Rod recommendation

[Krex1010]

Hello all,
I’m thinking about a new rod. The purpose of this rod will be for small streams, hiking back in, heavily brushed in streams. Basically a bushwhacking rod for small streams and mostly small fish. Most of the time I’ll be using nymph rigs or a dry/dropper. My lightest rod at the moment is a 9’ 4wt and it’s just a bit cumbersome on brushy streams.

I’d like to keep the cost down, because this rod will have a rough life and Stuff happens when you’re fishing rough spots.

Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

 

[pcray1231]

I do a lot of this type of fishing. Personally, I like a stiffer rod, and find, from about late April through October, I end up doing better on dries alone rather than the dropper. You can fish from further away, float around brush piles, etc. With the dry dropper you find most fish take the dry, just cut the dropper off.

Anyway, my preferred rod is a 7 or 7 1/2 footer, 5 weight, and I throw 7 weight line on it (rods are weighted for like 20 feet of fly line off the tip, which you'll never have, so overweighting it is actually properly weighting it).

Finding a rod that short and high a weight isn't easy, unless you're Joe Humphrey's and can have one made specifically for you, haha (seriously, he does). I fish an old Cortland 4/5 weight. Don't have to go expensive, and might have to go with a 4 weight. But look in the medium to medium fast range.

Just my 2 cents from years of doing that kinda thing. Yeah, the fight sucks on a stiff rod. But are you actually fishing these streams for the fight? Comon! lol. Punching a cast up under a branch is much more important.

 

[pcray1231]

P.S. if/when I bust up my old Cortland, my guess is that my next one will be a St. Croix Imperial, 7'6", 4 wt. But I'll look at other models as well.

 

[silverfox]

A few years ago a bought a Redington Classic Trout in 7'-6" 2 wt w/ their 2/3 Zero reel exactly for this purpose. I have to say, I've been extremely pleased with this rod. It has decent action and casts nice enough, but what impresses me the most is it's durability.

I've actually thought to myself multiple times recently that I'm amazed it hasn't broken yet. I'm brutal on that rod. I'm always crawling through mountain laurel and getting it hung up on branches, bent, banged on rocks and branches etc. So far, it's held up surprisingly well.

My thought with that rod is that it's not a ton of money and I knew it would be put through abuse. One of the best rods I've ever bought in that regard. Highly recommend for small stream fishing.

 

[shakey]

6'6" eagleclaw glass. bam,done

 

[laurelrun]

I am fishing a 763-4 Cabelas Sync in those conditions and like it. My only complaint is that it feels underweighted sometimes. So thanks Pcray for that tip. I will throw my 5wt reel on it and see if that improves the short range casting.

Still a good rod for tight situations and very portable. Also not going to break the bank.

 

[Swattie87]

Ditto on the other recommendations. You want a 7’0 - 7’6, 3-5wt, in a 4 piece model. Most current rod lineups from manufacturers have those length rods in 3 or 4wt, but you can probably find some older models that are 5wts. Keep it cheap. $200 or less gets you a very nice rod in those specs. Redington, LLBean, St. Croix, even Orvis have rods that fit this mold.

Agree that in the warmer months you’ll probably end up finding a single dry fly is most effective.

 

[springer1]

6'6" eagleclaw glass. bam,done

+1

 

[nymphingmaniac]

agree with pcray. I don't do as much small stream fishing, but a 7 ft 4/5 weight is better for bow &arrow and other "non traditional" presentations. I only "line up" one size and I'm think 2 as he recommends is the way to go.

 

[riverwhy]

Although I love the feel of a soft rod on small streams like my old Kunnan, what I don't like is how the extra flex seems to propel flies into the trees when I free it from being hung up on the bottom. The extra flex also make it harder to rip it free from small branches once it is in the trees.

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

 

[pcray1231]

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

What I've discovered is, as you get better equipment, skill, etc. You DO NOT spend less time hung up in trees.

You just get hung up in trees trying to make harder casts!

 

[JimKennedy]

6'6" eagleclaw glass. bam,done
+2

 

[FarmerDave]

I agree with both of pcrays responses.

First one I'd tweak just a little bit. I might only overline by 1, but to be honest, I never tried 2. Could be even better and I'd take his word for it.

I would however go with an even shorter rod. But then, I have a longer reach. ;-)

Used to have a 6ft Cortland 4 WT that I got real cheap. Maybe it was 6.5.

Haven't done any small stream in awhile.

 

[redietz]

riverwhy wrote:
Although I love the feel of a soft rod on small streams like my old Kunnan, what I don't like is how the extra flex seems to propel flies into the trees when I free it from being hung up on the bottom. The extra flex also make it harder to rip it free from small branches once it is in the trees.

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

If you're bending your rod at all when freeing from snags -- either in the water or in trees -- you're going to eventually break your rod, even sooner if it's a rod with no give.

If you point the rod at the flyand pull on the line, there your problem goes away.

 

[FarmerDave]

redietz wrote:

riverwhy wrote:
Although I love the feel of a soft rod on small streams like my old Kunnan, what I don't like is how the extra flex seems to propel flies into the trees when I free it from being hung up on the bottom. The extra flex also make it harder to rip it free from small branches once it is in the trees.

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

If you're bending your rod at all when freeing from snags -- either in the water or in trees -- you're going to eventually break your rod, even sooner if it's a rod with no give.

If you point the rod at the flyand pull on the line, there your problem goes away.

So does your fly. ;-)

 

[avocet]

I have a 6.5 ft 3 wt I got at Bass Pro. It is great for shooting dry flies up into tight spots and if you want to fish nymphs or small streamers works great for that too. I paid very little. You really don't need to pay a lot for a good set up these days. I know Cabelas often has whole set ups-rod, reel and line for around 100 bucks or less that are perfectly nice.

 

[redietz]

FarmerDave wrote:

So does your fly. ;-)

You'll get the same result as if you'd pulled back on the rod. Sometimes the fly comes off, sometimes it doesn't. And there is no fly worth breaking a rod to recover.

 

[troutbert]

I recommend getting something in the range of 7 1/2 ft 4 wt to 8 ft 5 wt.

Rods in this range are perfect for most small streams.

If you can walk up a stream, rather than having to crawl up under the brush, you can fish it with a 7 1/2 ft rod.

You don't need a 6 ft rod unless you're fishing a "crawl up" stream.

And I've come to the conclusion that "crawl up" streams don't need to be fished. I'm happy to leave those streams as refuge areas for the trout.

 

[dryflyguy]

troutbert wrote:
I recommend getting something in the range of 7 1/2 ft 4 wt to 8 ft 5 wt.

Rods in this range are perfect for most small streams.

If you can walk up a stream, rather than having to crawl up under the brush, you can fish it with a 7 1/2 ft rod.

You don't need a 6 ft rod unless you're fishing a "crawl up" stream.

And I've come to the conclusion that "crawl up" streams don't need to be fished. I'm happy to leave those streams as refuge areas for the trout.

Yeah, my creaky knees have kinda forced me to give up crawl fishing.
I used to use shorter, lighter rods just for that purpose.
But now pretty much always use an old Orvis Far and Fine rod on small streams - 7'9" 5 weight.
If I can't get into a tight spot with this rod, I'm fine with passing it up

 

[troutbert]

dryflyguy wrote:

But now pretty much always use an old Orvis Far and Fine rod on small streams - 7'9" 5 weight.

Do you want to sell it?