Buying a smaller/lighter rod. Should i?

[wildfire]

i always used a heavy outfit, 9 weight,but after reading this i intend to scale my gear down to5/6 weight,always tought you needed that heavier weight for distance,learning all the time

[Malcolm]

Using heavy or wind resistant flies is the main reason for using a heavy rod to my mind. I'd much rather use an 8 weight than a 5 weight for a weighted woolly bugger.

[wildfire]

But how often do you need distance?

There is an issue in that a lot of the equipment we use comes from an industry that is very focused on the kind of fishing that happens on English reservoirs.

On busy commercial rainbow fisheries people want to get their flies far out from the bank as they can. This is a practical thing, because the places may be so busy with anglers that its a good way to get to an unfished spot. There is also a lot of macho posturing about it though. Who can cast the furthest? Who can piss the highest. Its pretty juvenile.

Whereas the fishing you do on Highland lochs just does not require long casts that often. Make a long cast from most banks and you will be lining as many fish as you present flies too, if not more. And from a boat long casts are hardly ever necessary, unless you get a riser taunting you from a good way off your drift.

The heavy stuff is good in terms of dealing with high winds - which heaven knows we have in Scotland. But distance? Its nice to be able to pull a longdistance fling now and then when required but most of the time you are better off closer and with a more finessed landing.

hit the nail as they say ,i notice in some of todays game fishing catalogues you cant get 9/10 weight rods whereas ten years ago they were always there,also cant you get two piece rods anymore,thing is i intend to get a lot more broonie fishing in this year and after reading that argos tent rally thread up at loch ba, well you have made a impact on me,      anyone want to buy an extremely heavy fox bivvy :sun;

[Alastair]

For all of my small stream fishing, I go no heavier than a 2-wt rod.  My favourite ultralight rod is a Sage 000-TXL (Thats right, 3 line weights lighter than a 1-wt).  This rod is not a toy.  It allows smaller fish (under 12 inches) to put up a fight, but you can also horse in bigger fish.  Landed a nice 2 to 3 lb cutthroat on it with no problem.  Landed it quickly and released it.

I can't cast further than 50 feet with it, and can still do 35 feet into a stiff breeze.  For small stream fishing, you don't need any longer than that.

[scottish-loch-lad]

I got myself a 5 weight 9ft Greys X-Flite

A flueger reel

A scientific angler Supra floater

Ill try it out tomorrow and see how it goes

[Malcolm]

You'll love it Chris I'm sure.

When I go back to a 6 weight after a light rod it feels as if I am wielding a caber.

Can I point out an odd fact which is at variance with accepted opinion. At our club casting day - we are all just ordinary joes when it comes to casting - many were casting further and better with light rods than with powerful rods.

[SouthFly]

Mmm, you never have enough rods, couldn't agree more  :shock:

I've got three 3wt rods, a 7', a 8'6" and a 10" 
I use as long a rod as I can get away with in the overhangning vegitation, mostly it's the 8'6" that comes out most often