River and big fish rod

[Don]

By fall I'd like to have and new rig setup specifically for heavier fish Such as Blues, Striper, Catfish, Bass, maybe by accident Steelies. I'm usually in favor of old glass but am worried that in order to get a glass rod strong enough for larger streamers that it would weigh too much to be fun. I'm thinking 6 or 7 wt as that should be enough for most. It will be used from a boat most of the time. Is this overkill or should I go even bigger? Is 9' where I want to be or should I part from that either way.
What would you build?



9' 6wt. (four piece) carbon fiber fast action fly rod blank $80.00

 

[HenryDavid]

I use an 8 wt. for Susquehanna smallmouth. My trout rods 5,6 wt.s are no match for the smallies in the current. St. Croix makes a streamer rod they call "MoJo" guys say it is like a broomstick. I would love to try it out sometime but don't want to spend the money and find out I don't like it.

The 8wt. is heavier, takes some getting used to, picking up a smaller rod feels like waving a toothpick after using a telephone pole. Just my 2-cents

 

[Solitario Lupo]

I would second a 8wt. It can catch some pretty big fish, anything over that would be an overkill for PA fishing. Unless your just targeting big pike or musky.

9ft is good.

 

[Melvinp]

8wt are a good middle of the road even though I don’t own one I would recommend it for your cover the bases need but get one in your hand and see if it’s want you want all manufacturers are different and also remember that all weight rods come in different actions slow,med,fast and so one. I’m a faster action person my self so graphite wise I’m up in the range of IM7 and up

 

[Gremcat]

I’m sort of drawn to the Spey blank conversions for centerpin and they seem to use 5-6wt Sage or similar from 11-13’, using the 2 wt jump to standard seems a 7-8 wt would be a good place, I’ve heard dropping the length back pushes weight up slightly, I’m not sure I’d want anything over a 7wt in a 10-11’+ rod but no experience on the truly big stuff. The guys I see chasing Steelhead on fly are running 7wt mostly, guys I fished with in Pulaski used 9’ 9wt when they expected salmon as a possibility. I also saw quite a few break off when a king ran down river rather than chase/lose line. Others chased so might just be personal preference there. Be painful to lose a pricey line or shooting head though. Striper I’ve not chased in decades. Hopefully in the salt this year but haven’t fished them in salt where a fly rod would work really. Landlocked I’ve seen them busting the surface bait balls though.

 

[Gremcat]

Don, your free to try out the 8wt glass rod. It’ll probably collect dust as a decoration mostly. It’s under 9’ I think though. Very different than new rod manufacturers so probably not comparable at all. I had a late 80’s 6wt 10’ noodle rod converted to fly set to buy and had to travel when it was auctioned. Seller didn’t respond to my email before leaving but someone scooped it for $95. Built on a St Croix blank. Think I saw a few RPL Sage 8-9wt 9’ers extremely cheap on Marketplace if you’d be ok with slightly older technology. I hear good things anyway. I’m watching for a Sage One Spey to convert on various places so I see a lot of rods come up for sale. Sadly no usable blank or rod for conversion yet. A place in Canada advertises them so I might end up there. I sort of wanted to try and build one though.

 

[Gremcat]

The RPLs are listed within “100 miles” of Jim Thorpe currently. I just searched again today for a Sage One and they popped up. I wanna say $150-200 range