Favorite Line Weight???

[Waterborne]

What's your favorite line weight?

How many rods do you have in that line weight?

What do you target?

Where/how do you use it?

Why do you like it?

In the 6 months since I started fly fishing, I've owned 1 weight to 7 weight rods, fished in streams, rivers, disgusting ponds, protected bays and open surf. Based on my limited experience... 3 weight line is my favorite for how I like to fish: for trout in smallish streams and rivers while using mostly dries, some nymphs, rare streamers. I own two 7'6" rods in 3 weight, but will eventually try a foot shorter and a foot longer. 3 weight tackle seems to offer the perfect blend of lightness and practicality. Heavier line weights can handle little more wind and throw bigger flies, but my preference now is towards rigs that feel light in the hand.

I realize that there are no right answers, and it's based mainly on personal preference, experience, and the type of fishing you do. Just curious about how/where/what others fish.

[fly addict]

3 wts are my favorite rod size. I have seven, 6 ½’, 7’, 8’, 8 ½’, 8 ¾’, 9’, 10’. I use the 10’ for direct contact nymph fishing. The 6 ½, and the 7 are my small stream rods and the others are used when fishing dry’s on any larger streams as long as wind is not a problem. As for the brand, the 6 ½ is a Echo Carbon, the 7 is a Lamiglas fiberglass, the 8, 8 ½, 9 are Winston IM6 and the 10 is a Greys Streamflex. The 8’9” is a Sage SLT. I use the short sticks on the local streams only. If it is more open I'll have the 8 or 8 ½ with me and I always use the 10 when nymphing. I normally carry two rods with me when I fish anywhere but the small streams.

Mark

[meb]

Wow, seven 3 wts!!! I don't even know what to say about that. How do you decide which to use? It drives me nuts that I have three 5 wts, Sage RPL, Sage SLT and Scott G series, and I'd get rid of the Scott if it wasn't a gift from my wife.

[fflutterffly]

* I can't believe I'm admitting this but my favorite rod is the 3wt. I have a TFO 6.6, TFO 9, Allen 10. Love the weight. BUT... I must confess, I'll always take my 4wt along. It is rare that I ever use a 5wt on the waters I fish. Kern, King, Owens, Walkers (Excluding at a certain hole where the lunkers live at the bottom) Right now I'm kissing up to my new Allen Fly fishing Co. Xa 310. It fishes like a dream when I'm throwing a cast of wet flies.

[beachbum]

That's a loaded question, depending on the target fish, and size of water. I love all my rods from 3-9 wts, in the right conditions.

[lucfish]

That's a loaded question, depending on the target fish, and size of water. I love all my rods from 3-9 wts, in the right conditions.

That is definitely a loaded question. You always need to match the rod with the line. Obviously there are alot of 3 weight lovers on this board but I myself don't own one. For my local stream fishing my 2 weight Winston is the rod of choice and from time to time I will use that rod dryfly fishing the Owens and volcano creek, but usually I go with the four weight sage. The five weight sage is 9.5 feet and is for Czech nymphing. For bass, stripers, carp and light saltwater it's. 6-10 weights. The key though is matching the rod to the line no matter what the weight is. Whether it's sinking or floating line my lines will be the same weight as the rod or one size heavier. I myself don't seem to ever underline, but that's just me.

[Reyne]

I don't have a preference in rod weight. I fish my 3 wt(Reddington CT) and 4 wt(TFO Finesse) from small to medium creeks with dries and nymphs. I just got a TFO BVK 4 wt, 10' today and am dying to take it out nymphing. If I had to pick a rod wieght to permanently ride in my truck, it would have to be a 5 wt. My 9' BVK and 9' 6" Z Axis. With these two, I can cover medium creeks to large lakes and rivers. I'm presently building a 8 wt Z Axis for the surf and hopefully shad in late spring this year on the Sac'to. My XP 6 wt, 9'6" and BVK 7 wt, 9' fall somewhere in between that range. They do well in the wind and they are my go to rods at Pyramid Lake. I had better stop here with the fly rod inventory in case momma's on line!

[Jimbo Roberts]

I think it is hard to answer that question without first defining the types of water you fish most often. Small freestone creeks that are overgrown, meandering meadow creeks, stillwaters, nymphing large rivers, throwing articulated flys to large Browns in high winds, all would be best fished with different actions, lenghts and weights.
I think the type and character of the water you fish most will eventually lead you to prefer the rod that suits that type of fishing. I am a bit of a tackle hound and I currently have 25 rods to chose from collected over 35 years of flyfishing. If you were to count which weight appears most in my collection it would be 4wts, but I own everything from 2wts to 8wts. I mostly fish for freshwater species, Trout, Bass, and Perch with a little fishing for Reds and Speckled Trout at the coast. When I am fishing the little creeks high in the mountains with dryflys anything from my 376 SLT to a 486 LL would be best. If I am nymph fishing on the Guadalupe my 5100 Z Axis is hard to beat. For an all around rod maybe a 490 or 590 XP. When the wind gets up or I throwing larger streamers my 690 XP or even my 890 RPLXI. I even have a little Bamboo Rod built by a friend of mine it's a 7'10" 5wt. that will do just about anything, but it is so pretty to look at I kinda hate fishing with it fearing I will mark it up and it's really just a dryfly rod. If I could only have 1 rod to do most of the fishing I do I guess I would fall back to that 590 XP as I mostly nymph fish with just a few good hatches where I can throw some dryflys here in Texas. Plus if I had to I could use just the top three sections (of this 4 piece rod) to fish on tighter creeks and end up with a 6'9" 5wt. which I have actually done with success. (Not many people think about using 3 pieces of their 4 piece rods when you get to a section of river that is too tight for it's full lenght, but it will work just fine.)
I will say that when I go fishing I usually take along 3 or 4 rods for those just in case moments you sometimes run across while out there.

