How many fly rods do you actually use?

[Papasequoia]

I've never been much of a collector of rods or reels so 2 rods cover 80-90% of my fishing and they are my nicest (read: most expensive) rods. A Winston BIIt 8 foot 3wt and a Sage Z-Axis 9 foot 4wt. Those cover most of my Eastern Sierra fishing. Sometimes they are a bit under-gunned (I wish that happened more often!) and sometimes they are a bit too much rod, but for the most part I can make do with those two rods. So, those are the ones that I "actually use" most of the time. I have two others that see occasional use: a 1wt Sage SPL for goldens in the spring creeks and a 6wt Sage Launch for windy days or when I'm going to chuck mostly streamers.

Those four pretty much cover the range of most of my fishing, although I do have a (cheap) 8wt last used at Pyramid, an inexpensive 5wt Cortland that is pretty much a back-up rod that hasn't been used in years, and a 6 piece 3wt travel rod that seems to find its way into my day pack when I go "just for a hike" with the wife and we just happen to find ourselves at a lake or along a stream. (Gee honey, look what I found in my day pack! I must have left it here the last time we went for a hike! It sure would be a shame not to use it for a bit.)

[beachbum]

First the disclaimer; I have around 100 fly rods in my quiver, from ultralight up to 12 WT, most of the popular line weights in a variety of lengths to do whatever job I need to do. So, I have no shortage of rods from which to choose!

So over the previous year I used 18 rods, which represents about 18% of my *!!!

When I grow up, I want to be just like Bob! That is pretty impressive.

The rods I regularly use:
3 wt 7'9" Winston LT 5 piece for small streams and travelling light
4 wt 8'6" Orvis Helios for medium to large trout water.
5 wt 9' Sage Xi3 rod for saltwater, and streamers on big water.
8 wt 13'6" spey Fly Logic Dec Hogan for steelhead and salmom
9 wt 10 ft Loomis NRX for steelhead, salmon, and saltwater.

There are a dozen or so specialty rods that I use occasionally, but the ones listed are my "go to" rods.

[Gila Trout]

I have the following rods and try to use each one as much as possible. But my fishing time limited.

Pac Bay Quickline 10' 5wt
St. Croix High Stick Drifter 9'6" 4 wt.
Rainshadow RX7 8'6" 4 wt.
TFO BVK 8' 3 wt.
Sage TXL 7'10" 1 wt

Lanny

[meb]

I use the following:

3wt Sage LL for local and Sierras
4wt Sage LL for Sierras

5wt SLT for bigger rivers, lakes, and steelhead
6wt SLT same as above plus shad

7wt RPL for salt (rarely) and steelhead

5wt Z Axis spey for steelhead
7wt Z Axis spey for steelhead

I own but rarely use 4 and 5 wt Scott G series which are truly great rods. I also own a RPL 5 wt that I used to use locally, Sierras, steelhead, shad.... for everything. Now I seem to use it as a backup rod.

BTW, Mike or Nocalbob, those of you that own lots of rods. I'm looking for a 9 1/2 or 10 foot SLT or RPL in 6 or 7 wt.

I kind of took a year off from trout fishing to learn to cast a two handed rod and fish for steelhead.

Mark

[DrCreek]

BTW, Mike or Nocalbob, those of you that own lots of rods. I'm looking for a 9 1/2 or 10 foot SLT or RPL in 6 or 7 wt.

You might have meant this for Midger (Mike), I wasn't sure which. When it comes to anything larger than a 3wt, I have no clue what's what. But if I was going to ask anybody - particularly about Sage's bigger guns, I'd ask Mike/Midger. Bob though can run all of us in circles. He probably knows Sage as well as - or better than he does Orv.... Orv.... aw man, I can't even say it.

[midger]

BTW, Mike or Nocalbob, those of you that own lots of rods. I'm looking for a 9 1/2 or 10 foot SLT or RPL in 6 or 7 wt.

I kind of took a year off from trout fishing to learn to cast a two handed rod and fish for steelhead.

Mark

I know I have a 9' 6 weight rpl (4 piece) in socal, but no 9'6" or 10' ones. I only have 2 7 weight rods, but know neither is 9'6" long. Even though a I own several 10 foot rods, I rarely use them because I prefer the castability of a 9 foot rod. I do use a 9'6" 8 weight rpl occasionally, but only on the trinity or klamath.

[stanbery]

Well, I feel safe to respond, now that Midger and Bob have replied. briansII

Same here.

I have between 10 and 30 rods.
Used this year
9 foot 6wt
9 foot 8wt
10 foot 3wt fast action
10 foot 3wt meduim fast rod.

Jon

[Sasha]

I actually only use the one that is my hand when I am fishing

[Reyne]

Rods I fished this year so far:
7'6" 3wt Classic Trout
7'9" 4wt Finesse
10' 4wt BVK
9' 5wt BVK
9'6" 5wt Z Axis
9'6' 6wt XP
9' 7wt BVK

MEB, coincidentaly, I have a 10' 6wt RPL 3pc and a 9'6" 7wt RPL+ 2pc in storage in S. Carolina. I built them back in the day, and it kills me not to have them here...

