Choosing the Right Fly Rod/January 2011
Three Outfits That Cover Many Bases. For trout fishing an 8½ foot 5 weight is perhaps the best all around stream fishing tool. You can fish small water in tight locations and still cover enough water on a bigger river. A 5 weight can punch into the wind and still land a fly with little surface disturbance. I even use this rod out West in small to mid size rivers.
A 9 foot 8 weight is probably the ideal fishing tool for all types of sight fishing in saltwater. And for blind casting this rod covers most backwater fishing locations. For freshwater bass popper fishing this rod shines. It’s also a good choice for steelhead and salmon and even for large trout with streamers in big rivers.
The best all around big rod is a 9 foot 10 weight. For open beaches, big rips and throwing big flies and heavy lines a good 10 weight is castable yet able to fish tough conditions. When pulling on tough fighting fish in rips like jacks, bluefish and false albacore and even for tarpon up to 100 pounds and bluefin to 30 pounds this rod gets the job done.
Other Outfits For Different Types of Fishing Three and 4 weight rods from 7 to 8 ½ feet long work well for small trout water and for fishing spooky fish in calm water. On bigger trout water 5 and 6 weight rods 9 to 9 ½ feet long give more distance and are better suited for windy conditions on western rivers. They also are more effective for line control on big water.
The 9 and 9 ½ foot 7 weight is great for freshwater bass fishing and for covering big trout, salmon and steelhead rivers where distance is necessary. For shallow water sight casting to spooky bonefish and stripers in calm water it is my favorite outfit. The 9 foot 7 weight is perhaps the most versatile fly rod. A 9 foot 9 weight rod is the best all-around saltwater outfit, the workhorse of the Northeast. From sight casting to moderate surf to sheltered water to popper fishing the 9 weight is a favorite choice of many anglers that fish the brine. It’s also a good rod for big pike fishing or for big river salmon fishing.
The 9 foot 11 and 12 weights are ideal for fighting big tarpon and offshore hardtails to 50 pounds. They also work well with very big flies and heavy fast sinking lines for fishing rips. For very big offshore fish you need 14 to 16 weight outfits but these are special rods for special conditions.
Regards,
Lou Tabory and the Albright Pro Staff
