What wt. is right for me?

Hi all,
I’ve only been at fly fishing for about a year now, and had nobody with prior experience to help me, so im still pretty green. Now after being caught up with tubing, and tying, I’m considering building my own rod. I will mainly be fishing for trout, on the Clark Fork River in Idaho, but I’m not sure what weight blank to get. The biggest fish i’ll get on the river will probably range from 1-5 pounds or so. Is a 2 wt. good for this? Also are there advantages to low weight rods? better action, easier to cast, more responsive? Right now I have a 5/6 wt. which worked perfectly for me, on my only 3 fish caught on a flyrod . But those subtle hits are almost hard to tell, so would a light wt. rod be the way to go?
Thanks for any input- David


You’ll Have to speak up, I’m wearing a towel

  • Homer J. Simpson

I really really like fishing for trout w/ light tackle, however given your limited experience, I’d recommend a four wt. your 5/6 will get you by in windy conditions and the 4wt (I’ll suggest sciv better known as st croix legend ultra) will be nice for delivering dry flies on less windy daze and delivers the punch if yer fighting a breeze

detecting those subtle hits would be made much easier w/ a strike indicator of some sort.

I do think that you’ll end up outmatched w/ a 2wt rod.

mgj

I’d also recommend a 4 wt, and I like the SCIV series. However, you really can not beat the Dan Craft blanks. They are, without a question, “the best bang for your buck” out there. I’d go with the Sig V 843 or the 8943. They cost significantly less than the SCIV, they’re lighter, just as crisp, and, I dare say, more sensitive.

Thanks for the help guys, I will look into the SCIV rods right now
-David

Ok, I looked at both of these websites, and I think that both are too much for me to spend on my first rod. I’d like to get a cheaper one to try it out, in case I screw it up or something. Nothing worse that a $300 scrwed up rod.
Any more Suggestions?
-David


You’ll Have to speak up, I’m wearing a towel

  • Homer J. Simpson

[This message has been edited by Flytyer317 (edited 03 June 2005).]

seriously consider dan craft’s blanks too.
big bang for the buck (as w/ the sciv).

If you want a dirt cheap blank to practice on but is still quite fishable, check out the $15 blanks at rod-blanks.com

I agree you should build a 4wt. For the reasons already mentioned, plus, you’ll undoutedly want to build a second rod anyway. Make that one the 2wt.

Jim

Cheaper than Dan Craft, 8’ 4wt Rainforest from Pac Bay. Honestly, it is a very sweet blank. It’s not real fast, nor it is going to be a wind cutting powerhouse, rather it’s something that will put a smile on your face all day long as you’re casting. Order online from Hook and Hackle (they call them the Hook and Hackle IM7 blanks) and the blanks comes in at $44.
Forecast are also very nice blanks to learn on, but they get a little heavy in the longer lengths. Their 7’9" is a very nice casting blanks as well as their 7’6" 3, 4, and 5 wts.