Jimbo

[hpskiff]

If I approach this simply on a fun to cast basis, I also would have to say 3wt. I have a 6' that is technically my daughters, a 6.5' and an 8'. I have monkeyed around with different line and reel combinations so they are all fun!

However I got a great deal on a 9 wt. and lucked out with some clearance sinking line just on a "lets see how this works" basis and they cast like they were made for each other.

Finally my 1st gen. Sage Smallmouth and Bluegill (call them what ever weights you want, 290 and 230 grain I think) and the lines that were made for them are great fun too.

[briansII]

What's your favorite line weight?

How many rods do you have in that line weight?

What do you target?

Where/how do you use it?

Why do you like it?

If I answer the question, solely based on what rod I'd grab if I wanted to just cast for fun/pleasure, it would be a 6 wt. There's just something "right" about the weight of the line, and or the rod. I've never analyzed it, but now that I think about it, I think the grain weight starts to suit me around a 6wt. Just enough to make long casts, but not too heavy to get tiring after hours of casting. A 3wt is a very close 2nd, but that's because I love casting a Winston BIIx that I have. Funny thing is, if I count how many 6 and 3wt rods I have, they are one of the least stacked in my lineup. I have 4, 6wts, and 3, 3wts.

I use my 6wts for trout, steelhead, bass and shad.....although I haven't fished for shad or steel in over 3 years. 3wts are used for creek, and occasionally tailwater trout. It's also my weapon of choice for small pond bluegill and small bass.

The rods I used most now are 5, 8 and 9 weights. No one needs to know how many of each I have.

briansII

[planettrout]

Spend 3 months HERE wading and casting from a drift boat or at 11:30 PM - on this water...the location and conditions determine the rod and line selection...a 3wt. and Mr. Trout will eat your lunch...


PT/TB

[Rasputinj]

4wt is my favorite. I have a 7ft bamboo, 8ft and 9ft graphites. 4wt handles my small creeks, up to Owens, Hot creek. It will do ok during light winds, unlike my 3wt rod. My smaller 4 wts are still fun for smaller creek trout.

[Sasha]

depending on the target fish, and size of water. I love all my rods from 3-9 wts, in the right conditions.

This... Well except for me it is 0-9wt.

[Dry Fly Rie]

I'll admit that my collection of gear is pretty limited compared to most of the guys here, but I just don't fish enough to justify upgrading my stuff. When I was 12 years old, my dad got me my first fly rod, an 8' Orvis Green Mountain 4wt. It's paired with an Orvis Madison III, and it's still my go-to set up. I know they are not very high-quality rods, and have been out of production for several years, but I just like the Green Mountains. Something about it being my first. I also have a 5wt and two 6wts, all 8' and paired with Madison reels. Last Christmas, I picked up a super-cheap La Crosse 2wt on eBay, and I've enjoyed it on small Sierra creeks and for bluegill in some local ponds.

As my moniker says, I like the dry fly, and for me, the 4wt is far and away my favorite. It has served me well on the SJR, HC, and the UO on my trips to the Sierras. If it gets really windy, I'll break out the 6wt, but it just doesn't feel right. I do like the 6wt when I'm in my tube targeting bass in Socal.

I'm in awe of some of the gear collections on here. One day, I hope to get my hands on some of the good stuff and see how it feels.

[garypullings]

To me and to other people this sounds as a loaded question. No pun intended. you could put 1 3wt rod together and 10 different people could cast it and you would have different results. Like the last reply said which is his go to rod. Well I love my 4 wt and I love my 6wt. If I was going to be casting all day I would chose my 6wt because I like how it casts. I cast off of feel and not by a count or a rhythm. I can feel the road load and unload as I cast. My wt is another story. It is a much faster rod even though I can cast it almost as well as my 6wt I prefer the 6wt for casting. But for fighting the fish I definitely enjoy my4wt so much more.

For right now my favorite rod is sage 6wt even though I use my 4wt more often I still love the feel of my 6wt. I did how ever fall in love with the sage One rod that came out and might be getting one of those. I did like the feel of the Reddington CT 2wt. I know I will be getting one for sure.