Looking to get a new rod & reel for christmas

[krayfish2]

There you have it.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

The smallest I would go is a 6.5 ft in 3 wt. You can get a rod and reel at Bass Pro for about $150.00 and it will work great and when it breaks on a tree you return it and they replace it without any hassle.

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

I thought the same thing, but it's more of altering my fishing style on the small streams. Yes a real short rod would be fun, but I don't know if it's worth it. If it's what you want, go for it. I think you'd like some of the suggestions I made up there. The one stream I fish is only a foot across a places, really unique stream. I run into the issue you mention and wish I had a shorter rod there at times. It's hard to not get into trees and makes casting more challenging, but I take that as part of the fun!

Goodluck

 

[troutbert]

huntfish wrote:
thanks for the info. i have an 8'6" 5 weight right now, but the brookie streams i like to fish are in small, thick wooded areas so i feel a shorter rod would be easier to manage out there

A 7 1/2 ft, 4 wt would be perfect.

 

[RichFishbelt]

Fly fishing small streams is a beautiful thing, and a two weight fly rod would seem to be a practical and logical choice. After all, most of the time, we are casting a very short line. One could easily overline or underline the rod to meet a variety of circumstances. Furthermore, a light weight rod is simply fun to fish, particularly, when catching native trout, which are often colorful and tough, but smaller fish. When considering line control, however, a fly rod under 7', really begins to become a specialized rod of limited and practical value to the fly fisherman. Nevertheless, if I were to fish streams of heavy canopy and limited space for casting, I certainly would consider a 6' rod. That being said, I have never found a stream that was so heavily canopied and worth fishing that I could not get by with a 7' rod.
My personal preference, when fishing small streams, would be a fiberglass fly rod, 3 or 4 weight, 7 or 7.5'. Fiberglass fly rods and small streams are a match made in heaven. They load quickly under short lengths of line, are very pleasurable to cast and just plain fun to fish. What is more, they are less expensive than comparable graphite rods. It was my good fortune to learn to fish on fiberglass rods. For what it is worth, I highly recommend giving it consideration.

 

[huntfish]

thanks for all the info and suggestions. im going to go with a bit bigger like yall suggested. just need to do some shopping now. appreciate it!

 

[Chaz]

a 3 or 4 weight 7'6" for brookies is a great universal rod for small streams. I like the extra power a 3 or 4 has because there are times when you'll be casting under banks and tree limbs and you need to be able to power a big fly in there.
The fact that picking up line from the water is easier with a 3 or 4 than with a lighter rod is a big deal, plus they roll cast beautifully.