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 Post subject: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 9:18 pm • # 1 
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Location: South east Tennessee
Swung by the kind not so local fly shop and picked up a box of rio main stream 3wt wf floating line today, had a conversation with the sales person and they made a comment about fishing a 3wt, "about the biggest fly you can scat will a size 12 hook", got me thinking so I looked it up, a size 12 is around a 1/8th inch, figured you gents would set me straight.

What size flies do you consider appropriate for a 3wt ??


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 10:37 pm • # 2 
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I have fished a size 1-0 clouser, but mostly fish a 6 down to 10. That is for warm water. Fishing for trout where finesse is required the guy maybe right. I even fish the six on my 2weight.


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 10:54 pm • # 3 
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A friend of mine is a very serious fly fisherman and his default setup is a 2 wt with a wet fly on a size 6 hook. The man has landed countless trout.


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 4:42 am • # 4 
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I have comfortably cast a #10 bead head woolly bugger on a glass 1 wt.

My 2 easily casts a #6 bead head with ten turns of lead free wire.

Unweighted would have limitless possibilities.


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 6:07 am • # 5 
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Good topic. From my experience it depends on these factors.
1. The fly line
2. The rod
3. Wind conditions
4. Effort you are willing/capable of expending
5. Technique
6. The fly

If I use a modified 3wt fly line I can cast a #8 fly with the same effort it takes me to cast a #12 fly with an unmodified WF/DT fly line.
I can more easily cast a heavier fly with my 7 to 71/2, 3 wts than with my 5 3/4 ft 3 wt fly rod.
I can more easily cast a heavier fly my graphite fly rods than with my glass rods. My graphite rods are stiffer than my glass rods.
I can cast a larger flash fly because the material is light and/or offers less air resistance.

In general, I think the standard fly line/rod vs fly sizes are a good guide for "general" conditions.

Another factor to consider that Knotty mentioned in one of his posts is the hook set: Knotty filed off the barbs so the hook would penetrate when fishing his light rod. I might be able to cast a #4 flash fly with my 3 wt glass rod, but hooking the fish may be problematic.


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 6:54 am • # 6 
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I agree with what JimRed said about standard fly line/fly size rules being a good guide for general conditions.

Part of the problem, though, is that asking how big a #12 hook is, is much like asking how long is a piece of rope. A thin wire #12 dry fly hook dressed sparsely has very different aerodynamic and weight characteristics from an 8x long streamer hook with bead eyes and a heavily dressed body.

In my limited experience (and skill and talent) and because my 3 wts are 7.5' and shorter, a #10 streamer is my preferred upper limit, but as others have noted, you can toss a pretty heavy fly and get it out there. If your quarry responds to a nice, disturbing splashdown, that shouldn't be a problem (especially with MY casts); if you need a more discreet arrival, a larger rod/fly line might be better. Add some wind, and the argument becomes more 'pointed'.

I must confess that, if my plan is to toss larger flies or heavy streamers/poppers, I tend to take a 5 or 6 wt.
brent


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 10:10 am • # 7 
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Thought I should post the guidelines, lost the link and had to find again. Here is the link to many such charts.
https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/sea ... fr=yhs-ddc

Image


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 10:22 am • # 8 
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Location: South east Tennessee
Big thanks for the replies, enjoy the food for thought, when picking out the rod I wanted it for a creek/small pond blue gill "gitter", but didnt want it to be to short so I picked out the 7'6'' length, figured that would be middle of the road for my fishing waters, give me a bit more casting range and not be in the way when in the creeks.

The shop only had the wt forward line, had several on here suggest a heavy taper line and and over line it to a 4wt, but shop said most rods now days are spot on for line size so I took their word for it, plus they didnt have anything in heavy taper, so just went with standard 3wt,wff line.

Out of curiousity I asked about the fly size VS rod/line wt, I didnt expect it to throw bass bugs (common sense) but figured it would be able to handle the little poppers for blue gills, when they told me a size 12 Im thinking thats mighty small, so I googled an image of a size 12 next to a coin and it was much smaller than I wanted to be limited to, but kind of figured I could fudge in something a bit bigger but didnt know as to how much bigger.


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 10:38 am • # 9 
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Back when fly rods were more prone to break the recommended range of fly sizes for a #3 weight fly line: #16-28


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 4:15 pm • # 10 
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Just for fun, you can use your three weight to cast a cone head 6 inch fly using a 150 grain OPST Commando shooting head and casting either Skagit or pick up and shoot without any problem out to 60 plus feet. Caught 3.5lb lmb that way. If you want finesse go the conventional route.


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2018 9:27 am • # 11 
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I have a TFO Finesse 2wt, spooled with a Orvis Superfine 3wt line. I regularly use flies in the 6-22 size range for trout, bass and panfish, (pretty much any thing that swims). I have at times been able to use a #4 Popper as well. Sleek or slim flies will work best. They are less wind resistant and a whole lot easier to cast. I am far from a traditionalist, purist etc..., I have no problems using 1/64oz jig head soft plastic bodies on any of my rods. I train of thought may not be that of others, learn to chuck and duck cast. It’s not pretty, can be some what painful if you don’t duck fast enough, but it sure I should effective.


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2018 10:50 am • # 12 
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I fish 2 and 3 weight rods most of the time, and I would not hesitate to use flies to size 6, unless heavily weighted.

Larry


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 Post subject: Re: Rod wt vs fly size
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 2:09 pm • # 13 
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Joined: 04/02/17
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Location: Colorado
JimRed wrote:
Thought I should post the guidelines, lost the link and had to find again. Here is the link to many such charts.
https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/sea ... fr=yhs-ddc

Image



This is exactly the chart I use, and it has served me very well. I have broken a rod by casting too big of a fly back in my early years. Lesson well learned.


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