[dray]

I have a few graphite rods and still use a 9' 7wt when carp fishing at the concrete jungle.

Since I started making rods, I find my go to rod at the moment is an 8' three piece 4wt bamboo and have found it's a great fit for some of the local waters as well as some bigger water like the Kern. I like the three piece configuration for hiking/biking.

If I'm certain I'm going to a particular area where I know the water is small and overgrown with cover, I'll go with a smaller 7' 2wt or 7'6" 3wt boo rod.

I'm almost finished with an 8' three piece 6wt that I might have the opportunity to fish in Mt at the end of October. Not sure if I can get my vacation schedule to correspond with the dates.

[lucfish]

Seventy five percent of my fishing is for bass and stripers out of the boat. Not that I wouldn't prefer to fish for trout and steelhead but this is what is readily available and I need to fish. When bass fishing I've got a bunch of rods similar to a bass master, all with different lines (floating, sinktip, fullsink) and flies. tha way I don't have to bother with switching lines or flies. Just throw the rod off to the side grab another one and start casting. Because of that I may use 6 different rods in a day. So thsi is what it looks like for me...
Bass, stripers, carp, salt.
Sage XP 9' 10 weight
Sage XI2 9' 8 weight
Sage RPL+ 9' 8 weight
Sage Bass 7'11" 290 grain
Loomis crosscurrent 9' 7 weight
Loomis xperiance 9' 6 weight
Crappie, bluegill
Berkley Phazer 8' 5 weight
Glenn Wicks 8' 4 weight
steelhead
Orvis Helios switch 11'6'' 6 weight (I only catch small steelhead)
Trout
Sage XP 9' 5 weight
Sage RPL+ 9' 4 weight (my personal favorite)
Locals
Winston IM6 7' 2 weight (second favorite)

After writing all this down I realized I used every rod I own this year and have pretty much every year I have had them. I do throw some 12 weights for Tarpon and 7 weights for steelhead but those are borrowed rods. Someday...

By the way Dr. I still don't have enough for a down payment on a truck, gotta keep the old one till it hits 500.

[RichardCullip]

When I first saw this thread, I was tempted to plead the fifth....

However, I decided there's little chance that my wife will ever read this, so here's my list.

Freshwater rods:
Sage 00wt TXL - my small creek dry fly rod
Winston BIIt 8ft 3in 3wt - my favorite trout rod (thanks PapaS for turning me on to this rod)
Winston BIIt 9ft 4wt - my nymphing rod for the Kern or the Kings
TFO Jim Teeny 9ft 5wt - for throwing a sinktip line in freshwater
TFO Jim Teeny 9ft 8wt - my striper and carp rod

Saltwater rods:
TFO Jim Teeny 9ft 4wt - love this light little rod for when the surf is small and the wind isn't blowing
TFO Jim Teeny 9ft 6wt - my goto SD Bay rod and backup surf rod (fast sinking integrated head)
Redington CPS 9ft 6wt - my second SD Bay rod (intermediate line)
TFO Professional 9ft 9wt - infrequently used rod for when I need to go "heavy"

Spare Rods I loan out:
TFO Professional 9ft 7wt (two of these rigged up for surf or bay)

All of these have been used in the last year. I've got a "few" other rods gathering dust in the garage.

[Devinpreston]

I have 4 rods and I use them all at least two times a month.

orvis 3 wt (no idea what model was given to me) Mostly local and sierras small creeks
Sage 5 wt Launch Carp and bass (trying to trade for something a little bigger)
Sage 5 wt Zaxis Midge Rod
Sage 5 wt Zaxis Streamer
I got a great deal on the z axis from a guide friend (thats why I have two) and they are by far the best rod for my style fishing in the sierras.

[hip]

I love these kinds of threads.

Not even going to bother with an exact number of rods. Quite possibly though, I could be the west coast king of SPL 0's.

I fish nothing but smallish streams and creeks. All that should indicate is that I generally catch smaller trout - which is true enough. I own nothing but 00, 0, 1 and 2wt rods. Nothing larger. Weather, amount of water, size of the trout, etc. None of this matters much to me. For the last several years I've used a 0wt exclusively. With the wind, against the wind, left, right, up or down, I don't care. The 0's are my primary stick for everything - and always will be.

There's nothing wrong with maintaining a "quiver" of flyrods from 000 to 12. Infact, "quivers" are kinda cool in my book, and it's interesting to hear what rods people use in different situations. If you fish salt and fresh, warm and cold, lake and stream, you're gonna need some variance to your gear. If you're worried about not having the funds to get what rod you "think" you need, * it. Just have fun and use what you've got.

I endorse this post jon

[fly addict]

Just because my wife might read this someday, I’m going to say I use and need them all, all of the time!!!

Mark