Two Rods Needed To Fish The World

[jdaddy]

Some of you may have received this email from Orvis. The email suggests that "you can fish the world with a 5 or 8 weight fly rod". They of course go on to sell various 5 and 8 wt Orvis set ups.

"5wt - Lakes, ponds, rivers and streams - trout, panfish, bass, carp

8wt - Oceans, flats, big rivers and bays - bonefish, stripers, redfish, steelhead"

Got me to thinking, if you could only have two rods, what would they be? What if you could only have one rod? Yes, you can get creative and use different spools/line weights as needed.

 

[MKern]

7' 3 wt. = brookie streams and light trout fishing. I'd have a 3 wt. line and a 4wt. line.

9' 6 wt. = a bulk of trout fishing, as well as pike fishing. I'd have a 5wt. line and a 6 wt. line.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

2 rods The first would be a 7' or 7'6" 4 weight for smaller streams. The second would be a 9' 6 weight for bigger streams and rivers. If I had to narrow it down to one rod it would be without question a 8'6" 5 weight for all around use everywhere.

 

[Alpabuck]

Screw that this is america I'll have as many rod's as I feel I need and Orvis would know that if that checked though there warranty cards!

 

[gfen]

8' 4wt and a 9' 8wt make the most sense.

 

[jdaddy]

Screw that this is america I'll have as many rod's as I feel I need and Orvis would know that if that checked though there warranty cards!

I bet more people would have an arsenal such as yours if they were getting them for pennies on the dollar! Having said, that you do kind of make the point that Orvis is trying to tell us we need two rods. Why do they sell all those other ones?

 

[afishinado]

Now I have quite a few fly rods. I started FFing at 16 years old and for the first 10 or 12 years I had my trout pole (8' 5wt) and my bass pole (9' 8wt). I caught many trout both large and small, all kinds of panfish, SMB, LMB, pickerel, pike, musky, walleye, carp, suckers, chubs, fallfish, etc. If I lived near the shore, I'm sure I would be able to add strippers, blues and other SW surf fish too.

Yup, two poles is about right....

 

[Acristickid]

Hard to argue with those choices.

Guess it depends on where you live and primarily fish. If I lived on Gulf Coast I might bump it up to a 9 or 10 wt.

As much as I dream about destination fishing, really don't think about very exotic places to travel too. Florida, Jersey covers my salt dreams- at least for now.

Would like to hit up many spots in California and Crows Nest Pass area. BC is starting to become intersting to me.

That about covers my dream trips and gonna take a few years to do it. -subject to change-

 

[jayL]

9' 5wt and 9' 9wt.

I don't know of anything that a 3 or 4wt can do that a 5wt can't, but I know plenty of things that the 5wt can do that the 3 and 4wts can't.

 

[ryguyfi]

I agree Jay. I've caught a 4" brown, and an almost 20" smallie on a 5 wt... that smallie would have busted my 3wt.

I just bought a 9/10wt and even though it's overkill for bass and most freshwater fish, it'll still catch them. It'll cover salmon/steelhead, and salt too.

as jay said 9' 5wt and 9' 9wt.

 

[tomgamber]

Those are my go to sizes. I have many rods but I only have an 8 and a 5 in 4pc. that's gotta mean something.

 

[Rolf]

8' five weight and 9-1/2' eight weight. I'm showing my age here but does anyone remember years ago the default line weight to get started for anything, was a six weight?

 

[jayL]

Rolf,

I don't remember it, but I feel like it was probably a better approach than the ultra light obsessed FFing community of today.

 

[Pittflyguy]

If I had to pick one rod it would be a 9' 6wt fast action rod with a full wells grip and a fighting but. Basically a salt water 6 wt.

I have been using an Orvis Silver Label for years in this set up and I have done everything from trout to baby tarpon and schoolie stripers with it. It is extremely versatile and can throw decent sized flies as well as both floating and sinking lines.

It is a bit of overkill for small stream fishing, but it is the perfect rod for carp, smallies, drum, and cats. It will do justice with steelies and light saltwater duty as well..... If I had to pick just one... that would be it... IMHO.

 

[Fishidiot]

I agree.

A #5 and a #8.

 

[albatross]

I'm in the camp with RyGuy and JayL, a 5 wt and a 9 wt. The 5 would be 8.5 feet long and the 9 maybe 9.5 feet. An 8 weight isn't big enough for the larger end of the scale.

 

[Fredrick]

I would go a little bigger than most I would have to say a #6 and #9 for all the fishing in my area .

 

[Heritage-Angler]

You could also golf with just a 9 iron, too. With so many good quality, inexpensive rods out there, why limit yourself?

Use the right tool for the job, and the job gets done easier.

I'm with Alpy on this one (except the Orvis part).

 

[David]

Alpabuck wrote:
Screw that this is america I'll have as many rod's as I feel I need and Orvis would know that if that checked though there warranty cards!

Love your avatar...are you writing English in this post? Tough to tell! Quick count of at least 10 errors in one run-on exclamation. Too funny and ironic!

PS I would go with a 9' 5wt and 9' 9wt.

 

[jayL]

David,

In the poker world, the equivalent of what you're doing is called "tapping the fish tank".

If alpa decided to learn to not be ironic, a big part of the humor of his posts would disappear. Don't ruin the fun for the rest of us!