Rods for fishing flymphs and soft hackles

[Fishnkilts]

I'm with DUBBN and ronr, casting upstream with soft hackled flies and then coming back down using winged wet flies.

I have two rods. The first rod is a Scott A4 10' 4wt. I bought it for Czech nymphing and it does very well, but then I found this forum and started using it for wet flies of all styles. What I like about this rod is the progressive taper it has. The more pressure I or the fish puts on it the more it bends, plus it has a nice med/fast action with a soft (ish) tip.

The other rod is one I received last year and I am loving this rod immensely. It's a custom bamboo 8' 6" 5wt with a Dickerson taper. With this rod I cast upstream or above me at a 45deg. angle and let it come straight down stream just until it passes me and then cast again. This is an awesome rod and I hope my son will enjoy it as much as I do after I'm gone.

I fish both rods with a floating line, Airflo Exceed on the Scott and 406 on the bamboo, both with threaded furled leaders. But I fish with furled leaders no matter how I'm fishing.

So I have a question for the folks who have a 10' 3wt. I understand the rod tips are soft enough to protect the tippet, but what stops me from going lighter than a 4wt, and I would like to, I'm a little worried about breaking the tip of the rod. I fish my 7" 6" 3wts on the creeks for smaller trout, never on a river like the Cache La Poudre or the Arkansas River with a 3wt rod. I figure you all who fish a long 3wt rod have confidence enough in them not to break the tip off the rod? Am I worried over nothing?

[ronr]

I've had good luck with my 10'6" 3wt by Cortland..their early version of the competition nymphing rod. I've managed some pretty decent fish on the rod. Best was probably a 17" rainbow on the canyon stretch of the Henry's Fork... guide was so impressed with the way the rod handled the fish, I let him fish with it some. I've alway thought the strong butt section enable the rod to fish somewhat like a 5wt with a light tip to absorb the shock. Knock on wood,,, I've fished it for several years with no problem.. I think Dubbn may have had a different experience with the rod. I have other rods, from 8' 2wt, 8.5' 3wt and 8.5' 4wts, 9' 5wt.. but rarely pull out any of them.

[tworod]

The best rod is the one you are fishing that day. Flymphs, soft hackles, winged wets can be fished with any type of rod. Having said that, historically a longer rod with a softer tip has been recommended for some good reasons including absorbing the strike and providing a longer reach. As has been stated, reach will be dependent on the size of the water. I have no experience with the Euro nymph rods that have the length but they all advertise a fast tip.
When I go out to fish trout in sizable water on the swing exclusively my all-time favorite is a Winston IM6 10 foot 4 weight. A great technical dry fly rod too if there is no wind.

[Partsman]

This year I’ve fished my gloomis nrx lp 5 wt for almost everything, it’s a rod i that is light and easy casting with a soft tip, really like it. I’ve also used a recon 10 ft 3 wt. great soft hackle rod and a surprisingly good dry fly rod with a 4 or 5 wt. wf line. For me getting to close to 70 I find weight to be the biggest factor in all my gear.
Mike.

[plvankampen]

I just recently got the Grey's GR80 11' 4wt for fishing on my local tailwater. I was inspired a lot by Davy Wotton's style of fishing as presented in 'Wet Fly Ways.' I have been using the 3wt Rio SHS 3D with an intermediate versileader and a SA 4wt MPX taper WF line on the rod. I matched it with a Hardy Marquis 7, but I'm thinking about trying out my old Orvis Battenkill 8/9 for a little bit better balance in hand.
If I'm planning on doing more nymphing than flymphing I absolutely love my Hardy 10'2" 2wt LL. I have battled some 20" browns in the last year and had an absolute ball on the 2wt. But, as with many nymphing rods, it's hard to compare the weight with a 'dry fly rod.' Regardless, it is also a really great rod for swinging wets or casting dries and soft hackles upstream. It's accurate and balances perfectly with a Hardy Marquis 7 and a Cortland Spring Creek taper WF line.
While I don't own the Syndicate Pipeline, I have fished one and was very impressed. Had I not spent my budget on the Hardy LL I would have definitely gotten that in the the 10' 2wt variety. Best mid-priced nymphing rod in my opinion.

