Like a lot of you, I have quite a few fly rods. There is certainly wisdom in having the right tool for the job. Different weights and lengths allow you to accomplish different tasks. For each of us, there is a point where we decide to add another arrow to the quiver.
Admittedly, sometimes that point is just because I want to.
Still, I keep coming back to the same fly rods. Perhaps it is because I made the best choice the first time around. It could be that I have just become comfortable with them. Maybe, just maybe, most of the rods I’ve acquired in the years since have been superfluous.
No. That can’t be it.
Regardless of why you or I return to the same rods for fly fishing season after season, they are worth celebrating. They’re just bamboo, fiberglass, or graphite. But without them, where would we be? Here are some thoughts on three of my true companions:
17 years later and the T3 is still my dry fly and general purpose rod of choice on medium sized rivers. It is my preferred travel rod because of the diverse conditions it can handle. Although it excels with dries, it can work small streamers and simple nymph rigs very well. I caught my largest trout on the T3. While I can’t be certain, there is a high probability that I have caught more trout on that rod than any other. Moreover, the rod fits my casting stroke. Truth be told, I’ve fished the T3 so much that there is a chance that my casting stroke adapted to the rod.
Read more here.
Even though it was not part of a premium rod line, I appreciated (and still appreciate) the quality and the beauty. The Sage VPS is still a workhorse for me today. It functions as a half-step up from my core five-weight trout rods or glass six-weights. If the river, weather, or fish require a little more, I bring my VPS six-weight. I own faster and lighter rods that do similar things, but my 20+ year-old Sage does a bit of everything in a way that gives me confidence.
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The Avid features a progressive, or medium to medium-fast, taper. This was a unrealized benefit to a new fly fisher. Whether I had on a tiny dry or a weighted streamer I could feel the line load. Even at a short 7′, I could quickly perceive when to begin my forward and backward casts. The Avid was the rod that I truly learned to cast on. Perhaps it’s size and strength limitations caused me to truly dial in and focus on proper form and technique. That flex profile also allowed me to use the 3-weight on bigger warmwater fish in my subdivision ponds. Tippets were protected during bottom-dredging runs and violent headshakes.
Read more here.