FlyRod Action ?

[ratgunner]

What do you all prefer for bass fishing[river/stream smallies]? Do you like a fast, med./fast or slow action rod ? And why ?

 

[jayL]

I voted medium fast.

I like faster rods for bass fishing because of longer casts, bigger flies, and more wind.

The problem is that I stink at double hauling. The faster rods are just too unforgiving for my weak skills. If I were fishing smaller bass waters exclusively, I'd choose a broomstick.

 

[David]

I prefer faster actions for 2 primary reasons...
1. It's not too flimsy when casting big poppers and flies. I use a lot of big flies - deer hair poppers, whistlers, and deceivers. I have a softer rod that takes too long to load with all that weight / resistance. My faster action gets big flies farther and faster... it saves my energy for a full day's casting, too.
2. Stronger hookset at a distance. It's harder to get a good hook set in a bass' mouth than a trouts...plus your more likely to run into other hard mouthed fish...walley, pike, stripers, musky, etc. when bass fishing.

 

[scotto]

TFO TiCRX for me, so fast might be an understatement! Love the high line speed and power for throwing big/heavy flies and sink tips. In my trout rods I prefer med to slow actions, even some glass.

 

[gfen]

David wrote:
2. Stronger hookset at a distance. It's harder to get a good hook set in a bass' mouth than a trouts...plus your more likely to run into other hard mouthed fish...walley, pike, stripers, musky, etc. when bass fishing.

This is the word of mouth on the interwebs... With trout, you want a softer action rod to protect the finer tippet used, and the trade off is that since trout have soft mouths its not an issue when setting the hook.

With bass, they have hard, bony jaws that require a solid hookset. Since you're not using the fine tippets, you don't have to worry about breaking it on hookset, or during fighting.

There's been a couple of rods designed specifically for bass fishing, recently. I know Sage markets a line/taper combo.

 

[Fredrick]

Faster the better for me . Nothing worse than when your rod buckles under the load of a big nasty bass fly

 

[teedee]

I prefer a fast rod (Orvis 9.5 tip-flex) for bass. For river smallmouth it can cast a heavy fast sink line and large poppers and streamers. I also use a fast rod for trout in some situations and throw a lot of sculpins with heavy weight.

 

[ratgunner]

Lots of good responses here,thanks and keep 'em coming.