Joe,
In your warm water article you talked about your new 1 wt. Clear Creek that you overlined with a WF2F. How is that working out for you? Are you staying with the WF2F? Or have you drop back to a WF1F?
Curious minds want to know!
Thanks, Jim S.
I am in the same situation;
Dan blank overlined with a wf 2 weight line, just right for throwing a little larger bugs!
Wouldn’t change it for the world!
chris from canada.
Joe is waiting for his new Dell laptop to arrive and is off-line for a bit (unless he happens to ‘stumble’ in from work.)
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
Jim,
My Clear Creek is still overlined with WF2F. A few weeks prior to buying a 00-wt. Sage I got a spool of WF1F, intending to switch out the Clear Creek’s reel to a line matching the rod weight. That 1-wt. line is still in the box.
The 1-wt. Clear Creek worked just fine with 2-wt. line. Well, fine for me; someone else might not like it.
My intent in overlining was to suppress the rod’s action during loading, and thereby soften the launch. I like a soft delivery with shorter casts. It worked.
The 00-wt. rod is all I’ve been fishing with for almost a month now. My 1-wt. is in standby status for trips when I go into really tight cover where a shorter length is more practical. One such trip may be coming up in a couple weeks.
Sorry for the late reply; I was out of a computer. Got one now, but due to my mobile lifestyle I still won’t be as “contact-able” as, say, 6 months ago.
Hope you’ve been catching some fish!
Joe
“Better small than not at all.”
I to use a 2 wgt on my 1wgt.Orvis—Also I find the larger line enhances my ability to cast larger flies when going after warm water fish.
Joe,
Thanks for the reply. The sage 00 wt sounds great for blue gill and crappie fishing but it’s a little out of my league price wise.
I’m thinking of getting the Cabela’s Clear Creek 1 wt. for blue gill and crappie, and was wondering how that rod worked out for you. And if you recommend it, should I go with a WF1F or WF2F line?
For reference, I’m using a Cabela’s Three Forks 3 wt. combo for pan fishing right now.
Thanks,
Jim S.
Jim,
Poster “mudni” in this thread makes an excellent point, one I’ve never considered: heavier line lets you throw heavier flies. What mudni says is worth your consideration if you envision using a Clear Creek 1-wt. fly rod to throw heavier flies like big poppers, streamers – especially Clousers.
It might be heresy to suggest this, but I’ll bet a person can use 3-wt. or even 4-wt. line on a 1-wt. Clear Creek rod and do just fine. If that extra line weight slows down your casting stroke, so what? 7-ft. 1-wt rods aren’t used for long casting anyway, right?
Sure, I would recommend Cabela’s Clear Creek 1-wt. rod as a good one to use for bluegill and crappie fishing. If you end up going with the matching 1-wt. line, post and let us know how it works for you.
I think you’ll be surprised how stout that 1-wt Clear Creek is in combat situations. It was a real eye opener for me!
Joe
“Better small than not at all.”
Thanks, Joe.
If I go ahead and follow that route I’ll post it and let you know what I think of it.
I may go ahead and buy both a WF1F and WF2F, and also try it with the WF3F I already have and see what happens. It would probably be a good thing, my casting stroke, like my golf swing, can stand all the SLOWING down it can get!
[This message has been edited by DieKatze (edited 15 May 2006).]
Just to muddy things up a bit more 
-
I went with an 8’ 2 wt rod for bluegill because I wanted to use #10 cork poppers with rubber legs; that’s about all you want to cast with a 2 wt for several hours IMO. I also use a lot of 12 3XL beadhead flies - again I don’t know how a 1wt would handle that size nymph. TFO makes a fairly nice 8’ 2wt in their Pro series.
Just another though…
donald
Intersting point, beadleech. We all DO tend to fish for a number of hours at a time, so the heavier the line we’re throwing the more easily and quickly our hand/wrist/arm tires out. Subsequently, perhaps 3-wt. line on a 7-ft. 1-wt. rod is too much of a good thing.
However…doesn’t Mr. Hatch throw 3 and 4-wt. lines on even shorter rods when he’s after redears in SC? Maybe he needs to weigh in here with an opinion or two regarding double and triple overlining a 1-wt. rod
Jim Hatch…calling Jim Hatch…do you copy?
