OK this is the place for those of us that hijacked the for sale thread of the Orvis One Weight to continue the discussion of the smaller rod sizes. My smallest rod is a 4 wt, my son has a two weight that is a ball to catch gills etc on, I think a one weight would be perfect for gills and small stream brookies when the wind isnt blowing and the cover is close.
Comments?
Eric
Primarily being a small stream angler, I have thought about taking the smaller line weight plunge several times. I just don’t want to lose any ability to cast larger flies. I would like to know the limitations these smaller rods have myself. So, please post!
I find that it I can cast most flies up to size 12 easily on my 2 WT. Bigger flies tend to be cumbersome.
over the years there have been several topics here regarding light fly rods and they usually start with someone commenting that the one weight is a toy or what could one possibly catch with a light rod. How about the wind? One of the most beautiful casts I even made was with my one weight Sage and into a strong breeze. Wow, that was a fine cast. I fish my rod often and catch bluegill, trout and bass with it. It is not a toy but a good fishing tool. I also own five three weights and truly love them all. You all might be missing some fun. Remember that fly fishing is a skill sport and the rod is a tool. I admit that a decent bass on a three weight is a tussle, but it can be done with fun and quickly enough not to harm the fish.
With a good cast I can handle a #8 fly but the one - three weight rods are not made for that. However, I fish #12 with ease with the one weight.
Good fishing to you all.
I use my one weight fishing for wild West Slope and Coastal Cutthroat. I am able to land good fish (largest was 19 inches in fast water) quickly without overtiring the fish. Bend in the rod? You bet, but my five weight would bend almost as much. Largest fly I’ve comfortably cast with it was a size 10.
The lite line rods shouldn’t be discounted because the line is the size of tying thread. Thesse are fine fishing tools that definately have a permanent place in my rod quiver.
You betcha. One weights are just a riot to use. I never thought that until my son had me use his. I’d left mine up at the cabin.
It made me a convert and I found a nice SPL 1wt. What a trip!!! A fine rod.
Jeremy.
Ultralight fly rods making fishing for, and catching bluegill, small stream trout, and such, MORE FUN. That’s the name of the game here right? We fish because fishing is fun!
So why would I want to use a 5 or 6wt rod for bluegills, that’s not so much fun.
I use 2 and 3wt rods for about 95% of my fishing.
J.
I find my 1 wt a little harder to use in the wind that the 3 wt and 5wt.
It may be that I need to practice more.
Crappie and gills are a blast on a 1 wt through.
Rick
I find I have more control of a 5wt line than stuff smaller than 3.
I sold my 1 wt to someone here at FAOL. I kept a 2 wt. that I built on a IMX blank cuz I could not detect much difference between the 1 and 2.
My favorite “small stream” rod is the Orvis Far and Fine I bought from Spinner one night in the chat room 4-5 years ago. Its made be a better caster.
I like my 2wt, but it has a lot of limitations, so my 4wt spends much more time out of the tube.
1 don’t have 1wt or smaller…YET. I love my 2wt. It handles bluegill nicely and is a lot of fun.
I have a 3 wt. Diamondglass, real nice, but that’s as light as I’ll go.
I also have 5 8 wts. They get the most work for me.
And gills? Man it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a bluegill.
OK, lets take this somewhere else if you fish one of these wands tell us what type of waters you fish with it, if like bigfin56 who the smallest you have is a three weight, have you tried smaller. I can see that in Alaska bigfin might not have much use for a one weight or perhaps he is missing alot of fun.
smallest rod I have used is my sons (James-FS) 2 wt. I have only tried it on a small pond for gills, perhaps I will borrow it and hit some local streams before schools out.
Eric
Eric.
I fished mine last year on the Selway amd landed some respectable fish with it, largest came close to 19 inches. It roll casts nicely with a DT line and drops a fly on the water with nary a ripple.
So far I’ve only fished for trout on medium sized rivers with it. This year I’ll give gills and crappie a shot.
REE
My go-to rod is a 3wt, but I frequently pull the Dan Craft 1wt out just to have fun with the gills. While fishing one day for gills, I caught a 15" Crappie and landed it, then caught a 15" LMB on the very next cast, and landed that one also.
