7'6" 4Wt. Rod/Reel

[ditz2 0]

Sorry I am so late to the show.......I have my 6' 2wt TFO Signature rod overlined. That being said, I fish warmwater small creeks 30 to 40' wide but mostly shallow knee to thigh deep. I use a home made furled leader about 5' long and a tippet of 2 to 2.5' on average which varies as I change or lose flies. I tend to use size 4 to 14 flies including streamers, poppers, terrestials, wet flies and nymphs. I fish mostly unweighted but I do use a little lead wire, beadchain, and lead barbells of small sizes. Size 6 to 10 is my normal fare. I use a 4# tippet on occassion but mostly a 6# tippet and I use a loop to loop connection from backing to tippet. Simple and quick changes are the order of the day. I also have 5wt 6' rod but I seldom use it anymore. The fish are not large in my creeks but I have caught SMB up to 3# on this rod with no issues. I am a proponent of short and light rods at least for smaller and sheltered waters. My big water rods are still 9' however. I would like to try an Ultra lite fly rod but I am not willing to spend the bucks for an experiment and most UL rods are quite expensive and lines are quite limited.

[ctfisher 0]

fly-by-night / ditz2,

 

 

I have the 3wt. line wit ha 7.5ft. leader for right now. I think from what the two of you are saying I should be just fine with that, and a 2ft. piece of tippet on the end. Im probably going to try the new rod out this week or next, so I will let you know how it goes...hopefully with good results.

[ditz2 0]

I thinking that you will like it .....a lot.

[fly~by~night 0]

**agrees with ditz2**

[tidewaterfly 0]

One last question thought, is a shorter tappered leader a better bet that the 9-12 ft leaders I use on my 5wt.?

 

I once heard Lefty Kreh, who was addressing a meeting of the MD Fly Anglers, state that the shortest leader that is practical is usually the best bet since it provides a greater degree of control. However, he also stated that longer leaders may be needed sometimes, particularly in shallow waters, if for no other reason than to move the fly farther away from the disturbance the line makes when hitting the water. That sums up my experience very well. I try to keep leader & tippet combinations as short as possible. When I go subsurface & heavy, such as with sinking lines & weighted flies, I'll go even shorter.

 

I fished for a long time with store purchased, 7.5' tapered leaders, and I would simply snip off about 15-18" on the tippet end & add a loop. To the loop I attached my tippet via a loop to loop connection. I was already doing this, but this was also something Lefty recommended. This was not his only or the only solution to leaders & tippets, but he said it was a good general purpose arrangement. Most of my fishing even then was for panfishes, bass & Striped Bass, so this worked well for me. Even when i fished for trout it worked fine, as I was usually fishing with terrestrials, nymphs or streamers.

 

Lefty recommended adding about 2.5 to 3 ft of tippet, the tippet size depending on the fly type & size smaller flies, smaller tippet, larger or heavier flies, heavier tippet, and adjusting the tippet length to fit how well the flies cast. If the tippet was too long or too light, & the fly too heavy or too resistant, the tippet would not straighten or the fly would fall back on the tippet. Simple solution, cut about 6" off, or go to heavier tippet & try again.

 

If the tippet was too short or too light, often the fly would slap the water. Again, simple solution, add more tippet, and/or go to heavier.

 

All of this is not taking into consideration drag, but if the leader & tippet is not laying out properly anyway, drag is the least concern.

 

There are all kinds of opinions, formula's & recommendations for leaders & tippets, but it primarily boils down to what gets the fly out there, with the most amount of control, and that's often dependent on the situation at the moment.

 

I can agree with what ditz & fly by might have posted. Start with 7.5' & go from there.