I guess that has to do with the rod, really. I have a cheep rod I sort of ended up with that I could not get to load. It’s an import that South Bend put it’s name on. Finesse in the model. About as much finesse as “Larry the Cable Guy”. 9ft 9-10 weight. Don’t those # just make you think “Finesse”. Tryed a WF10F and it took almost 50 ft. to get it to flex. Went to a WF11F and it was OK but, I was looking for somthing for short casts. Was looking for somthing on Ebay and got a 444 in WF13F Tropic for about 10 bucks… Well that’ll cover it. You could cast a cat with it. Don’t use the rod much, who would, but I have some big old nasty bass flys that I can make short casts in the weeds with now. I started fishing 3 weight rods a few years back and would never do anything like bumping up 3 or 4 line weights on a Sage or any of them. When I fish steelhead on a small river here, North Umpqua, most of the casts are short and I’m not afraid to bump a big rod up. New to the site, lots of good info here. Just wondering how many of you bump it up a line weight or am I still doing it to make up for my casting.
J. Not even the 0 weight? That would be a fun rod for about any fish. How much does a o weight line, when it gets wet, make a difference in loading the rod. Gotta do somthing, I can tell the difference on a 3 weight.
Hi JC. Just curious, what size line was your broomstick rated? Seriously, what line did you wind up using on it?
Jim
I put a 9 weight line on an 8 wt. Sage XP that I steelhead with sometimes when I know I’ll be making shorter casts.
I’ll also put a 6 line on a 5 when I guide and we are fishing close distances from the boat.
chuckle
I choose from the lines I have the one(s) which feel best to me on the particular rod. Often this matches how the manufacturer marked the rod, and sometimes not.
Case in point: My venerable Orvis Powerhouse 8’6" is rated as an 8wt. As such I find it a dud. it is, however, one of the smoothest rods I have ever cast when matched with a 6wt line 
Cheers,
Hans W
=== You have a friend in Low Places ===
http://www.danica.com/flytier
I have yet to cast a 10 rod that has any “finesse”. A 10wt rod is a work horse, let it do it’s job. I would prefer it to load at 50’, better for saltwater distance casting. Leave the rod with it’s intended 10wt line.
David,
I mix 'n Match lines all the time.
I’m not a really organized person. Most of my spools and lines have long ago lost the stickers.
To keep from getting in a rut, I’ll (couple times a year) pull out all the lines, spools and reels and play with combos just to see how things work out.
Often I’ll do this when a friend says they are looking for a rod. I’ll spool up 2-4 5 wts with different lines, tapers etc… just to demonstrate the difference it can make.
Comes in handy too when a client “just isn’t comfy” with a salmon rod. Many are used to lighter weights. I have 4 identical rods in 8wt and I’ll spool up 4 different combinations (taper and under/over lining). You’d be suprised at the difference it can make. It all depends on the style of casting and the personality of the angler.
To be honest, I don’t think many of my combos go more than +/- 2 weights from the indication on the rod… But that’d never stop me from spooling out a line on a certain rod, as long as it gets the job at hand done comfortably.
Christopher Chin
Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/:7bac5]http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/[/url:7bac5]
[This message has been edited by fcch (edited 21 May 2005).]
[This message has been edited by fcch (edited 21 May 2005).]
Ray, I’m just using it for 20 to 30 ft. casts in some heavy weeds for bass. I have an old Sage Graphite II 9wt.that has a little finesse to it. Kinda like it being a little softer. Were the older Sages rated for a double tapered line. Thirty ft is thirty ft but it carries a WF10F pretty easyly. I can cast 100 ft if everything is right.
I got to Washington once and discovered that I had one rod, a 2wt, and one reel, with a 5wt line on it. It worked, actually worked just fine for short casts (which I was doing anyway), but when you got out about 40 fet of line it got REAL scary feeling that cork bending in my hand when the rod loaded.
Dennis
DG,
I have played that game before, but I do it by choice
I got to thinking about what Dennis said, and thinking leads to questioning, so I’ll ask them here.
I was reading this thread on another board.
[url=http://p222.ezboard.com/fflyfishingarkansasandmissourifrm13.showMessage?topicID=225.topic:33aa3]Broken rod[/url:33aa3]
Between that and Dennis, I’m wondering
- If you use the suggested weight line, should you be able to carry an entire DT line with any rod safely?
- Which end of the action spectrum is most prone to snapping under pressure? Fast tapers that bend over a smaller portion of the rod length, or slower tapers that bend into the cork?
Jim
[This message has been edited by nowindknots (edited 23 May 2005).]
David, RW here
I fish with my 1-weight for most of the fishing I like to do and the species I’m after. I use a hardy fly-weight reel loaded with 1-weight line as intended, but I also have a spare spool for the hardy loaded with Cortland DT2F peach line because I’ve yet to find any double taper fly line for a 1-weight. Both cast beautifully on my 7-foot rod, basically because there is no distance casting involved in the fishing I do. A 1-weight is 60 grains, and a 2-weight is 90 grains, so at 30 to 40 foot distances there is very little difference.
P.S. I have to agree with Ray that a 10-weight is a workhorse. In about 5 minutes of casting it would “work” my arm right into a sling…lol. The vagaries of old age ya know? Of course you don’t. But if you live long enough you will.
Later, RW
“We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours.” -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-
Jim,
In essence, the blanks are perfect, and the “stress” will make it break any where, regardless of the “action”.
After all, with the guides the line should be making a perfect 1/3 load along the beam.
A while back I snapped a 5wt XP 
(still have to find time to send it in).
It was hauling a 4wt and it snapped 2 inches above the cork. XP’s are medium fast, so one would suppose it should have broken up top.
Then again, (imho) 99% of failures (while casting) will probably occur where the blank has been scratched (which is probably my case).
Christopher Chin
Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/:f8304]http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/[/url:f8304]
RW, I found a DT1 Rio in a bargain bin somewhere. Only one I have ever seen. Why you would need a WF for a 1wt is beyond me. I read the weight specs for somebody’s 1 vs 2 lines and they weighed the same for the first 30, anyway. That light, it makes little difference, anyway, I think. My 1 worked just fine with a DT2F and I never had loading problems.