I had one of the Cabela’s one weights.
I caught bass up to three pounds with it, lots of bluegills, and trout from both lakes and rivers.
This particular rod had little backbone, and I did have some trouble setting hooks into bass with it…so I switched to using circle hooks for bass with the rod, and that fixed the problem.
It didn’t cast well in much wind, but I seldom had it as my only rod at any one time, so if it got too difficult, I would just switch rods.
It was an absolute blast to catch fish on…never had any trouble landing fish with it…even the little ones pulled like whales. It’s probably the perfect rod for those tiny stream brook trout type places…
THEN, I built a 2 wt. that weighed less in the hand…and I found little use for the one weight after that.
Gave it away.
Buddy
I fish my 2wt and 3wt rods in smaller warm water creeks, and I also use them at the reservoirs around here. I find that from a boat, casting to shoreline structure in sheltered coves, the ultralight rods work just fine.
J.
Hello everyone,
The first rod I ever built was the last winter. An inexpensive 2wt, that I unfortunately made a few mistakes on during the building process. However, I still fitted it with a reel and line and couldn’t wait to fish it.
Before it was stolen last year, I fished only with that rod. I’ve caught some lunker bass with it as well. I miss it dearly.
What I do love about the lightweights is this. I, like so many other folks, can’t wait for the nice weather to get here, so I start hitting the creeks and rivers quite early. As soon as it’s shorts weather I’m down in the water. The problem is, the water is still ice cold. I’m from Southwestern Ontario, Canada. There’s not much cold water species close to me. So the waters aren’t full of fish. The first fish to come up are baitfish…or something. No idea what they are. But they’re not much fun on my 8wt.
Now, we’re talking small fish, 6 inches and shorter. But, on a 2wt they hit like sharks! Every so often they shoot right out of the water hitting that fly:)
I love lightweight outfits. Wish I could afford lighter. Even looked for 000 blanks:(
I’ve had people tell me light outfits are toys, they are for women, they’re for kids, they were invented for people who don’t know how to fish. The list goes on and on. I waded in the water away from a group of people in the ages of around 18-22 years old last summer. They cracked jokes for about 20 mins on how small my rod was. Would I like one of thier girlfriends to teach me how to use a “Mans” rod, so I can catch fish. All sorts of fun comments. Now the last comment I had to resist on replying with my own fun jokes. So, the next 50 or so minutes while I was the only one in the water catching fish. I was asking where all thier fish were, on thier “man” outfits. I even caught a good sized smallie. That was good times. After I left the water, a couple of them started asking questions about my outfit, turned into some good times.
Sorry to ramble, point is. Don’t listen to the folks who say they’re toys. They can hook fish, they can hook big fish, and they most certainly deserve to be fished. And if your lightweight feels a need for a fighting butt, let it have one!! 
I plan to build up the other 2wt blank this year. Can’t wait!!
Shane
I have been using a 1 wt line for 95% of my trout fishing for the past 6 or 7 years. I have no trouble at all fishing bushy dries up to a size 10, I also fish a size 8 2x bead head without any problem. On occasion I will fish a size 8 Chernobyl ant as well.
I would say one day out of ten I might encounter a wind problem, but since my home river is large, I can usually find a position that allows me to fish even in a heavy wind.
The primary advantage I find to using a 1 wt is actual fishability. It allows me to fish long fine leaders, I can gently manipulate my fly in a life like manner, I rarely if ever break off a fish on the strike, and it allows me to aggressively play fish without fearing breakoffs.
As you can tell, I’m sold.
p.s. Since I officially qualify as an old geezer, I find using a light outfit alot easier on my arm and sholder when fishing all day.
I have quite a few lightweight rods ranging from; 00 to 3 wt’s.
They are a true please to fish.
I have caught a lot of large fish on them ; 7 pound carp to 18 inch rainbows.
You have to realize that they are not long distance casting rods, athough you can get some good casts in.
I have cast some large flies for bass, but you have to ajust your casting stroke to accomidate the larger flies.
One important thing to rememeber is that you need a good reel for those rods.
Lightweight rods make you feel like every fish is a brute!
I think that everybody should at least try fishing with one for a day.
Take care,
chris