agreement. Always want to bring a fish to hand has quickly has possible. I have intentionally broken fish off in a few cases were things would have dragged on too long.That battle I had with the large rainbow was only a couple of minutes from the time it was hooked until the hook bent out. Keeping the rod flat to put maximum pressure on brought it to hand quickly, twice, though it was fairly hot. The fish opted to not go downstream and was blocked upstream by some falls at the head of the roughly 40ft diameter pool. Had it gone downstream the rod would not have helped and the only option would have been to point the rod at the fish and break the tippet. On the few times and places where I have specifically targeted larger trout I have used 6 to 8wt rods.
I wouldn’t recommend that anyone go with tackle that might not be the most suitable for the size of the fish expected, but on the other hand, they shouldn’t fear if they run into a surprise either, though the margin of error is much smaller.
The point on grabbing the blank above the grip is very important. I often see people do this with light rods and cringe when I do.
The way I see it is that there are plenty of ways in which a rod can break most companies have warranty these days so why care? I know they can take a while sometimes and if you dont have any other rods to use it might be a pain, But if it was me and I saw a monster brownie feeding, the last thing on my mind would be thinking if my rod is going to break. I would be trying to catch the darn thing and if the rod did break id have a heck of a good story to tell.
Well, if you break your rod, your fishing day may be over, or maybe a whole trip ruined. I can be real hard to pass up on a shot though.
Great information. I think I could use my 2wt on my trout stream because it cannot make those long runs and you don’t have to stop the fish. But I learned a lot here. And I like the practice wt thing I think Tailingloop referred to. I have friends that say big trout will run down or up pool to pool on my little stream but I don’t believe it. I have caught way too many trout there to believe them. I think they are being honest in their opinion…but have just had the good fortune to fish waters where that does indeed happen. I learned a lot here. Especially about how to play the fish…and will learn more with practice and actual experience. I think it is suitable for my trout stream…but other than that it’s pretty plain it is for panfish. I am curious because I have read of articles where people say most people fish over rodded and lighter weight fly rods will do the trick. I am not stuck in ALL of my opinions. I only have one brane to thimk wit. So I like to hear others opinions. I have a standing argument with my 77 yr old extremely knowledgeable and experienced fly fishing friend that he can land a given fish on a 6wt rod faster than I can on a 3wt rod…given the same tippet. I disagree totally. Same tippet, same break point and I can put just as much presure on the tippet as he can. I think he is overlooking the point of the tippet and thinking strickly 6wt rod and 6wt line. Anywhoooo…it is interesting…the battle between the norms and the people who say we fish over rodded and can land trout with 1-3 wt rods.
Thanks for the posts.
Yep, it isn’t the fly line that will break, it’s the tippet. And if you don’t high stick, you shouldn’t have a problem with breakage. Leave the tip down and you can horse the fish in just like the heavier rod. But then again, isn’t that part of the reason for the lighter rig, so you can feel the fight better? If you are in an area where you need to bring the fish in quickly due to water temp or other reasons, it seems that would be a factor to use when you are deciding what fly rod to take out for the day.
Someone around here was talking of catching nice sized carp on their 2 weights on a regular basis. Don’t high stick it, and you can take on much larger fish than most fishermen would consider. But there is a time to go to a larger outfit.
If you’re fishing a fairly clear area (no brush, large rocks, grass, etc.), then you can catch pretty much anything on a 2 wt (my brother’s caught 10 lb carp on a 2 wt - I caught a 30" grass carp last week on a 3 wt). If you’re fishing an area where a fish can get you tangled up, you’ll need some more backbone to keep him out of there.
As long as you’re careful, you shouldn’t have too much worry about the rod breaking (the most likely time to break the rod would be right as you’re landing the fish, where there’s little room for give in the rod and the rod is bend nearly double because of the angle). Generally speaking, the size of the fly should be a bigger determinant than the size of the fish when choosing a rod size.
Oh, and to be honest, I’ve noticed very little difference in the amount of time it’s taken me to land a fish on a 3wt vs a 7wt, assuming the same tippet size.
I was panfishing w/a foam spider and taking some fine gills. I made a cast to 1 1/2lb LM and suddenly this HUGE fish took the fly. My SPL 1wt went the distance with that fish.
Best fight of my life, bar none…to include a 43" muskie on an 8wt.
1 and 2 wts are really nice tools for smaller fish. Given that my son etook an accidental 20" 'bow in a WV stream on his SPL 1wt some years back. I know how he felt…
Nice rods!
Well, I don’t have a 2wt. But I do want one.
The only rod of mine that was broken was in a car door.
In my experiance most rods break due to damage caused by fisherman, not fish. We all do lots of things that we should know better. Of the 6 or so rods I’ve seen broken not one of them was on a fish!
How many times have I pushed my tip section into a tree and wiggled aggressivly to dislodge a snag? Even though I have read NOT to do so.
I’ve watched a friend of mine snap two tip sections in a row pulling the leader knot through the guides, he pulled back towards the handle overstressing the tip instead of pulling straight out.
Sometimes you nick the rod without knowing it and it snaps on the next hard cast, ever hit your rod tip with your backcast? I’ll bet whacking the rod with a conehead wooly bugger leaves a mark.
Ever travel with a rod on the roof rack? What damage does a pea size piece of gravel do at 30-40 miles per hour? Just take a good look at your windshield if you don’t think that gravel can do damage.
I would say the leading causes of rod breakage are:
- Car doors
- Other items in a truck bed
- Ceiling Fans
- Getting pissed off because you just missed a huge fish and slamming your rod against the edge of the boat (seen that one!)
- Other human errors
- Fish
If you point the rod at the fish, there is no bend in the rod; therefore, no stress on the rod; therefore, the rod won’t break. Put a saltwater reel on the rod, hook a huge fish and if the line doesn’t break during the tug of war, you can land a 20# with that 2 wt rod. 
For me this is one of more informative threads posted in some time. I have a 10 ft 2wt which I use now and then more as a novelty than a regular rod. I think I have been too careful with it and that rod will see some more action in the future.
In addition the post by Mato Kuwapi in regards to Lactic acid lead me to a site that furnished me more ammo in my ever endless quest to get some of my fishing companions to be more careful when releasing trout. Link: http://www.hookoff.com/
Thanks all
Tim
Panman;
Where can one find a ten ft. 2 wt. rod or blank ?
thanks