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 Doublegun |
Small stream rod |
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Posts: 12 02/20/2009 12:05 |
One of my favorite types of water to fish are small streams 10' - 15' across and usually over grown by cedars and tag alder. I have been fishing a
7' 3-wt Scott "Fibertouch", which is a great little glass rod. No problems with that set-up but what would you experts recommend for a cane rod?
Right now I have a Summers 275 (a little too nice for brush-busting) and a 7'6" 5-wt built by a local fellow off the Martha Marie taper.
Thanks |
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nativebrownie |
#1 | |||
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Posts: 664 02/20/2009 12:51 |
Hey, we enjoy similar waters it seems...
No expert here, but I also enjoy a "little" 7' Scott glass rod - real nice... You'll get a great many ideas here - all good. My cane favorite in our "hollows" is a 6.5 , 2-3 weight, by a wonderful modern builder - medium slow and delicate - a feel that ,imo, could never be duplicated in any other material. I've enjoyed everything from #24s to #12 streamers. Interesting enough, that delicate Scott is still pretty powerful - the sleight cane is marvelous with smaller waters. Funny, that beauty cane build cost me far less than my Scott glass - figure that.... Most of all, enjoy.. NB |
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gofish60 |
#2 | |||
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Posts: 1930 02/20/2009 13:09 Registered User |
No expert here, but I fish those type streams, and smaller, almost exclusively. A 6 1/2'- 7 1/2' 3-4 wt would work really well, IMO. Just find one you
like, and try it out before you buy it.
gofish |
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Eric Peper |
#3 | |||
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Posts: 152 02/20/2009 13:17 |
I have a '60s era 5'9" Orvis bamboo that I finished out from blanks over 40 years ago. It's a perfect small stream rod that can still punch a
4 weight a good distance when needed.
EP |
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seattlesetters |
#4 | |||
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Posts: 601 02/20/2009 13:30 |
I grew up fishing many of the small streams that drain the western slope of the mighty Sierra Nevada. Although I've only cast one, and I'm sure there
are many variations, the rod that immediately felt "right" to me was a clone of the fabulous FE Thomas "Fairy" rod in 6'8" 2/2
with a swelled butt. Just a gorgeous-feeling rod with a bit of oomph to get flies underneath "stuff" and a smooth, easy casting action.
"You know how much I love a nice rack!" |
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 quashnet |
#5 | |||
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Posts: 2451 02/20/2009 13:32 Moderatus Muscae |
It is hard to know how to advise a fellow who already has a Summers 275. I've fished mine for 22 seasons in the small-stream conditions you describe.
Unless you know yourself to be rough on tackle, I'd plan on enjoying this rod more often. As Al McClane once pointed out, the usual way that these fine
rods are damaged is not while fishing, but due to lack of care with a car door when packing up to go home.
Quashnet's Paul H. Young Rod Database has photos and descriptions of over
425 PHY Co. rods, plus catalogs, accessories, etc. Thank you to all
who continue to send me PHY rod photos and info.
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flyflingerandy1 |
#6 | |||
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Posts: 26 02/20/2009 13:36 |
I have a rod built on a Mark Fitch Purist blank that I like with a 3wt line. It is a 6'9" 2pc 3wt. This is one of the sweetest rods I have ever cast,
and the blanks are less than $300.
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drmarty |
Small Streams | #7 | ||
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Posts: 3 02/20/2009 13:57 |
I fish this type of stream much of the time. My favorite rod is my Art Weiler 7' 4 wgt. Garrison 202e repro. It handles very well in close and casts
beautifully. I am interested in Art's one piece 5.5' 4 wgt as well. I have an A.J. Thramer 7.5' 5 wgt. on order from Coldwater for slightly bigger
water - should be here next week!
Tight lines, Marty |
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cwood |
#8 | |||
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Posts: 524 02/20/2009 13:59 |
I will add that the Dickerson 6611 taper is mighty fun on small streams; enough umph to cast a 4dt but a nice delicate tip for fishing just a foot or two of
line.
Dr. Marty- I've been wondering about Art's one piece rods as well. He seems to really like building small stream rods. You will love that Thramer rod. CWood
Last Edited By: cwood 02/20/2009 14:03.
Edited 2 times.
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RonT1 |
#9 | |||
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Posts: 486 02/20/2009 14:40 |
I bought my 275 at Bobs recomendation for the streams and conditions that I regularly fish. I didn't buy it to "wear", I bought it to fish.
Cheers, R |
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Doublegun |
#10 | |||
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Posts: 13 02/20/2009 15:15 |
I have to admit that I don't use my 275 as much as I should. One "challange" I have had with that rod is getting it to load with a short amount
of line out. (Remember I am fishing pretty small water with limited abilities to cast because of the cover). One of the things I like about the fiber touch is
its ability to load. I can get a very nice little loop with a 7-1/2' leader and a couple of feet of #3 TT line out of the rod.
