New Rod Suggestions

flythrower

flythrower

New member
Joined
Dec 17, 2010
Messages
27
Hey all,

After years of using hand me down equipment I'm taking the plunge into a new rig. I fish medium to big water most of the time and had settled on a 9' 5 weight 4 peice. I do want something that can handle a wide variety of flies and styles of fishing (mostly nymphing). I have yet to get a big trout (my biggest is 18") and I want to throw some big streamers etc and be able to handle some big boys. I've all but decided on the Sage VXP.

Should I do a 6 wt instead of the 5?

9'6" or 10' rod instead of the 9'?

I frequent this site and have searched the gear talk posts for material but I thought I would see if anyone had any input. Any and all input is greatly appreciated.
 
9' 5wt TFO BVK. Better rod for half the price.
 
Pretty much every rod made (unless it's designed for a specific niche) comes in a model somewhere in the length and weight ranges you're looking for. I'd definitely recommend getting out to some shops/Cabelas/BPS/whatever and trying some out. Have fun with it...that's a fun rod market to be in because there really is an almost infinite number of options. Agree with JasonS, plenty of good options for less than that Sage, not that there's anything wrong with it though either. Cast a bunch and see what you like.

As far as length/weight...If you're only on larger streams, the extra length probably isn't going to hurt you any, and will only help with casting/reach/mending, so why not. As far as weight, I'm in the camp that the 6wt is a little more versatile than the 5...will definitely throw streamers better. The 6 will probably give up a little bit to the 5 for smaller dries and nymphs though (say size 18 or smaller), but for everything else they'd probably be fairly equal.
 
Imho, it's your money . But a longer rod for medium and large water will do better.IMHO 10'er is the prime candidate, for you mentioned you prefer to nymph alot. the 10'er will also swing wets ,softhackles,and streamers as well as fish dries.
Also the 10'er will keep more line off the water when dead drifting n make mending alot easier too. As for line weight you can always get a spare spool for your reel an keep a extra line on it. I use several different lines on a single rod...usually i have extra spools for the reel . IMHO fishing big water alot or nymphing medium and bigger water i feel a 6 weight is a great choice, Especially where wind is concerned... that also depends on the action of your rod too.
You can then use a 5 weight ..taper of your choice when fishing when its calm or on medium streams, then switch up to a 6 weight and go after the fish on bigger water that usually have windy conditions or ... where you need to throw more line.

Nice thing too is that you could even go to a Switch rod and still be good. 11' is as long as I'd go on medium streams though.
 
sr - A little bit of delicacy when presenting a smaller fly, and perhaps to a lesser degree a bit of control/accuracy when casting a smaller fly. All other things being equal of course.
 
I have happily used a 6/7wt rod for size 22 flies this year. That said, it was a "classic," and not a modern, stiff, graphite rod.

I have happily used an overly stiff 5wt rod with a 6wt line on it for size 20 flies, as well. Is that a 6 or a 5? You decide.

The trade off from length comes accuracy, and the limiting factor of having to potentially fish in tighter spots.

The "delicacy" you lose is in the form of a larger 6wt line crashing into the water. When you inevitably overload your 6wt rod with a "GPX line for faster actions" and you're actually casting a line somewhere just shy of an under AFMTA 8wt on your 6wt Sage, you will wonder why you just didn't buy a 5wt and fist a 5wt GPX which is weighted somewhere shy of an AFTMA 7wt.

Ergo, there's a reason the 5wt was the "default standard." Furthermore, because of the characteristics of graphite, the 4wt is becoming the modern standard. YMMV.

Someone who doesn't post here does nothing but rave about the BVK. I trust his opinions on gear (although not on Petitjean bobbins). for the price of a Sage, you can have two BVKs and enough cash to fix the first break.

 
But I already posted on here.

Anyway, prolly need to define what exactly constitutes a medium or large stream. Ask 10 guys and you'll get 10 different answers.
 

Except I don't trust you, you're kind of a girl and probably just pick them based on how they accent your shoes or something else blatantly sexist like that kitchen joke kitchen joke sleep!
 
If you like the VXP action then I'd suggest go with the VXP in 6, same length.
 
What do you consider medium water? What do you consider big water?

