My girlfriend says she wants to buy me a flyrod for my birthday!!!??? So here is my situation. I live in CT and would like a rod for the saltwater (strippers et al.) I will also fish the Lake Erie tribs in the Erie PA area for steelhead. What would you guys suggest. 8' 9 wieght or what. I have a season of flyfishing under my belt so I am still wet behind the ears so go easy on me please.
I have a feeling that a number of TFO proponents will chime in, but for the money I have found the Redington Wayfarer rods to perform very nicely. For stripers in the Northeast, I'd recommend a 9-wt. or 10-wt. rod., either of which in 9' length. I've always used a 9-wt., and it has allowed me to cast relatively large flies effectively on all but the windiest of days while still providing good sport for stripers, bluefish, weakfish, and whatever else I end up hooking into. Can't say I've ever had the pleasure of hooking into (or at least landing) a steelhead, but I've heard and read many accounts of their brute strength, so again I imagine that the 9-wt. would work well for them. Good luck!
I've never fished stripers & don't know what the average size is or fishing conditions are.
I can say that those steelhead will average about 5 pounds, your casts won't be very long & you'll probably dead drift nymphs or suckerspawn flies, maybe toss the odd zonker or woolly bugger. A 9wt rod is total overkill for steel. (IMHO) A 7wt is more than enough, even if you should be lucky to hook a big 18 pounder. My choice would be; buy the rod for the type of fish you will chase most often, then get a special outfit for the other at a later date. Cheers, Dan'l
Thanks for the responses. I ordered a Redington Redfly 9' 8/9. I think I will be using it more for strippers on the New England coast and a little PA steelheading. But hey I could always get another rod right?
A nine footer is better by far. As you fish more, you will wish even THAT was longer - I am now up to 10 foot rods (and an 11'+ spey rod!) Nine footers are OK from a bank, but when you are "surfing", the extra length enables you to cast and control line better.
When you need another fly rod let me know I have 12 of them and one to surely fit your needs. Unfortunatlely, we can still use only one fly rod at a time.
Up to 13 footers now. 8/9 - 9 footer will be fine for your starter rod on those types of fish. 9 weight is a little heavy for GLs steelhead but can be used. Thats a good GLs salmon rod I suspect. Need a 9 weight for those beasts at least
Ok, that was internet FFF second for today, now back to corporate madness !
An 8 or 9 would be a perfect rod for the GL's too light a stick and you wind you fighting the fish for too long. You want a rod with some back bone to stick it to them. An 8 or 9 wil handle Steel and Salmon. I have seen big Kings break 12w rods like they were twigs, so you don't need a thunder stick for them.
An 8 would allow you to go down to a lite tippet but still have the umph you need to steer those beasts away from obstacles.
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