Carrying 2 rods of different weights

Streammagic237

Streammagic237

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I was curious if you were to Carry 2 rods one of a lesser weight say a 5 and a 3 and one was to be a dry fly and one was to be a nymph rig what goes where and why ?
Also what situation do you feel you really get an advantage from carrying 2 rigged rods , is it ever worth it .
Thanks ,
Jessica
 
It’s a personal preference deal. I fish with guys who do it sometimes. It’d drive me nuts having to keep doubling back to pick up my second rod all the time. (And there’s a reasonable likelihood I wouldn’t realize I left it somewhere until I was a few holes upstream already, or worse…) But I’m a small stream guy and I cover lots of water. And I’ll admit that sometimes I’m too lazy to switch to a Bugger or nymph rig when I hit a super deep pool and I’m otherwise just fishing dries. This probably costs me some chances at some fish, but I’m trying to be better about taking the time to switch tactics when called for. Because of this I tend to prioritize middle of the road “jack of all trades” rods, as opposed to super specialized rods.

No right or wrong. Give it a try a couple times and see if you like it. Or maybe you’ll find you like it in certain scenarios and not others. Whatever works for you, works for you.
 
Streammagic237 said:
I was curious if you were to Carry 2 rods one of a lesser weight say a 5 and a 3 and one was to be a dry fly and one was to be a nymph rig what goes where and why ?
Also what situation do you feel you really get an advantage from carrying 2 rigged rods , is it ever worth it .
Thanks ,
Jessica
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It's worth it in a boat. Other than that, I've done it but not likely to do it again. It's a pain. I do sometimes still carry two rods but one is broken down and strapped to my backpack
 
I've done it before, but with a 5 and 7wt. I used the O'Pros third hand and had some good success with it. Only thing I did not like was the 7wt was a tad heavy to have clipped on my wading belt.

Usually I would do it when I hiked far away from the truck and wanted to have a nymph/dry setup and streamer setup too. For example fishing a river that feeds into a lake it was helpful.

I used to do it a lot more, but I've come to realize I default to my 5wt most times when I am fishing for trout anyway.
 
Streammagic237 said:
I was curious if you were to Carry 2 rods one of a lesser weight say a 5 and a 3 and one was to be a dry fly and one was to be a nymph rig what goes where and why ?
Also what situation do you feel you really get an advantage from carrying 2 rigged rods , is it ever worth it .
Thanks ,
Jessica
Click to expand...
It is worth doing this if you are fishing on private water or lightly fished public water where there is less risk of someone stepping on your second rod ( lying on the bank while you fish eith the other one). When fishing for trout I would set up a nymphing rod and then a dry/ dropper rod in sizes 3 and 4.
 
Swattie87 said:
It’s a personal preference deal. I fish with guys who do it sometimes. It’d drive me nuts having to keep doubling back to pick up my second rod all the time. (And there’s a reasonable likelihood I wouldn’t realize I left it somewhere until I was a few holes upstream already, or worse…)
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Exactly what I was thinking. Not to mention, you'd play hell trying to negotiate your way through a rhody choked stream with two rods, one's tough enough. It's just something I wouldn't attempt.
 
Streammagic237 said:
I was curious if you were to Carry 2 rods one of a lesser weight say a 5 and a 3 and one was to be a dry fly and one was to be a nymph rig what goes where and why ?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need a 9' 4wt rod. And to stay off Reddit where such stupid ideas abound.

Also what situation do you feel you really get an advantage from carrying 2 rigged rods , is it ever worth it .
Click to expand...

If you have a boat. Or a gillie, but then how's he going to net the fish and unhook them? Or you leave one in your car, then sure. Otherwise, how hard is it to change a leader? Hell, I'd question if even that's a thing you gotta do.
 
Never carry 2 rods. I do carry a spare spool.

If I am nymphing I carry a 10' 3 wt with mono rig. If I see some steady rises Ill switch spools to a WF Floating line. It casts just fine.

If I am targeting rising fish, I'll fish with a 9 ft 5 wt. If action is slow I'll set up an indy rig and nymph away.

I have enough troubles walking thru brush with 1 rod, let alone 2.
 
Carrying one is enough of a PIA that I never even thought about carrying two rods. Not a chance, no way, no how. I can’t see one advantage to ever carry a 3 wt let alone a 3 and a 5.
 
troutbert said:
On large to medium streams, carry one rod, a 9 ft 5 weight, which is fine for dries, nymphs, and streamers.

On small streams, carry one rod, a 7 1/2 ft 4 weight.

Carry two rods? Never. I can't even imagine the logistics of that. How would you manage fishing with 2 rods?
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I mean, you just prop 'em against the tripod when you set up at the hole for those sick action shots for the 'Gram.
 
I carried two rods just the other day. The second rod was a dry fly rod and it stayed in the case and hidden in the bushes. This particular day (and others), it never left the case, but there have been times when I have done it and it worked out well. I fish very early, often with a nymphing rod or a streamer rod, but it is nice to have a rod actually made for throwing a dry fly if the late morning proves advantageous for that.

Full disclosure, I always had no less than 5 rods strewn about the deck of my old man's bass boats and later my own. It makes a lot more sense in a boat, but there are times when it's nice to have options that don't involve hiking back and forth to retrieve the right tool for the job.

The other scenario has been while fishing with a good buddy as a team, so splitting holes not hopscotching each other. Then one dude was the caddy. We realized we only need two rods not three, just two different rods for two different approaches, and never was there three rods along for the hike again.

I don't do it often, but maybe three times a year when it maybe makes sense. Maybe.
 
Tigereye said:
Never carry 2 rods. I do carry a spare spool.

If I am nymphing I carry a 10' 3 wt with mono rig. If I see some steady rises Ill switch spools to a WF Floating line. It casts just fine.

If I am targeting rising fish, I'll fish with a 9 ft 5 wt. If action is slow I'll set up an indy rig and nymph away.

I have enough troubles walking thru brush with 1 rod, let alone 2.
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Same approach for me. While every rod has it's strengths, they can all do everything good enough to get the job done.

I will say that I find myself fishing a rod that I just plain like casting more these days over a rod that I think is the appropriate tool, which has been 8.5 5 weight most of the time these days, but I have a 10' 3w nymph rod that casts light indicator rigs and dry flies just fine as well.
 
Extra rods stay in the car. I'm too old and lazy to keep track of two on the water, especially since I started carrying a wading stick. If you must have ready rigs for dry and wet fly fishing, carry two reels or one reel with two spools rigged for each method (as I now see others have suggested).
 
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