Bass Fly Rod Suggestions

[henrydavid]

I used to fish the Susky North Branch with my 6wt until I finally managed to fish the white fly hatch properly and got in to some hawgs. After that it was an 8wt for me.

I was stuck hanging on to a bent in half rod for what seemed be an eternity, ended up having to beach a couple pig smallies. The 8wt allows me to handle the fish a lot better, less stress on the bass.

Here's a funny story, once I foolishly fished a stretch of the Lehigh River near the gorge with a 4wt and ran into a bunch of smallies, it was a comedy show, had them running between my legs, broke a few off and eventually ran out of muddlers, never again.

 

[Dave_W]

I'm not much for paying close attention to fly rod action and whether you go with 9' or 10' is a personal choice. Folks tend to like longer rods these days.

However, I'd suggest that stepping from a 6WT up to a 7WT is a good choice for river smallies.

In fact, if I had to choose between a 6WT and an 8WT for river bass, I'd pick the 8 without hesitation.

 

[bigjohn58]

Yeah I have an 8wt I plan on building. Thinking about the fast action now because they say it will chuck larger weighted flies easier. I also hope this rod can double as a steelhead or light salmon rod if I ever decide to do that.