On Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:15:13 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

What's your choice for a fly rod for smallmouth ?

Here in the streams of central Illinois my 5wt is an appropriate
tool for stream smallies. Like Goldilocks says, not too much rod
and not too little rod. But the smallies here in our streams aren't
that big. After the first time I battled a Quetico smallmouth with
a 5wt I knew that on subsequent trips I'd be bringing my 7wt.

Now I go smallie fishing in northern Wisconsin and Michigan's UP.
I find the best all round rod smallie rod, lakes and streams, is
a faster action 6wt. The 7wt is fine in the Sylvania Wilderness
Lakes where the fish are bigger but a 6wt is better I think if
you cast for hours at a time and the 6wt does just fine pulling
the smallies out of the brush and snags on the rivers.

My choice for smallmouth is a faster action 6wt.

My go-to smallie rod is a 9' 7 weight Sage RPLX. It's the perfect rod for
casting 1/0 and 2/0 poppers to - and then fighting - the big bastids we catch
on the Androscoggin - where the smallies get up in the mid-20 inch range and
fight like the dickens.

I don't know exactly what current Sage line would match up to the RPLX...

/daytripper