To me, Penns is medium, Delaware is big.
 
Exactly. I consider penns large and spring medium. But for the brookie minnow fishers, spring would probably be considered large.
 
I have 4 ranges...for the purposes of selecting rod length anyway. Obviously there's some degree of overlap.

Tiny - First order Brookie streams, can step, or at worst jump across them.

Small - Maybe 8-20' across in terms of average width. This includes most fishable Brookie streams, and smaller streams up to the size of something like Valley Creek or Manada Creek.

Medium - 20-50' across or so. Something like Hammer Creek on the small end up to something like Spring Creek on the bigger end.

Large - Anything bigger than 50'. I understand that's a wide range of streams but they all fit this category for rod length...meaning you can safely go as long as you want.
 
If you have a 5/6wt reel with a line you are very familiar with, take that and go research every rod you can get your hands on, cast it, take notes see what you like and don't like a out poles. Then when you have your top 3-5, get on the google, see what people are saying about the rod, not magazine reviews or blog guys doing more advertising than actual reviewing, reviews by guys like us on forums, real fish chasers, people that break poles and warranty them as a customer not an advertiser. Then by then you will probably be down to 1-3 poles and make your choice from there.

Also like stated above, changing line weight on a pole can really change a pole for good and bad, heck I run my 4wt avid trout line on a mystic 3wt and on a 5wt eagle claw black eagle! And I love both poles, I attempt to trout fish the 3wt and I take that 5wt to anything including the occasional accidental carp hook up and it lands them! Heck if you have $22 to spend go buy one I really can't say enough for that cheap little thing, I bought while waiting for that mystic to come in...
 
To be clear, there's not gonna be a huge difference in what the 6wt and 5wt (of the same rod) can and can't do. Largely they will do the same things well and handle most "normal" Trout fishing situations in PA. I was trying to point out the areas where the OP would be most likely to possibly notice a difference.

sr - Agree to disagree on the first point. More often than not when you're talking about using really small dries (midges, BWO's, etc) with lighter lines, you're fishing in "spookier" conditions than when you're throwing larger dries with a 6wt, so it's not apples to apples. Again, the difference between a 6wt and 5wt as we're discussing here will be minimal, if noticable at all.

On the second point, because I fish a lot in close quarters for Brookies and often am just "manufactureing" a cast, I'm an admittedly below average conventional caster in more open situations. For some it may not make a difference as you mention, but for me I would be more comfortable, and likely accurate throwing the really small flies with a lighter line weight. FWIW.
 
the problem with going to a shop and casting the rods you would want to fish with is you can not simulate casting a double nymph and indicator rig, unless the shop will allow you to go to a stream with the set-up, good luck find that shop.

I recently got a TFO BVK 9' 5wt rod to replace a TFO TiCr (which I really liked). i took it to MT and fished 5 days with it using the above rig. it handled it better than I hoped it could. easily pounded 40ft casts and could have done more. I also have a Scott S4 9' 6wt that is a beast, easily throws 80ft full sinking line for streamer fishing as well as the above rig. it actually casts a 7wt better for shorter casts.
 
I have heard great things about the BVK and the Scott A4. No so flattering reviews on the VXP though. Stream size may or not impact the ros size you use. If I actually drive 2 miles to fish Clark's (smallish size stream), I use a 9' rod most of the time. Ability or preference? Who knows. You really should have a 6-7 weight if you are going to have a rod dedicated to streamers. A decent 5 will handle most waters for dry flies and nymphing. You are welcome to demo the closet full of tomato stakes I have. 2 models in 3-6 weights.
 
The longer the rod is the less accurate is a totally misleading statement.

Rod length has nothing to do with accuracy and if you are accurate with a short rod that same cast will be just as accurate with the longer rod. Where the longer rod is “less accurate” is when the cast itself is not accurate. Your hand controls the rod and if you are off target by 5 degrees, the rod tip on both rods are off target by 5 degrees but in terms of absolute distance the longer rod tip will be more off target because 5 degrees at the hand results in a greater distance off target at the tip on the 9’ rod as opposed to the 6’ rod – but both rod tips are still off target by 5 degrees.

Rod length has nothing to do with accuracy, accuracy is in the hands of the caster.
 
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