What rod do you use?

[Fishnkilts]

Hey Guys,

Just curious as to what rod you use for soft hackle/spider fishing (such as length,weight and action ?

Thanks,
MD

For Spiders, I like my Scott A4 1004. I fish it casting upstream with double the rod length of line out of the rod tip. It's perfect for this technique, but that's just my opinion. It's a medium fast rod with a soft tip with a really good strong lower section with a progressive taper that in my opinion again helps with hook sets.

[Mike62]

I have a couple of those rods, I love them. The 9' 5wt. sees a lot of water these days.

[DUBBN]

For big rivers That I know I will be nyphing almost exclusively I use an 11 foot , 3 weight Syndicate nymphing rod. Surprisingly, with the sensitive tip section it makes an amazing soft hackle rod for swinging wets. I have an inexpensive Lamson Liquid reel on it

For an all around nymphing, streamer, dry fly (if I am forced to throw dries), rod I like my LOOP Opti-Nymph 5wt. With an old LOOP model 3 reel.

For swinging soft hackles I use a Blue Halo 5 wt fiberglass rod. 8 footer. In a pinch I can nymph with an indicator/bobber with it. I have a cheapo Wright McGill Dragonfly reel on it. I am waiting for the reel to fall apart at any moment.

For Streamers I throw a bottom of the line Redington 6wt. I have an Okuma Reel with sink tip and Ross Canyon loaded with weight forward.

For loaning out I have an old Sage Fli in 5 wt. , and 8.5 feet long. I have an old Clearwater reel on it.

I am not well versed in rod make up. This assortment catches fish, makes my days on the water enjoyable, and none of them make my elbow or shoulder hurt after a session on the rivers.

[joaniebo]

If I recall correctly (I haven't counted them), I "think" I have only three graphite rods: a 9' Orvis T3 4wgt; a 8' Orvis Silver Label 8 wgt; and a Hardy 9' 5 wgt. All my other fly rods are bamboo rods, most of them being rods that I assembled from blanks that I purchased from other rod makers / companies. Only 4 or 5 of my bamboo rods were assembled by cane rod makers.

Years ago, I bought a few, actually quite a few, Partridge-of-Redditch impregnated rod blanks and started to assemble "my own" fly rods (?). I got hooked on fishing cane rods and gradually began to fish wood more often than not. In the past 2 or 3 years, I've culled down my inventory of rods and given many to my 3 usual fishing "Amigos" and 2 fishing "Amigas (?)" so that they can enjoy fishing "wood."

Basically, no matter what rod or reel I choose to fish with on a certain day, I use that rod to fish soft hackles, spiders, nymphs or dry flies. I seldom fish streamers but when I do, I usually fish one of my 5 wgt rods.

Thus, I have no favorite rod / reel set-up for fishing soft hackles. I decide which rod to use depending on the water that I'm fishing that day and then have at. Cheers.

Bob

[Caster1]

I have two rods that I use for nymphing. They are both from the mid-late 80's. My rod of choice for small to mid sized streams is a SAGE LL 9' 4wt. I like the soft tip and it has a very sensitive feel. For the larger waters I like my WINSTON IM6 8 1/2' 5wt. This rod has more backbone than the SAGE and is better on windy days. I have tried a 10' 3wt GREY's but I like the feel of the SAGE better.

[Theroe]

“Fish wood” is a very interesting choice of words!!


I would say “fish grass”, but I am not interested in inciting a flame war similar to alt. tasteless versus rec.pets.cats saga of years past......


Although it would be fun

[bearbutt]

“Fish wood” is a very interesting choice of words!!

LOL!--Here's an exceptional piece of lumber: an Allcock 7' Greenheart with a 2 5/8" Hardy Sunbeam:



I first cast it about a decade ago when visiting Ireland. A friend owned it. Looked for one for 8 years--in Ireland, in the UK, in the US--no luck. I finally wrangled from him both the rod and the reel. It casts a nice 3-weight, is actually pleasant and light and hand, and is simply beautiful too.

As for grass rods--it's all about the river and the flows on a given day--hard to generalize.

bb

[Toasty]

“Fish wood” is a very interesting choice of words!!

LOL!--Here's an exceptional piece of lumber: an Allcock 7' Greenheart with a 2 5/8" Hardy Sunbeam:

Now that is some serious craftsmanship. That thing is outrageously gorgeous.