On a related note, for those of you who fish small streams (and that is probably everyone reading this thread) do you fish upstream or downstream? In the past I have spent most of my time fishing downstream by checking my cast so that I have zzz of line on the water that straightens as the fly moves downstream. However I tend to miss fish because often I have touble setting the hook with so much line out. Thoughts? |
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spruce grouse |
#11 | |||
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Posts: 1250 02/20/2009 15:39 |
I have the same Fibertouch rod as you and it is very nice. Fished it a good bit on the small streams in Shenandoah NP and it is indestructible, speaking from
personal experience. My favorite small stream brookie rod is a copy of the 6'8" FE Thomas. It's supposed to be a 3 wt. but I like ti with a
light WF4 because with the shorter tip section it seems to load very close in. I suppose if you cut off some of the tip on a DT it would work the same. There
are a lot of good rods out there 6-7' in length that would work fine.
I like fishing small streams upstream. There are not a lot of places to hide and be able to cast downstream on many of the brushy/wooded streams I fish |
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RonT1 |
#12 | |||
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Posts: 487 02/20/2009 15:46 |
I fish a 4 weight Terenzio, and a same Sylk with furreled leaders on my 275. I fish both upstream and down, some "zzz's", and anything but a
conventional "straight up" stroke, occasionally with the rod parallel and ~2' off the water to get "up under", setting the hook from
the same position. Whatever it takes.
Don't know what to suggest about the misses...maybe anticipate the take and reduce the "zzz's" in the zone. You know where he is, plan accordingly. Good luck, R |
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pmag |
#13 | |||
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Posts: 379 02/20/2009 16:05 |
The Driggs River is a small stream. Paul young made a great rod for it. Oddly, it's called a "Driggs". I've got a copy by A.J. and it will
throw a streamer or a dry fly just fine. That's my vote. Bob Summers make a similar rod. Maybe better.
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ibookje |
#14 | |||
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Posts: 1488 02/20/2009 16:09 |
Doublegun wrote: Try going a line weight up. I think the 275 is a #5 rod rather than a #4. |
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Doublegun |
#15 | |||
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Posts: 14 02/20/2009 16:57 |
spruce grouse wrote: Aside from the pure joy and beauty of fishing cane, is there any rod out there that would fish small water better than the Fibertouch? |
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quashnet |
#16 | |||
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Posts: 2452 02/20/2009 17:56 Moderatus Muscae |
The Summers 275 with a DT4F line does not load as strongly at short distances as some other four-weight rods. As ibookje says, you could try a five-weight line
on it. But you mentioned that you have a Martha Marie taper, and I would think that with it you already have a stronger five-weight casting rod. With the
four-weight line on the Summers 275 you should be able to take advantage of its delicate, harder-to-load characteristics, by throwing curve casts upstream and
by getting more slack in your line and a longer drift when casting downstream. Remember when trying to set the hook downstream that the hook point will not
move one millimeter into the fish's jaw until all the slack line has been taken up on the strike. As RonT1 says, plan accordingly. Variant dry flies with
oversized hackles are great fished with the Summers 275. With these flies you can quite deliberately throw a good curve cast upstream, and when a downstream
cast is fished out, you can make the fly "walk" and hop back to you, dancing on the stream surface as you retrieve. This can bring up some fun fish
that might not otherwise appear.
The 7'2" Driggs is a snappier, stronger taper especially designed for small, brushy streams, so that might be worth looking into. The PHY Midge is excellent too at 6'3".
Quashnet's Paul H. Young Rod Database has photos and descriptions of over
425 PHY Co. rods, plus catalogs, accessories, etc. Thank you to all
who continue to send me PHY rod photos and info.
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bobbeegee |
#17 | |||
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Posts: 2405 02/20/2009 18:57 |
No expert, but I like my Heddon Folsom 7' Featherweight with a 4 weight line for small stream fishing.
Handles all situations well and is great fun to cast and play the smaller fish you typically catch in these waters. bob Go Heels!!! |
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Joel Anderson |
#18 | |||
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Posts: 87 02/20/2009 18:57 |
What, no votes for Paul Young's "Midge"? Did I just build the wrong rod???
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Soft Hackle |
#19 | |||
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Posts: 1216 02/20/2009 19:09 |
I fish small water a lot and have settled on the 6'8" FET, Heddon 7' and Payne 97. The Payne is a Guba/Bacon and is smooth as silk., very hard to
beat this rod. The Heddon is quicker and more powerful ..fine with any size fly, the Payne is more delicate, more suited to flies 14 down.The FET falls
somewhere between. I think a 7' Jenkins would also be an excellent choice , great medium action tapers that will cast well with a short line. Never tried a
Leonard 38 but have heard it is as nice as it gets for small streams.
Last Edited By: Soft Hackle 02/20/2009 21:00.
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kwhauck |
#20 | |||
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Posts: 17 02/20/2009 22:39 |
Doublegun wrote:I'm not sure it is possible to answer the question of what rod fishes better for another person. Add in the fact that a rod with the wrong line casts poorly and you have a real conundrum. Of course, just because I like a rod with a particular line weight and taper doesn't mean you will like the combination. (I was all plastic rods growing up so I had to break myself of the habit of believing what the line weight printed on a rod says.) The only way to know what line to use on a rod is to visit your fly shop, borrow lines, and make the kind of casts you will need on a small water. Try a double taper one size smaller that the label says, then a weight forward that size, then repeat the process with lines the size on the label, then substitute the next larger size lines. (From experience, it is astonishing how different a rod is with different weights and tapers of line.)
Yr. obt. svt.
Kurt |
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