Fly Rod Guide

A Fly Rod Guide

I have had many phone calls and emails over the years asking how to decide what weight fly rod  to use for the different types of fishing.  Below is a fly rod guide with the different weight fly rods and where they are best used.

2-weight Fly Rod–I like to use my two weight rod to fish tricos size 22 and 24 on Pennsylvania spring creeks.  The smooth action provides great accuracy and delicacy and easily protects 7X and 8X leaders.  This is a great rod for fishing small size 24 flies up to size 14 flies on fine leaders.

3-weight Fly Rod–I find a three weight rod very versatile for fishing mountain trout streams all across the country. A well-designed three weight rod will load well and give great accuracy at all distances needed on these streams. This is also an excellent eastern spring creek rod.

4-weight Fly Rod–I depend on this rod for the Catskills and western spring creeks. It is delicate enough to fish a size 22 midge on a 7X leader yet strong enough to fish a size 10 streamer.

5-weight Fly Rod–If I could have only one rod to fish the Yellowstone National Park this would be it. I go down to  size 20 olive drys and up to size 8 Bitch Creek Nymphs.

6- weight Fly Rod–My son, Jeff, gave me a 6-weight 9ft Scott Radian Fly Rod (Radian Fly Rods are discontinued as of 10/1/2020) rod a few years ago and I use it on all of the large rivers in the Rockies. This covers all of my needs in fishing drys, nymphs, and streamers on these rivers and it is a real pleasure to use.

7-weight Fly Rod–This is a good rod to have for any bass fishing. I gave my son, Jeff, a Scott Radian rod several years ago and he prefers it over any other 7-weight rod available.

8-weight Fly Rod–Stalking the bonefish on the flats of Belize with an eight weight Scott Meridian fly rod is one of the most exciting forms of angling one can find.

9-weight Fly Rod–I use my nine weight rod for all of my fishing at the Outer Banks. My standard fly size there is 2/0 and this rod is powerful enough to cast these and control the wind. Depending on the tide and depth of the water, I use a fast sinking 350 grain line or an intermediate 350 grain line.