Small Stream rod/reel recommendations

[Kevin Chaney]

TPFRs,

I am looking at adding another arrow to my quiver, as I want to try some of the fantastic small stream fishing (SNP) opportunities in our area.  I am leaning toward a 3wt 7'6 orvis finetouch, after doing a bit of online research. I already have two 5wts (8'6 and 9').

Thoughts, recommendations?

Much appreciated

[Daniel Davala]

Regardless of which brand/model you choose, a 7'6" 3-weight is my favorite length/weight for the park.  Plenty of reach when necessary, small enough for tight cover, and won't toss a five inch fish into the trees behind you on the hookset!  Other opinions are valid too.  Enjoy the search!

Dan Davala 

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[Parker]

I am absolutely obsessed with my 6ft 2wt Orvis Clearwater with the Orvis Battenkill reel. So light! Granted it is not as versatile as a 7'6" 3wt, but I have never had the need for a larger size in SNP. The rod also breaks down to four pieces, so it is excellent to throw in a backpack

 

Parker

[Jeremy Dusina]

Kevin,

 

My 2 cents - I bought an LL Bean Pocket Water 3wt, 6'6" last year and have used it both in SNP and on Accotink. Really happy with the outfit for small streams plus able to land a 12"+ trout in Accotink. My 3wt setup has quickly become my preferred for local trout.

 

And I second Dan's 'won't toss a five inch fish into the trees behind you on the hookset!' - which may or may not have happended with my 5wt!

 

Jeremy

 

On Thursday, January 31, 2013 8:05:29 AM UTC-5, Kevin Chaney wrote:

[Danny Barrett]

Prsonaly i love my orvis 6 foot 1 weight.   I use it on any stream thats less then 15 feet wide.

Dan Barrett

(540) 222-8064
dannyt...@gmail.com

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[r...@robsnowhite.com]

The Temple Fork Outfitters big launcher is a great no bells and whistles rod. Retails for $75 then there is the T.F.M sold fiberglass rod by eagle claw(?) for around $65. 

My personal favorite is the old Orvis "Tippett" superfine rod. 

Sent from my iPhone

[Matt Geiman]

I suggest going to your local fly shop and testing some some different rods, and picking what is best for you.  Or if you can wait, the Capital Angling Show is March 10th. There will be a lot of venders there with an indoor casting area. 

If I were to get a new rod for SNP it would be a Diamondback Fiberglass 6' 2 weight

[Brendan]

been facing the same question for a couple years now... wanted 6'6'' - 7' 2-3wt for awhile now, but have done fine with 8' and 8'6'' 3-4wts in the park and similar streams. for better or worse, the biggest pain in casting on those streams, all the overhanging hemlocks, have been thinned out and i enjoy the leverage/reach longer rods give you while kneeling behind boulders/trees. most common mistake in fishing tiny brookie pools is whipping the line too many times to get it back out there after a drift which becomes more tempting w/ shorter rods (at least for me). 

TFO, Sage, Winston and Orvis all make excellent rods, but would second the recommendation of stopping by local stores and figuring out not just brand but wt, length & action.  there are some really fun 6'6" 2 wts out there, along w/ tenkara and the sturdier short 4wts that can also be used up on some of the pa spring creeks. 

[Vic Velasco]

You should check out the smaller tenkara (fixed line - no reel) rods.  So I don't end up posting a bias, just google 'tenkara' or 'seiryu' or 'keiryu'.  I've got a 6', 7', 9', 11'3" and a 13'-14'7" zoom from various brands.  For any fishing using line weights under 5, I just go to these rods.  For any of you looking for setups for your kids, my 7 year old daughter and 10 year old son are throwing tight loops with the 6' and 7' rods respectively - GREAT teaching tools that are intuitive, simple and effective.

Vic

On Thursday, January 31, 2013 8:05:29 AM UTC-5, Kevin Chaney wrote:

[Carl Zmola]

On 01/31/2013 08:05 AM, Kevin Chaney wrote:
> TPFRs,
>
> I am looking at adding another arrow to my quiver, as I want to try
> some of the fantastic small stream fishing (SNP) opportunities in our
> area.

