I am going to buy my first fly outfit soon, and am thinking about getting a 8 1/2 or 9' St. Croix Avid rod in four or five weight. I know fly size has a lot to do with the weight rod you use. the largest "fly" I will use will probably be a #6 or #8 wooly bugger, but I also plan on throwing small nymphs and dry flies. The size of the streams I intend to fish range from 25 feet wide to 100 feet wide, and several have overhanging limbs. What do you think would be the best combo?
I own a 8.5ft 5wt and it's a staple for my trout angling in streams. Don't go with a rod that is too stiff for trout, roll casting and single hand spey are pleasures you don't want to mess up with too much high tech stuff. I can also reach into a cast and get over 100' with it when needed. It's an old Sage RPL, closest equiv nowadays is the VPS (see sponsor site).
If you were fishing float tubes on big windy lakes it would be another story and you could go up or down in rod wt based on fish size as well as fly size but Nick has it right IMHO.
Ditto what the other two have said, for your first rod an 8.5 ft 5 wt is a great all-around bet. It'll handle anything from the smallest dry to a big #6 or 8 woolly bugger or streamer. It's not too long, not too short. Unless you're an experienced caster, the 9 is a bit long to be your only rod for stream fishing and the 4 is too light to throw those bigger flies.
Juro & Black Francis both have right idea. The rod you are looking at will work good even with small Clouser Minnows.
I'm probably like most of the people here, I have half of closet full of different rods. From 2 to 6wt rods. From St Croix, Scott, Winston, to Sage. My wife shakes her head every time she looks.
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