I went back to glass rods. Its a more relaxed casting style. Glass rods are tough rods they can take the abuse of brush busting and "tunnel" fishing.
I went back to glass rods. Its a more relaxed casting style. Glass rods are tough rods they can take the abuse of brush busting and "tunnel" fishing.
I'm with you on this Pete,
Something special and magical about a boo rod designed for small streams! My Rod is a 6ft.3in, #3,weight Tim Harris Cane Rod - I asked Tim to make it using a Cattanach Taper! It's extremely lightweight for a Cane Rod and has a small diameter, I love it! although I now have two more cane rods - but the Tim Harris is my favourite. I've also gone for the Hardy Lightweight Reels to compliment the small stream rods.
I have run the full gamut.
I love all sorts of rods, fiberglass being the least, only because it is a compromise between graphite and bamboo, it is not great at anything except being a good compromise.
However, because a premium tenkara rod is so compact, those damn things are really nice for backpacking. I don't find much of a compromise there.
Bamboo is just awesome, beautiful and a work of art.
Tenkara rods are the best at a minimalistic approach.
But if I had only one rod for small streams, no other choices, it would be a 6'6" bamboo rod in 4 weight, I would use a silk line.
But I don't have to use one rod, I have several including the one above but I reach for a 11' tenkara rod most of the time.
You're not kidding, I picked up a MB 7' 4 weight about a year or two ago to serve as a travel rod - so easy to carry on an airplane - and I'm surprised how much I like it.
The fact that it breaks down a section is pretty convenient. Not my first choice when fishing smaller water (I've become a bit of a tenkara junkie), but not a rod I feel bad about grabbing.
I pair it with a relatively inexpensive Albright Topwater Click & Pawl, makes for a nice match.
On everything but the tiniest trickle I will always use a long rod, 10'-0" Orvis Helios 4wt, med tip action, also 12'-0" Tenkara Iwana.
Minimum line on the water has always been my philosophy.
Bill
I mostly fish graphite on small water. My favorites right now are a WW Grigg made 8' 4 weight that I under line and fish with a #3 double taper line, and a Cabela's Wind River 8'6" 4 weight that I over line with a #5 WF line. I just finished building a pair of fly rods - one of them is a small stream special of 5'6". It's a 5/6 weight - not by choice, really, but necessity. The rod was originally supposed to be an 11' long 3 weight. I got the blank from eBay, it was sold as an unmarked imported close-out rod. Well, the only thing accurate about the description was the color and number of sections of the blank. In it's fully assembled form, a #6 line barely loaded the rod, so I took it down section by section, and found that it cast sweetly with a #5 or 6 line. Not the #3 I wanted, but it worked. I got to fish the rod for the first time on my lunch break at work today. Had a few strikes from some small trout - but didn't get any solid hook ups, but then I could only fish for about 15 minutes.
Previous favorite small water rods were a TFO 6' 2 weight, a Cabela's Three Forks 3 weight, and a WW Grigg 9' 4 weight.
My 30th birthday is a month from today - and if I can scrape together the funds, I'd really like to get my hands on a Steffen 3 or 4 weight blank and build it up.
Still fishing my Glass rods & enjoying them. I still have a couple of rods built on Shikari blanks that I like as well as an Orvis Superfine 7"9 2wt.
I am looking into a Steve Kiley Deschutes...liking what I see and can't wait until the funds free up. Until then, my 6'6" 5wt that a buddy built for me will suffice.
Ambassadeur 5500CL3 Fishing Reel New/slightly used with box
$40.00
OKUMA Fishing reel DK7000 14+1 STAINLESS BALLBEARINGS
$65.00
Small Oil Can Thumb Oilers Sewing Machine Fishing Reel USA
$12.00
Mid 18th Century English Wooden Fishing Reel Working Condition
$110.00
Sterling Silver Hip Flask FLY FISHING REEL 2008 London INCREDIBLE QUALITY Whisky
$3160.29
Hardy Marquis #6 Multiplier Reel With Pouch and Box
$315.40
MUSEUM QUALITY PRIMITIVE ANTIQUE WOODEN FISHING REEL DROP LINE ICE FISHING ROD
$99.00
Richard Carter 3 1/2" AMIRANTES Salmon Reel With Anti Reverse RARE
$1012.05
Antique Starback Fishing Reel 6,5cm English, Angling, Edwardian, C.1910
$34.20
Antique Starback Fishing Reel 5" English, Angling, Edwardian, C.1910
$50.67
Bookmarks