Advice on a 2wt fly rod

bass
bass
I am thinking about doing more fly fishing (have not been since I got my kayak almost 3 years ago). I have always enjoyed fishing smaller waters and thus I am thinking about getting either a 2wt or 3wt. (I have a 7.5' 5wt, 9' 5wt and 9' 8 wt at present).

The TFO 8' 2wt looked pretty sweet at River City - I did not cast it since I am not ready to purchase yet, but it sure wiggled nicely :) What I am trying to decide is whether a 2 wt is just something that is cute toy or is it really useful/practical? I am interested in hearing folks' opinions. In fishing smaller waters is a 2 wt useful? More fun than a 5wt?
 
brandon4455
brandon4455
i have never owned a rod that light, but my fishing buddy has 2 3wts. one is glass and is more like a 1wt. these rods are a little harder to cast in the wind, but perfect for small streams where the fish average under 12 inches. personally i would go a little longer, maybe 8'6" or 9' because you still want to be able to mend and high stick,especially in small streams. 8' isn't bad but its not preferable. from a guy who cuts his teeth on small stream trout i would say a 2wt is fine,just get one that is a little longer.
 
T
TimberTodd
I purchased 7.5' 3wt that I used for targeting bluegill while in the nucanoe. I agree with Brandon, for streams I would prefer a longer rod. I believe Spydey was playing with a 2wt. I haven't seen him around in a while, but you might shoot him a pm. Spydey where are you!!
 
M
Modest_Man
I sold my 7' 2wt and kept my 8.5' 3wt.
 
J
JonT
Bought an Echo Glass 6'9" 3wt 2 weeks ago, and it is so much fun. $199. Got a cheap new Ross reel for $40, good to go. It's a great lake rod. Haven't used it on rivers, but will soon.
 
S
Stonefish
Check out the Redington Classic Trout series of rods.
 
bass
bass
brandon4455 said:
i have never owned a rod that light, but my fishing buddy has 2 3wts. one is glass and is more like a 1wt. these rods are a little harder to cast in the wind, but perfect for small streams where the fish average under 12 inches. personally i would go a little longer, maybe 8'6" or 9' because you still want to be able to mend and high stick,especially in small streams. 8' isn't bad but its not preferable. from a guy who cuts his teeth on small stream trout i would say a 2wt is fine,just get one that is a little longer.

I understand your point since I now have both a 7.5' (4/5 wt) and a 9' 5 wt (and when I was younger I used to have a 6' rod that was fun). On anything but small streams I usually pick my 9' rod, but it is fun to use the shorter rod some of the time. I figured 8' would be an OK tradeoff. Also, I am wondering that having less stiffness of a 2wt might render the longer length less effective at mending the line. Once again this is a concern I have, but it is based on conjecture since I have never fished with a 2wt.
 
bass
bass
Modest_Man said:
I sold my 7' 2wt and kept my 8.5' 3wt.

Thanks MM. Was it the length or the line weight that made you decide to sell the 2 wt. If the 2wt were 8.5' long do you think that would have changed your decision.
 
bass
bass
TimberTodd said:
I purchased 7.5' 3wt that I used for targeting bluegill while in the nucanoe. I agree with Brandon, for streams I would prefer a longer rod. I believe Spydey was playing with a 2wt. I haven't seen him around in a while, but you might shoot him a pm. Spydey where are you!!

Thanks that is good information! If you had to do it all over would you have gone all the way to 9'? Did you case different lengths when you bought the 7.5'?
 
bass
bass
Thanks JonT and Stonefish for the info!
 
S
Spydeyrch
TimberTodd said:
I purchased 7.5' 3wt that I used for targeting bluegill while in the nucanoe. I agree with Brandon, for streams I would prefer a longer rod. I believe Spydey was playing with a 2wt. I haven't seen him around in a while, but you might shoot him a pm. Spydey where are you!!