Dan made an observation that he likes a 7'6" 3wt. I also like that
length, but when you already have an 8'6" 5wt, I might shrink the length
a bit for 7' 3wt or even 6'6" 2/3wt. There are a lot of choices out
there, but think about what type of fishing you will be doing with it.
Probably a fair amount of roll casting to keep you fly out of the
rhododendrons or other streamside shrubs.

For a pure small/overgrown brook trout rod, I would even consider a 7'
4/5wt.

The joy of fly rods is there are so many to choose from, and there is no
one, "right" choice.

Carl

> I am leaning toward a 3wt 7'6 orvis finetouch, after doing a bit of
> online research. I already have two 5wts (8'6 and 9').
>
> Thoughts, recommendations?
>
> Much appreciated

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[Kevin Chaney]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts / recommendations / experience.

I'll be at the Capital Fishing show in march and will certainly take a look around, in the mean time I think I will stop in at my local orvis store and take a look.

Whenever I get to use the rod (whatever it might be) I'll definitely write up a trip report.

Tight-Lines

[phisherman]

I am a big fan of my Echo Carbon 7' 6" 3-weight. Matched it with the orvis battenkill reel and you have a super light setup.

The rod casts nicely with a tiny dry or weighted streamer. I used it on mossy creek this week and felt fully confident fighting 13 inch fish and had a blast fighting 6 inch fish.

[Eric Y.]

I use a Tenkara USA Iwana 11' and a Ayu 13'. Since buying my first tenkara rod a few years ago, I have not pulled out the 3wt a single time, and have used the 5wt probably 35% less often than I used to. It's perfect. With a 9' leader and some tippet, I have plenty of reach for the Jackson, Mossy, etc. If I use just tippet, it is perfect for brookie streams like North Creek or Cornelius Creek.

[TurbineBlade]

35% less? 

 

Let me guess - computer programmer?  computer magazine columnist?  ;) 

 

Gene

[Eric Y.]

Social worker. 33% sounded a bit too douchey, but roughly one in three.

[Dalton Terrell]

Eric,

I would be interested to hear how you handle moving from pool to pool with the Tenkara rods. I have one (12 ft maybe?) and have found the length fine while fishing but quite cumbersome to navigate around the woods to move spots. For Brook Trout streams with high gradient, I find myself often navigating through the trees rather than rock-climbing. Do you collapse the rod all of the way down to do this, and if so, what is done with your leader/line?

By the way, as a stats guy, I appreciate your precise estimate of how much less you use the 5wt.

Dalton

[Eric Y.]

It really depends on the terrain and how far I'm going. If I'm going to go over maybe 50 yards or if the brush is exceedingly thick and I can't creep the bank and hold the rod out over the water/rocks, then I collapse the rod at least partially. Regarding the line, I hold the rod handle in my right hand and pinch the tippet about 6" above the fly between index and pointer fingers on my right hand all the way down at the base of my fingers, then use my left hand to wrap the remaining line around all 4 fingers, moving from base to tip of fingers. It makes for a very quick and tangle-free means of moving to a new spot. I also have an old spool that was 20lb leader material (3-4" diameter, 1" thick) that I wrap the line around if I'm going to need my hands. I keep a moderately thick rubber band around the empty spool to hold the line in place. 

My main approach for brookies is to cast from lower pool, work the pool from there, then climb up the stream bed and fish from that pool into the next. I don't collapse the rod for this, just wrap the extra few feet of line around my fingers and go. Of course, this doesn't work in every creek, but with a 9' leader, I'm looking at 30' of reach, which is generally plenty down in the Apple Orchard Falls/GWNF area streams. 

[TurbineBlade]

Sure -- just giving you a hard time (and quoting a very, very great Simpsons episode).

Tenkara sounds like fun -- I saw a guy fishing for carp (with a tenkara rod) a few months ago on the canal when Beth and I were moving through.  Well, maybe he wasn't actually actively targeting carp, but he said he had hooked a couple and broken off.  He looked like he was having a great time, so I should probably give it a go at some point just to say that I've tried it.  