[Brooktrout52]

As a tangent to this topic, I noticed many of you use a sinking line or leader when fishing flymphs and soft hackles. I've never used a sinking leader. I'm relatively new to fishing subsurface. Are there any guidelines on which sink rate or length to use? Most of the places I fish are fairly small streams. Are there any adjustments to casting a sinking leader over a floating leader? Thanks.

[dj1212]

Thanks to everybody who responded to the rod question so far. Long light rods if the length is suitable for the stream you're fishing. I figure the length is going to give you better line control. Why the light lines? Two and three weights mostly. Interesting, to me any way.

[plvankampen]

As a tangent to this topic, I noticed many of you use a sinking line or leader when fishing flymphs and soft hackles. I've never used a sinking leader. I'm relatively new to fishing subsurface. Are there any guidelines on which sink rate or length to use? Most of the places I fish are fairly small streams. Are there any adjustments to casting a sinking leader over a floating leader? Thanks.

I like using an intermediate tip and/or versi/polyleader of about 5-8 feet. I then tie off a gang of wets/spiders using flourocarbon. Slapping an intermediate tip on is actually very useful in small streams where you have a lot of conflicting currents and broken water to deal with. The intermediate line gets under the surface just enough to give you more control. Also, on smallish streams I find I rarely have more than a few feet of actual fly line on the water, if any, so it helps 'grab' the water without being too tight to the fly.
As far as actual sink tips, I've never used these with wet flies - with the exception of casting streamers with a trailing wet. This is probably quite specific to trout spey techniques where you're mostly fishing the streamer but putting on a (larger) wet to pick a fish up in either the lift of the dangle. At least, that's my experience.

[plvankampen]

Thanks to everybody who responded to the rod question so far. Long light rods if the length is suitable for the stream you're fishing. I figure the length is going to give you better line control. Why the light lines? Two and three weights mostly. Interesting, to me any way.

For me there are a couple of things at play here. For the majority of the rivers I fish a 5+ wt rod is just overkill for the fish. And, since we are talking about flymphs and wets, there is little to no weight to consider when casting.
Additionally, with the numbers of nymphing rods that were mentioned, my guess would be that 2 and 3 weight rods are more versatile for switching between nymphing (weighted) and fishing wets. That's how I tend to to use my 10'2" 2wt. It is a medium-fast action (for a nymphing rod) but due to it's length there is plenty of reserve power for hauling in the 18"+ trout. In reality, I think a rod should match the tippet more than the fish. If I'm fishing 4x and 5x tippets, why would I even want a more powerful rod? Of course, if you're fighting the fish with the tip of the rod you're probably doomed already no matter the weight of the rod

[dj1212]

Thanks to everybody who responded to the rod question so far. Long light rods if the length is suitable for the stream you're fishing. I figure the length is going to give you better line control. Why the light lines? Two and three weights mostly. Interesting, to me any way.

For me there are a couple of things at play here. For the majority of the rivers I fish a 5+ wt rod is just overkill for the fish. And, since we are talking about flymphs and wets, there is little to no weight to consider when casting.
Additionally, with the numbers of nymphing rods that were mentioned, my guess would be that 2 and 3 weight rods are more versatile for switching between nymphing (weighted) and fishing wets. That's how I tend to to use my 10'2" 2wt. It is a medium-fast action (for a nymphing rod) but due to it's length there is plenty of reserve power for hauling in the 18"+ trout. In reality, I think a rod should match the tippet more than the fish. If I'm fishing 4x and 5x tippets, why would I even want a more powerful rod? Of course, if you're fighting the fish with the tip of the rod you're probably doomed already no matter the weight of the rod

I agree you want the rod to match fly size and tippet not necessarily the fish. For sure a lighter rod with a sensitive tip is an advantage. Also the lighter tip is going to help protect light tippets.