04-27-2011, 04:30 PM
I think it depends on a lot of things. For example: How fast is the rod? How far will you be casting? And with what size bugs?
Overlining a fly rod for bass is very common by one line size because people are doing short casts with big wind-resistant bugs. I have never overlined by two sizes, but I know plenty of people who have. And for me, it would depend on the rod and how it felt.
Also with those factors in mind, I would not be using a double taper line, but a line with a more aggressive weight forward bass bug type taper.
Going to flygoddess's comment, I seem to remember that she likes medium action rods. I have a 3-weight Scott G and I would never in a million years overline that rod. On the other hand, I have a Winston BII-MX 9-weight that I would absolutely overline for bass bugs. I fish it now with a front heavy pike taper true to line size, but I still think I need to go up one.
When I fished the salt for redfish this past winter, the guide recommended overlining by one or two line sizes for similar reasons--casts were short and you wanted the rod to load for 20 foot casts when stalking tailing redfish.
By the way, I live in Virginia now, but I grew up in Utah and return to fish every year.
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Overlining a fly rod for bass is very common by one line size because people are doing short casts with big wind-resistant bugs. I have never overlined by two sizes, but I know plenty of people who have. And for me, it would depend on the rod and how it felt.
Also with those factors in mind, I would not be using a double taper line, but a line with a more aggressive weight forward bass bug type taper.
Going to flygoddess's comment, I seem to remember that she likes medium action rods. I have a 3-weight Scott G and I would never in a million years overline that rod. On the other hand, I have a Winston BII-MX 9-weight that I would absolutely overline for bass bugs. I fish it now with a front heavy pike taper true to line size, but I still think I need to go up one.
When I fished the salt for redfish this past winter, the guide recommended overlining by one or two line sizes for similar reasons--casts were short and you wanted the rod to load for 20 foot casts when stalking tailing redfish.
By the way, I live in Virginia now, but I grew up in Utah and return to fish every year.
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