What fly rod weight for Strawberry, Scofield, etc.?

[mcj]

Thinking about buying a fly rod to fish lakes. I've got a fast action 5 wt already, but am thinking I'd need a heavier weight. What weight do you recommend?

Thank You.
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[remo_5_0]

5 wt. is fine but if you want a bit heavier just get a 6.
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[Lobina_Mosca]

5 wt is underpowered for those two bodies of water, IMO. Both in the size of the fish and the potential flies you'll be hucking. I use mostly 6 and 8 wts just depending on what I'm fishing.
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[remo_5_0]

8 wt. at Strawberry...overkill.

I guess I should quantify this first, to the O.P are you casting from shore? Or tooning? Now that will make a bit of difference in rod weight to help in casting, landing/fighting fish is fine on a 5wt.
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[Lobina_Mosca]

[quote remo_5_0]8 wt. at Strawberry...overkill.[/quote]

LOL...if you only knew... []
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[remo_5_0]

[quote Lobina_Mosca][quote remo_5_0]8 wt. at Strawberry...overkill.[/quote]

LOL...if you only knew... [][/quote]

I know.
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[Lobina_Mosca]

[quote remo_5_0][quote Lobina_Mosca][quote remo_5_0]8 wt. at Strawberry...overkill.[/quote]

LOL...if you only knew... [][/quote]

I know.[/quote]

You're on top of it, boss.

Help us ignoramuses understand why an 8 wt is "overkill". Inquiring minds want to know...
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[remo_5_0]

[quote Lobina_Mosca][quote remo_5_0][quote Lobina_Mosca][quote remo_5_0]8 wt. at Strawberry...overkill.[/quote]

LOL...if you only knew... [][/quote]

I know.[/quote]

You're on top of it, boss.

Help us ignoramuses understand why an 8 wt is "overkill". Inquiring minds want to know...[/quote]

You can throw a 12 wt. for all I care, again if casting from shore than you may want a heavier rod, if all your doing is tubing or tooning and casting far is not needed then a 5/6 is fine, not like a trout is going to break your rod, and since it's a lake and the fish are not going to get hung up and break you off you don't need a heavy rod to horse them out of an undercut bank or a tangle in the river then you could use a 3 wt. on strawberry! Boss
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[remo_5_0]

http://youtu.be/DrcijCcJCv0

Maybe a Spider-Man rod, I bet it could land a Berry' fish, same as your 8 wt.
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[ddmoogs]

I use a six weight which seems to work fine for the flies I mostly use.Although, It would probably be better to use a 7 or 8 if you're chuckin some real meat. Your weight mainly depends on your fly preference rather than the size of the fish.
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[remo_5_0]

And like I said, if casting from shore it will make a difference, but not in the fish fighting ability..Lobina makes it sound that he needs his 8 wt. to land 30 lb fish out of those lakes.
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[mcj]

[quote remo_5_0]8 wt. at Strawberry...overkill.

I guess I should quantify this first, to the O.P are you casting from shore? Or tooning? Now that will make a bit of difference in rod weight to help in casting, landing/fighting fish is fine on a 5wt.[/quote]

My bad. Should've clarified. I will be on a pontoon boat.
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[remo_5_0]

Gotcha, well you have two opinions (and one is from an ignoramus [sly]) so there ya go.
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[Lobina_Mosca]

The reasons I (and other people I know) use heavier weight rods have nothing to do with what you mention above. The main reason I use a 7 or 8 wt rod, on occasion, is based on the flies I'm throwing. If you want to test out my theory, let me get some flies into your hands and I'd love to see you cast them for 6 hours on a 5 or 6 wt without either impaling yourself in the back of the head or wearing out your arm 30 minutes into it. This isn't your typical "kick and twitch" fly trolling with boring leeches and buggers from a diaper donut.

Some people have just expanded stillwater fishing to include a lot of other methods and fly patterns...and hence different rods. Is a two-hander also "overkill". What about a 10 footer? Too long? The thing is that yes, an 8 wt is probably "overkill" if you only use it to toss buggers or that sort of limited scope. My point is that you're choosing to argue about something without even knowing the reasons behind it. You make a big assumption and build up an argument about it without even considering the situational use. That kind of hubris sorta gets tiring on boards like these. Yes, everyone is an expert and that's why I usually don't waste time responding to this sort of inane argument, but I'm having lunch and figured WTH.

Anyway, I'm sure you catch lots and lots of awesome fish with your 5 wt. That's totally great, no one's impugning your abilities. For the record, I used to use a fast 5 wt on those waters and it worked out ok for a while. Caught lots of fish.

Either way, enjoy it and peace out.
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[remo_5_0]

[quote Lobina_Mosca]The reasons I (and other people I know) use heavier weight rods have nothing to do with what you mention above. The main reason I use a 7 or 8 wt rod, on occasion, is based on the flies I'm throwing. If you want to test out my theory, let me get some flies into your hands and I'd love to see you cast them for 6 hours on a 5 or 6 wt without either impaling yourself in the back of the head or wearing out your arm 30 minutes into it. This isn't your typical "kick and twitch" fly trolling with boring leeches and buggers from a diaper donut.