I don't think carp would be a species I'd target without a reel though.  

Gene

[Tom Sadler]

Kevin, I am a big tenkara fan and will be at the National Capitol Show at the Mossy Creek Fly Fishing booth. I will also be doing a tenkara demo. Happy to chat about tenkara. Here is some tenkara info from my web site in the Tenkara Fishing section.  Hope it is helpful.

-tom

[Dave]

I like a 7 foot 3 or 4 weight and using dry flies in SNP about 99.9% of the time. The 4 is a little more versatile and better in places like PA where the bookies are typically a little larger, handles nymphing slightly better too if you are into that for brook trout. Paul Kearney spoke at the TU meeting last year and says he uses a 9 footer in SNP. Better for reach and longer drifts but I have enough trouble bush whacking with a shorter rod so that's the compromise I guess. A tenkara rod would probably be awesome, I need to try that.

[Tom Sadler]

"A tenkara rod would probably be awesome, I need to try that." I think you would enjoy it. It has the advantages of a long rod and the presentations are amazing. 

[Howard A]

I have the 8' 2wt version of the rod, which I got for SNP and use locally for pan fish.  The full flex requires a slower cast, which may or may not be something you are looking for, but I'd definitely recommend casting it first to find out.  I managed to catch a couple of 12" cat fish on it this summer at roaches run, and was pleasantly surprised by the backbone it had with those fish.

Howard

[TurbineBlade]

Hey, be sure that your small stream rod is actually accurate to its listed weight!  I have a three-forks 7.5' 3 weight that I've always suspected should be lined with a 4 or 5 weight line.  

http://www.common-cents.info/glossary.htm

This easy test confirms it, since this "3 weight" has an actual weight equal to one of the 5 weights sitting on our shelf ;).  Go figure.  I think cabelas just took a slower action 5 weight, put 3 weight line on it and called it a "3 weight".  

Not that it matters -- it casts great with 5 weight line and catches fish....so I dunno.  

The test kind of feels like a 7th grade science experiment, but at minimum, it seems to allow you to compare several rods that you own.  It might be closer to 6th grade.....

Anyway - I'd love to play around with an actual 2 weight!  They sound kind of fun.  

Gene

[Eric Y.]

Tom, I'll second that. I was a devout czech nympher for a long time. I was the guy baking neon yellow mono in his oven to get a good coil. Since switching to tenakara, I have hardly touched my 10'6" Echo 3wt because the presentation doesn't even compare and if I find a reason to start tossing dries or emergers, I'm covered. 

[McFly]

I was looking at the Tenkara rods for this small steam loaded with Bluegills just up from my grandmothers home in Charles County they have a totally new system of Tenkara fishing to learn while still using my favorite flies. The rods range in length from 8'6 to 12'0 ft and this system was made for small streams in Japan.

[Charles.Tapp]

I love the G Loomis Streamdance GLX Presentation/WhisperCreek 7'9'' 3 and 4 wt. killer with a DT line. Absolute precision.

I hate the Sage TXL - had a 1wt and sold it. Way too fast for a small stream rod.

[Kevin Chaney]

First and foremost, this turned into a great discussion thread - so many thanks everyone!

I couldn't wait two weeks until the Angling Show - and had a little extra, unexpected, cash burning a hole in my pocket - so I went with the Orvis superfine touch 3  wt 7'6. 

I actually took it out yesterday on Beaver Creek - and wow, what a great fly rod. It took a few tries to get used to the full flex, but once I had it down it cast beautifully. I felt i had some precision in tight quarters and made high quality casts (not saying other similar models could not do the same) to weary trout without getting my fly stuck in a tree. 

In all I got about two hours in before the weather suddenly shifted- clouds rolled in with the wind, temps dropped with a burst of flurries ( I don't remember that on the weather forecast). I managed 8 browns caught on a variety of dries, nymphs and a streamer. 

Vic, I do plan on trying the Tenkara out at the show. I think this would be another fun and very useful rod when length on a small stream is needed. 

Thanks again everyone