10’ 4 wt experiences and recommendations

[bigslackwater]

I'm not sure if I agree or disagree. I like a reel that is "heavy enough" but I don't like a heavier reel that provides a great deal of rear weight bias.

Personally I think it's important to keep the setup as light as possible. I've fished my 2wt 10 footer with a fairly light reel (4.19 oz.) and it seemed to fish well with it not being too heavy, granted I indicator fished with my rod so it wasn't as raised as it would be if I were tight-lining.

Having used a 9oz reel on a 7wt 10ft I found the setup to be overall quite heavy (maybe I'm just weak and used to light setups). Most of the modern age wonder rods are just so light in terms of weight and swing weight.

I will say there is an increased line pick-up rate on running a slightly over-sized reel.

Having dealt with this problem with 5 different 5, 6, and 7wt 10 foot rods, I've found balance is more important than overall weight. When you're casting a long rod with a heavy tip, your constantly "putting on the brakes" with your wrist at the back and front of your cast. After a long day of fishing I would end up with a sore wrist. On some rods (these are all home builds), I added lead tape to the reel. It gets heavy quick but the balance is worth it. On two rods that had fighting butts, I actually cut in to the cork, Put on a layer of lead tape and recovered the fighting butt with a faux cork grip made for bike handlebars. It wasn't pretty but much improved the performance. If you can add weight to the fighting butt or remove the end cap, and get some lead inside, you're going to use less weight than putting lead on the reel. Building and balancing my 4 wt. was easy. I just used a 6-7wt sized reel, put on a ton of backing and it was balanced. A bigger heavier reel is the easiest route to try first.

 

[ryansheehan]

The 10’ 4 weight seems to be quite popular in PA. George Daniel and Troutbitten are proponents. TCO promotes it above all other configs for PA. Seems like a fair number on this board are using this config as their primary trout rod.

My perception is it’s often used where the mono-rig is the preferred setup or as an indicator rod. I’d be interested in hearing thoughts on a 10’ 4 weight as an all around trout rod when the mono-rig is not in the mix.

I do not use the mono rig with my 10 foot 4 weight. It's the most versatile rod I own, the line control is outstanding. It casts dries really well too.