Some people have just expanded stillwater fishing to include a lot of other methods and fly patterns...and hence different rods. Is a two-hander also "overkill". What about a 10 footer? Too long? The thing is that yes, an 8 wt is probably "overkill" if you only use it to toss buggers or that sort of limited scope. My point is that you're choosing to argue about something without even knowing the reasons behind it. You make a big assumption and build up an argument about it without even considering the situational use. That kind of hubris sorta gets tiring on boards like these. Yes, everyone is an expert and that's why I usually don't waste time responding to this sort of inane argument, but I'm having lunch and figured WTH.

Anyway, I'm sure you catch lots and lots of awesome fish with your 5 wt. That's totally great, no one's impugning your abilities. For the record, I used to use a fast 5 wt on those waters and it worked out ok for a while. Caught lots of fish.

Either way, enjoy it and peace out.[/quote]

So, you are continuously casting these monstrously heavily weighted flies? So you don't cast out the heavy flies and let them sink? If you are always casting what would the point be in such heavy flies?

The o.p never asked for a new idea in fishing or casting, just asked about a heavier rod, I think a 6 wt. is fine for most purposes on that res. now if he was asking for some new style of fishing with heavy flies and a a heavy rod then you may have a point, as it stands I really don't care [crazy]
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[TubeDud]

[quote Lobina_Mosca]The reasons I (and other people I know) use heavier weight rods have nothing to do with what you mention above. The main reason I use a 7 or 8 wt rod, on occasion, is based on the flies I'm throwing. If you want to test out my theory, let me get some flies into your hands and I'd love to see you cast them for 6 hours on a 5 or 6 wt without either impaling yourself in the back of the head or wearing out your arm 30 minutes into it. This isn't your typical "kick and twitch" fly trolling with boring leeches and buggers from a diaper donut.

Some people have just expanded stillwater fishing to include a lot of other methods and fly patterns...and hence different rods. Is a two-hander also "overkill". What about a 10 footer? Too long? The thing is that yes, an 8 wt is probably "overkill" if you only use it to toss buggers or that sort of limited scope. My point is that you're choosing to argue about something without even knowing the reasons behind it. You make a big assumption and build up an argument about it without even considering the situational use. That kind of hubris sorta gets tiring on boards like these. Yes, everyone is an expert and that's why I usually don't waste time responding to this sort of inane argument, but I'm having lunch and figured WTH.

Anyway, I'm sure you catch lots and lots of awesome fish with your 5 wt. That's totally great, no one's impugning your abilities. For the record, I used to use a fast 5 wt on those waters and it worked out ok for a while. Caught lots of fish.

Either way, enjoy it and peace out.[/quote]

8 wt??? WTH bro. What are you doing huh? fishing from shore all day. Everybody knows that you need a bigger rod when you fish from shore. What I like to do is fish my Sage 000 weight rod with 8x tippet from my bucks bags float tube and slay fish. Literally... I slay them because I like to fight them until they are dead, and then they are super easy to scoop up with a my green nylon stringed net.

Nobody fishes anything bigger than a size 8 mohair leech on strawberry anyway. You mean to tell me that you are throwing bigger flies than that for piddly trout!!???!! Grow UP fool!!! Maybe you can start using a lighter rod once you graduate from KINDERGARTEN!!!

BURN!!
#burn
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[flygoddess]

I personally use SIX weight (3 or 4 to be precise). But I fish a 6 wt for 30lb Carp.
Like Tubedud said, go too light and you will still catch fish but you "might" have to play them longer. This matters if you are fishing C&R or if you want to catch lotsa fish as it is time consuming.
I can totally understand an 8 wt IF you plan on casting big meaty flies, or is the wind condition is brutal.
I don't cast big flies so I stick with a Six. I still catch big fish[].
Also, fishing from a Pontoon, you could get by with a shorter rod. My choice is a 7' 9" with give in the tip, but backbone to muscle.
Lobina and Tubedud master some incredible "PROVEN" flies. This is their style and it sure works for them.
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[Lobina_Mosca]

FG makes some great points.

mcj, sorry for the thread troll-battle detour there.

Let me hopefully add some context to a recommendation. 6 wt is likely hands-down the most common rod, so I'd say go with that for your "heavier" rod. You'll see a lot of people string up more than 1 rod. I usually have three 6 wts and an 8 on the boat. As I'm sure FG does, it's for a variety of line types, maybe flies or even rod action to match what you're fishing.

But like FG says, it really depends on what you're throwing. I like to huck mice or voles, minnows and some pretty big dry flies (small ones too). Most people I've taken on the lake seem to enjoy catching fish with those techniques and flies just as much, if not more, than the typical bugger and leech techniques. If you ever see yourself throwing mice (dry fly or wet versions), bigger articulated or tube fly imitations for minnows and such, you might consider a heavier rod. Doesn't matter if you're casting from shore or from a boat dock or a boat or a float tube or if you can walk on water and cast two feet from your target. And don't worry about pulling fish from structure -- this isn't bass fishing. Fish size isn't a consideration at all really, cuz yeah, if I wanted to, I could throw my 2 wt and try to kill the fish first.

If your budget is limited, shoot for the 6 wt first and then, if you'd like to explore those other types of bigger patterns, get a 7 or 8 wt. Not to be biased, but Allen Fly Fishing has some great deals on very good US-made fly rods. Check 'em out....
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[Flyfishinglover]

I use a 6 wt fly rod all year long from bass, trout, and carp.
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[sinergy]

6wt & 7wt for me Im sure everyone has there preference but I just like the added security that If I ever catch that 30+ inch fish I don't snap my rod []
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