"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Bob La Londe" wrote in
:

"Richard Liebert" wrote in
message ...
Had a great thrill Sunday morning up on the North Fork of the
Susquehanna. Caught a 15" SM on a 5wt fly rod while wading. I'm
totally "hooked"!

Thanks from Rick


Is that enough rod for it? I think one of my cheap (a gift from a
family member) rods is a 5 wt. I figured it was too heavy for little
stream trout, and not quite heavy enough to go bass fishing so it has
gone unused.



A five weight is fine for fishing for trout in large streams, and will
work fine for small streams too. In fact, it's preferable to a lighter
rod if you think you'll be casting big wind resistant streamers or
heavily weighted nymphs, like huge perla stones. It can keep you fishing
if the wind kicks up, in situations where you might just call it a day if
you were using a 3wt. Many trout fisherman start with a 5 weight, and
never move to a lighter rod.

As for bass, it's more the size and shape of what you're casting than the
size of the fish you're targeting. I've never seen a smallmouth that
couldn't be comfortably landed with a fairly stiff five weight. It's a
tad light to be casting big bass bugs, but will certainly cast smaller
bass bugs and most streamers and that most useful of bass flies, the
black wooly bugger, just fine. It depends a lot on the rod. I have a
cannon of a 5-wt that will do most of my largemouth fishing just fine,
and all of my smallmouth. I also have a five weight that wouldn't.

Your 5 wt is a versatile rod. Break it out for trout or bass, and see
what happens. Even if its a bust, a day on the water is better than a
day off the water.


Not arguing. I know product descriptions are tailored to sell product.
Having been in sales in one form another I know that simplifying choices
makes it more likely for people to buy.

These guys seem to think that a 6 wt is the low end for bass fishing.
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catal...=SearchResults

I am curious about the hookset when flyfishing. I have hooked an order of
magnitude more trout on flies than I have landed. Admittedly my best days I
was unprepared and did not have my landing net. I had a lot of them get off
while I was trying to grab them with my hand. LOL. Still, with bass
wouldn't the problem be worse? How do you compensate or adjust to get a
good hookset when flycasting for bass.

Do you favor a longer rod for bassing? Maybe a 9 footer? All three of my
fly rods just happen to be 8 footers. It just worked out that way. I
didn't pick that length for any particular reason, although I have a hard
enough time in the close quarters of over hanging brush between the great
oak treees along Oak Creek with an 8 footer, and often in frustration will
switch to a float and fly or small inline spinner on a spinning rod for ease
of fishing.

Oak Creek is a put an take rainbow fishery with a few wild browns and a few
smallmouth. Actually I have been considering trying some fly casting down
here on the river for largemouth and maybe some stripers when they are
boiling in the early morning.

--
Bob La Londe

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