Joe
(see you tomorrow, folks; I’m hitting the sack)
It’s starting to sound like I need to just go out and buy the Clear Creek 1 wt. rod, then try it with all 3 line weights, and see what feels and works best for me. In the final analysis that what it all boils down to anyways, what works and feels right to you. I’ve always had a much better feel of the loading on my 5 wt. and 6 wt. rods, but have never had a good feel of the loading on my 3 wt. Maybe I should try over lining it with a WF4F line. So many choice and so little time!
If I do that experimentation I’ll be sure to report it here.
Thanks to everyone for their insights.
Jim S.
Joe - I think Jim uses 3 & 4wt rods for his giant redears. I think I remember a story about a RE turning a 2 or 3wt rod into toothpicks for him!! <G>
I have a friend that has a St Croix 6 1/2’ 4wt that is a fun rod to fish; however, if there is any wind [or if you need to reach out with a cast] it’s a bit of work to fish. That’s the main reason I’ve always stayed with the 8’ rod - good balance between actual weight of the rod and castibility. 'Course this is all IMO; yours may vary. This year I’ve been using my 3wt more because of all the wind we’ve had. Been a bad spring for it.
Do you find your 7’10" Sage easier to cast that the 7’ Cabela’s?
Donald
Ha, Ha, very funny Donald!
Not too many red ears down here, but we do have some killer gills and shell crackers. :^)
I just moved down here from Michigan, and had the 6 wt. for bass, pike and steel head. And the 3 wt. for general panfish; gills, pumpkin seeds, rock bass, crappie, yellow perch and the occassional large mouth. When I moved down here I bought the 5 wt. for trout on the White and Little Red rivers in Arkansas. It worked nicely for a couple of 3 to 4 pound browns on the White this past March.
I’ve got about a 5 acre pond in my back yard that’s loaded with blue gills, crappie and bass. And thought a 1 wt. would be perfect and a lot of fun for the gills and crappie.
Donald, or Joe, if y’all are ever in the Memphis area, give me a shout and we can have some fun fishing the pond. Had a friend catch about a 4 pound bass in it about 3 weeks ago, but he cheated. He was using spinning gear. ;^)
I got a good deal on a 4 wgt.DT line a while back.I cut a 30ft “head” off of each end of the line and made 2 shooting heads,1 was 26ft long
(an addtional 4 ft removed from large end)and the other 30ft long,with each spliced to a running line.I have used these lines on 4,3,2,and 1wgt rods.The longer heads on the 4,3 rods and the shorter heads on the 2,1 rods.I use a lot of size 8 clouser type flies and find
these lines work wounders especially on windy days.
Good idea mudni - by shortening the one “head” you effectively made a “lighter” shooting head. This can be a way to cast larger flies on smaller rods.
I had the chance to cast a rod built on Dan Craft’s 7’ 2-pc 1wt blank last Jan and I have to admit that I was impressed with it - a lot. Also the Orvis 1wt wonderline on it. A lot of people call that blank an “actual 2wt”, including the guy that apparently hangs bags of pennies on rod tips to find “the true rating for the blank”. However, I found a 2wt line really bogged that rod down and made it a real “dawg” IMO.
I have a friend that has the Cabela’s 7’ 2wt rod and, IMO, that rod is nowhere near a 2wt - a stiff 3 or even a 4wt better describes it for me. On the other hand the Craft rod I cast is just a very chrisp and quick 1wt. That rod may very well be my next “winter” project.
I’m also working on “downsizing” my flies that I use with my 2wt - perhaps to 1wt size?? I do use foam spiders that can easily be tied down to 14 or so but I do not seem to catch as many [or as large] fish on then as on the popper. Oh well, as my wife says “gives me something to do”!
donald
Donald,
I hope my previous post didn’t offend you. I wasn’t offended by your teasing, and didn’t intend to sound defense. I was just teasing back.
But I was serious about the invite if you ever find yourself in the Memphis area. You’ll have a place to stay, and someone to talk fly fishing with. And drink some scotch and have a cigar if you’re so inclined.
Best,
Jim S.
DieKatze - no offence taken!! I sometimes get sidetracked when responding to a post - especally late at nite.
If I get down that way I’ll certainly give you a call; appreciate the invite. Since I’ve retired I don’t travel as much as I used to in my fishing [the $3.00 gas doesn’t help, either].
donald
The rod weight or number is immaterial if a heavier line is fished comfortably with that rod? A 1 weight fished with a two weight line surely cannot be classified as a 1 weight but a two weight. I have a 3 weight rod that casts well and is more suited to the 4 weight line so it now is a 4 weight is it not?
Eric