3wt Nymph Rod Recommendations

[EyeAmShaf]

I got a Syndicate P2 Pipeline 10’3wt and I love it!

 

[Sylvaneous]

Hello! I am looking to get a new rod, and was curious if anybody has any insight or suggestions on a 3wt rod? I have a price range of $500 and below. I currently have a perfect hatch rod 5/6wt and an echo 7wt for salmon and steelhead. I would primarily use this rod for nymphing and maybe the occasional dry fly. Any help would be much appreciated!

Diamondback Ideal Nymph, but get the 2 wt instead. I got a 4 wt for steelhead as I was over feeling weird horsing a 5-6 lb trout with my 3 wt orvis Euro rod. The Ideal Nymph is kinda 1 wt stouter than listed weight. I'm very impressed with mine. Almost paid full price, but they had a great $150 off sale.
It won't be something you'd want to fly cast with a dry except for flopping it into place.

 

[Nocktavius]

Diamondback Ideal Nymph, but get the 2 wt instead. I got a 4 wt for steelhead as I was over feeling weird horsing a 5-6 lb trout with my 3 wt orvis Euro rod. The Ideal Nymph is kinda 1 wt stouter than listed weight. I'm very impressed with mine. Almost paid full price, but they had a great $150 off sale.
It won't be something you'd want to fly cast with a dry except for flopping it into place.

I could never understand buying a euro nymphing rod that can’t also throw dries. Any mid to high range 10’ to 11’ 3 wt stick should be able to present a dry fly with a quick 2 min leader change since the casting stroke required to properly tightline nymph (not the lob approach that too many people adopt) is just a slightly slowed down dry fly cast.

My T&T nymphing rods will each present a size 20 BWO at 30-50 feet and I wouldn’t buy anything that couldn’t.

 

[BigT]

3wt 10ft thomas and thomas is a great rod.

 

[JeffK]

I have the 2 wt and 3 wt Moonshine Epiphany rods and I like them.

However, my favorites right now are ones I built on Northfork Composites (Gary Loomis' company) blanks. They have some blanks you don't see often. I built an 11' 2 wt which I love for larger streams and have a 10' 0 wt blank in the mail. I hope that will be a cool small stream rod.

My closest fishing buddies are fans of the Cortland nymph rods.

 

[czechmate18]

I have the 2 wt and 3 wt Moonshine Epiphany rods and I like them.

However, my favorites right now are ones I built on Northfork Composites (Gary Loomis' company) blanks. They have some blanks you don't see often. I built an 11' 2 wt which I love for larger streams and have a 10' 0 wt blank in the mail. I hope that will be a cool small stream rod.

My closest fishing buddies are fans of the Cortland nymph rods.

I just finished wrapping my NFC 10' 0wt and liked the feel. I am having a custom reel seat insert made to match my thread. It will be a 100% USA made rod, snake guides, lemke reel seat, and gudebrod thread.

I have build on their 10tf 0,2,4,6 and 8 wts. NFC are great for their price points but the wait is the killer. I tell customers it might be 3 or 4 months before I even get the blank.

 

[Mike T.]

If you can find a 10 ft 2 wt DB, count yourself lucky. Next gen DB Ideal Nymph rods will be retailing 2nd half of February. Stocks of current generation are thinned out, esp the most popular 10 ft 2 wt.

 

[Gibbon]

I have been fishing a Diamond Back 10" 1wt for the last 2 years. I really like it for tight line nymphing, but would not recommend the 1wt for all round fishing. I feel Diamond back rods are actually 1wt heavier then advertised, mine fishes more like a 2wt than 1wt. If considering an all round rod from Diamond Back my opinion would be 3wt as I use a Sage ESN 4wt for a tight line dry fly rod.

 

[Mike T.]

I could never understand buying a euro nymphing rod that can’t also throw dries. Any mid to high range 10’ to 11’ 3 wt stick should be able to present a dry fly with a quick 2 min leader change since the casting stroke required to properly tightline nymph (not the lob approach that too many people adopt) is just a slightly slowed down dry fly cast.

My T&T nymphing rods will each present a size 20 BWO at 30-50 feet and I wouldn’t buy anything that couldn’t.

Sure, no question having a more generally capable nymph rod is nice, only one rod to carry. Changing out leaders is pretty quick and simple, too. But I prefer the opposite - I enjoy a dedicated specialist rod for nymphing. I'll pack a nice dry fly rod & reel if I think a hatch is possible/probable. My thin leader nymph casting isn't at all like my dry fly casting, so for me having separate rods is desirable. (My fav nymph rod is an Adams 10'6" 2 wt. My fav dry fly rod is an 8' 4 wt. ) It's more trouble to lug and rig 2 rods, but worth it for my fishing.

To the OP, as others have suggested, the T&T Contact II 10' 3wt is probably one of the better do-it-all nymphing options out there. I've used one for going on 3 years. It will present fairly light nymphs up to mid-size jig streamers, give you good, quick connection and hooksets, as well as pitch a dry fly adequately when needed, in my experience. Great rod, but not inexpensive. Nice alternative is the DB 10' 2 wt but they're very shortly going to be a used market purchase, maybe with wider availability for folks who'll move to Gen II DBs.