Ask and ye shall receive!!

hahahaha [lol]

It has been a while, hasn't it. Life, work, family, church, and fishing have kept me off of OFF.

Regarding the small stream rod.

I have a 7'6" 3wt which is a blast to use and then my piece de resistance is my TFO Lefty Kreh Finesse 6'9" 1wt. I love that rod for the small streams. I have caught fish up to 16" on it no problem. Although one 14" SRC gave me a good 5min fight on it once! What a fun fish to land.

There are other options you should consider too: Perhaps you don't need to go down in wt class but change the medium that you are using. A wise angler once told me that what I was looking for wasn't a lighter wt rod but something with soul. (Shout out to HHM!!!) You should consider glass and/or cane (bamboo) rods. They have some unique qualities to them that really make them special! A 3wt glass is an amazing fishing tool and cane is just something you have to experience ... good cane at least.

As for the graphite side of things, it really depends on the size of the stream that you are going to fish.

I use my 1wt on super small streams (e.g. high gradient mountain streams) up to medium sized streams (e.g. low gradient mountains streams to valley streams). It does just fine for what I need it to do. I use it mostly for dries, no nymphing. There isn't enough lifting power in it to throw a decent cast with an indicator, weight, and two bead headed nymphs.

A single nymph with an indicator would be just fine.

When using dries, I can mend just fine with it and high stick, and roll cast. It is funny, I can actually roll cast so much better with it than with my 5wt!! hahahahaha

I also have an Echo Ion 2/3 reel on it. It works out just fine for what I like. :D

The thing I love the most about the 1wt is the presentation that it does. So soft, so delicate, so on target! It really is a wonderful tool.

The only down side to it is distance, lifting power, and a big nymphing rig.

I also like to stick with odd numbers for my rod wt. I have a 1wt, 3wt, 5wt, and 7wt. The difference between a 2wt and a 3wt really isn't going to be that much, but the difference between a 1wt and a 3wt is noticeable.

Hopefully that helps you.

If you want to test out the 1wt sometime and cast it, just let me know. I am just over here in Beaverton. :)

Take care.

-Spydey
 
troutdude
troutdude
It's great to see you back on Spydey! I'm also happy to see the promotion of glass rods. There are some gems out there, both vintage and modern, with some decent mass produced models and the custom rod makers like Scott.

Seems like the peeps on the Fiberglass Fly Rodders forum, tend to lean towards rods in the 7.5' range for small streams. Wouldn't hurt to visit that site, if you'd like more opinions about glass rodding.

BTW, in 45 years of fishing...I've never broken a glass rod. I fish with glass, way more than graphite. But have used enough graphite rods to know, that they break a LOT easier! Especially when bushwhackin'. Just sayin'...
 
T
TimberTodd
I was wanting a 9' rod, but could not find one that felt right and was in my price point at the time. The shorter length was not an issue setting and casting in the nucanoe. I do wish it was longer though.
 
T
TimberTodd
Glad to see your still around Andrew. The 16" on the 1wt would have been quite the thrill!
 
H
halibuthitman
What you are looking for is the new Scott F2 japan model 4 piece 3 wt.... Talk about Effin soul.. Best new rod out in years- got to fish the proto type last month, it was like marrying a woman who could cook-
 
S
Spydeyrch
halibuthitman said:
What you are looking for is the new Scott F2 japan model 4 piece 3 wt.... Talk about Effin soul.. Best new rod out in years-

Drooling ..........
 
H
halibuthitman
Spydeyrch said:
Drooling ..........

It was built by shamans for hearts like yours Andrew-
 
S
Spydeyrch
Gotta respect the shamans ........
 
bass
bass
Thanks for all of the input guys, especially Spydey for coming back from the dead :)

I should also mention that I am not looking to break the bank (not sure what a Scott rod costs but it sounds expensive). The rods I have right now are a Pflueger, Fenwick, Reddington. My rods cost between $50 and $145. I like less expensive rods because I don't cry as much if they break :)
 

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