Rod advice for visiting fly fisher

C

cville

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Mar 20, 2011
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I've been fly fishing for a year now. Home water is VA but I've started visiting PA couple times a year. Mostly fishing water in south central area. I have a few rods (7' 4wt, 9' 7wt). Was wondering if anyone could give me advice on a longer rod. I was thinking about getting a 9' 5wt or a 8'6" 5wt. Does the 6" really matter? Thanks for any help. See you on the water.
 
Welcome to the PAFF forums.
Regarding rod lengths for SC PA and VA: I'd agree that a longer trout rod may be a good idea. The 7WT is really too big for most trout fishing scenarios and a longer 5WT would be a good choice.
I do like a 7WT for some big water trout fishing and most of my river bass fishing. As for the length of the 5WT, I don't personally think the 6" matters much but you'll get different opinions on this. The trend in fly rods in recent years has been toward longer rods but I've used 8.5" fly rods for PA trout for years and rarely wish I had a longer rod. Cast a few for practice and see what you think. Really, here in SC PA there are not a lot trout fishing situations that require very long casts.
 
Excellent. Thanks for the advice. I'll get casting a few this week.
 
Cville,
With a name like that I'll bet you live in Charelottesville.
 
Close. My name begins with a C. ;-) I'm from HBurg.
 
Your Not Far from Mossey Creek or North River.
 
I've used an 8'6'' 6wt for a lot of trout fishing last year and never had any problems with it. I really enjoyed it and rarely wishing I had more or less rod. However....

I just picked up a 9'4wt and I must say it's quite nice. The extra 6 inches makes a big difference when it come to mending line and minimizing drag. It also seems to turn over flies/line better (I'm yet to determine if this is a function of a nicer rod or a longer rod).

So would it make a big difference one way or the other, most likely not. But if I was going to buy a rod specifically for PA style streams, which I did, I'd get a 9' 4wt. As another member here told me, it's the rod of the gods.
 
cville,

Take into consideration the streams you are going to fish, I fish a lot of small mountain streams, I used a 6ft. 1 piece rod I built for over 30yrs. I have two 6 1/2 rods one is a 3wt. the other one a 4wt. A few weeks back I built a 4/5wt. 8ft. rod, thats the biggest trout rod I own. I have a 9ft. 7wt. I use for smallmouth fishing and a 9ft 8/9wt. Steelhead rod I never used.

If you are fishing in a large stream like Pine Creek or Broadhead Creek where you would wade out in deep water you need a longer rod to keep your line off the water on a long backcast.

I was fishing South River special regs. area over a month ago, where there is a lot of long flat stretches of fairly deep water, and I couldn't get the distance I wanted with a 6 1/2ft. rod in over waist deep water. I wished I had a 12ft. rod at the time.

cville, The picture below is of a stream close to you, if you fished it before you'll know what it is.
 

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Thanks everyone. buffalo7 thanks for the photo. I haven't been out much in places like that. Mostly rivers, lakes and mountains. Looks very nice, where is it?

I think I'm getting the 9'. I also kayak fish sometime and the extra length will help keep the line off the water. The local fly shop here recos the 9' 5wt.
 
cville,
I'ts Mossey Creek, near Bridgewater. you can get a free permit from the game commision at the Verona office in person or by mail. Special Regs. one 20" a day, open all year nothing but brown trout. you would fish it the same way the guys on here talk about Big Spring Creek and Letort Spring Run.

When it warms up take some Tricos and light leaders if you go there.
 
Thanks for the info. I'll read up and wet a line soon.
 
You cannot go wrong with a 9' 5WT. It's a very versatile, all around option for many fishing conditions and scenarios.

As noted above, the extra length does help with mending and line control.
 
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