WTT: "I own and fish a St. Croix 7' 6" "Avid" 2 weight. I tried it on small streams and although it worked OK it did not muscle the bigger, bushy flies very well."
yeah I agree big flies (and also too much wind) is a limitation of 2wts. I usually fish 2wts in forested brookie streams, not on more open and windy bigger waters. I also tend to use #14 foam body yaeger caddis type dry flies, not really big and brushy ones.
http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=28062
Imho, these yeager flies give you a lot of floating power with less brushiness. Better to cast them than bigger brushier flies under branches, etc. Brookies of course are opportunistic feeders, often living in acidic water where food is less common. Doubt the fly type matters very much to them.
WTT: "The 2 weight "Avid however is my favorite rod for fishing small flies( ie. size 18/20 BWO to size 24 tricos) over selective difficult limestone trout."
I can see why a 2wt might be good for spooky wild browns... lighter line so less "lining the fish"/scaring them with the fly line as it makes its wave forward on the surface. I have that avid and like it, but often want a shorter rod for brookies given the limited casting space on small streams. I like the avid for wild browns on a little bit bigger water.
(btw, I see from some reciepts that some nice 2wts are out there for not too much $. I bought a new closeout 7'3" echo carbon 2wt for $130, and a new tfo 6'9" 1 wt (really a 2wt) for $170, in the last few years. also a 6'6" cabelas PT 2wt (made in us, probably by st croix) on ebay for $90. I'm going to overline anyhow (I like rio gold 3wt lines), so I haven't found more expensive 1wts to be worth dealing with in most cases versus the 2wts.)
super detailed note. I have the original echo carbon 2wt. they revised it a few years back. version 1 has uplocking rings to hold the reel that are conventional/ solid rings with no open spaces in the rings to save weight. version 2 has uplocking reel seat rings that are reduced in weight by having open spaces in them. see far left hand side of image here, this is version 2:
http://www.farmingtonriver.com/carbon/?sort=pricedesc
version 1:
http://tinyurl.com/poc3qfw
I have never seen a version 2 echo 2wt, but if it does have this lighter reel seat hardware, I might like that change. imho the slightly lighter reel hardware would probably make the rod balance a bit better with a lot of lightweight reels.