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Post 27 Sep 2017, 08:03 • #1 
Guide
Joined: 12/14/16
Posts: 116
Location: Poland
Hi
Most glass rods as far as I know, primarily suit for dry fly fishing.
But, I think about other application - fishing streamers and nymphs in rather small, forested streams.

I'm going to use short rod, something like 7', and casting distance is often few feet. In some places, there is no other option,
rather than roll cast , because of overhanging trees.
Will some 7' 3/4 glass rods serve for this purpose?

why im thinking about glass and not carbon - because it involves a lot of bushwalking, and they are tougher against trees :-)
but it should be capable to lift 4mm tungsten beadhead wooly bugger. also, due to short cast distance, I can overline rod with heavier line, because only short front part of the line will be effectively used.

that's my favorite forest stream, full of browns. challenging place for casting, but sometimes rewarding

Image

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Post 27 Sep 2017, 11:41 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/12/16
Posts: 4094
Location: USA-CO
The short answer is "Yes." A short 3/4 would be ok but a 4/5/6 might be better, all depending on taper of course. Look for power in the butt section and search the postings about rods for streamer fishing and roll-casting ability. I think that glass rods make it especially easy to impart swimming and evasive action to streamer flies. Others will have more specific recommendations.

Very beautiful water, trout, and gear!


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Post 27 Sep 2017, 12:36 • #3 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
One of the beauties of glass is that you can toss heavier bugs on a heavier line (as in 6wt) and still have a rod that is short, fun to cast, and actually bends when playing a small fish.

I'd rather fish small streams and small fish with my Fenwick ff 765 than my graphite 4 wt.


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Post 27 Sep 2017, 13:03 • #4 
Guide
Joined: 10/07/14
Posts: 261
Location: US-NC & CA
That is a great-looking stream!

I too fish smaller streams mostly, and feel most comfortable using short 6 wt rods for streamers. The reason being, I feel good about casting with these rods tight to the bank's ledges and under trees and bushes. Slow accurate casts into fishy spots seem to work better for me than blindly shooting out a lot of line into "safe" casting spaces.

I have tried doing the same with 4 wt, and for me, it doesnt work nearly as well. I have to shorten the leader in order to get the casts right, I'd rather not give up my leader length if I want to sink the streamer deep.

I use a couple of old fenwick ff70-4 and ff706-4s, the first is a great dryfly rod, but is effective with streamers too.


Last edited by zedlepp on 27 Sep 2017, 13:08, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 27 Sep 2017, 13:04 • #5 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3925
Location: USA - Illinois
I have a McFarland 7'2" 3 pc. 5 wt. yellow glass rod - it IS a great short rod for fishing nymphs and buggers. Great roll casting rod also. I fish it with a Rio Gold WF5 that I have taken about 2 feet of line from the front. Works great for me. Yes, glass is a great material for this, but like any material, taper is what matters.


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Post 29 Sep 2017, 10:04 • #6 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/19/12
Posts: 477
Location: Central Oklahoma
Eagle claw featherlight in the 7" #5/6 with a DT 6 works amazingly well for this sort of application. Can't recommend the aesthetics but the prices are right to give fiberglass a try.


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Post 29 Sep 2017, 10:32 • #7 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19078
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
IMO, there are only a handful of glass rods that duplicate classic dry fly tapers (in glass, Heddon T tapers, though many of the 8-1/2' glass rods will fit the bill).
Most glass rods, especially in mid-lengths, closer duplicate classic streamer rods (in cane, Heddon 8' 1-3/4F, Driggs River).
Though I'm not sure why you're interested in 3/4 rather than 5/6.


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Post 29 Sep 2017, 15:36 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/24/14
Posts: 1896
Location: US-NC
Like some others, I'd suggest a heavier weight rod. At least a 5 wt and a 6 wt would be even better. Also, if you'd consider vintage glass a heavier weight will be easier to find. Good luck to you.


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Post 30 Sep 2017, 10:04 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/25/09
Posts: 2319
You should absolutely fish streamers with glass although I would be looking at 6-7wts.


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Post 30 Sep 2017, 10:38 • #10 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/21/06
Posts: 3081
Location: Orygun
Agreed with many of the statements above, glass works great with streamers and a 6 or 7wt is definitely ideal, but you can use a 4wt for it with some of the new trout skagit lines that are out there (provided you're only performing water-loaded casting as opposed to overhead casting--they do NOT excel at this) as they'll turn over anything you could possibly want.

Heck, my short Gowdy Parametric is becoming my goto streamer rod with an OPST Commando head plus 7.5' of T14...it absolutely sings.


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Post 30 Sep 2017, 11:14 • #11 
Guide
Joined: 12/14/16
Posts: 116
Location: Poland
the reason I want to use 4wt and not 6wt, because I want to use it with "microskagit" type of line,
and they are quite heavy for it's class designation , compared to "normal" fly lines
TT Ambush 3wt - 175 grain, 4wt - 195 grain
OPST Commando 3wt- 150-175 grain, 4wt - 175-200 grain
actually, I was under impression of this setup, and want something similar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lc4H8KB40g&t=22s


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Post 01 Oct 2017, 15:09 • #12 
Guide
Joined: 11/11/13
Posts: 129
Location: Sweden
I use a 7'6" 5 weight glass rod for tossing streamers in streams about "your" size. I have not tried it with a skagit-type line, but I imagine that it would be a perfect match. With the lines I have tried I'd rather recommend going up to a 6wt then down to a 4wt.


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Post 01 Oct 2017, 18:46 • #13 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/01/12
Posts: 900
Location: Upstate NY
I my opinion, glass is superior to carbon for streamer fishing. I would base your rod weight on how heavy of a streamer you are going to use, if you are using unweighted stuff (Mickey Finn, Sushan Post Master, Black Nose Dace) then a 4wt might work, a 5wt will be better. If your streamers have weight, cone head, weighted buggers, ect, then going up to a 5 will work, but a 6wt will be better.

The one thing that is for sure, there is a ton of classic glass as well as modern glass around in lengths under 8ft that would suit your needs. I'd try to find a 7'-6" 5wt first, whats the worst that could happen, you'd have to buy another rod?

I have a similar sized stream in my area to your home turf, I typically use a 7.5ft 5wt or an 8ft 6wt on it. I base it on how much water is in it and how heavy of a streamer I need to use to get into the bottom of the pockets where the fish are.


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Post 02 Oct 2017, 12:46 • #14 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/24/11
Posts: 1144
Location: Belgium
Yes. Fenwick FF 706 or FF 706-4 would be suitable if you want short (they are 5/6 rods) - otherwise FF756 or FF806. Why Skagit? A full line gives you much better mending capability and is more versatile than a Skagit/short head set up (at very short range it doesn't matter one way or the other - you will be casting the leader and a couple of feet of line).

Skagit/short head lines are designed for casting relatively far where there is no room for a back cast. However at distance you cannot mend the thin running line so you are pretty much limited to swinging or retrieving. Controlling the swim of your streamer through mending is half the fun and part and parcel of streamer technique. Much better to use a DT or long belly WF line.

It's absolutely possible to fish streamers on a 4 wt - in a pinch but a 4wt isn't an ideal streamer line.


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Post 02 Oct 2017, 23:18 • #15 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/21/06
Posts: 3081
Location: Orygun
easternffer wrote:
the reason I want to use 4wt and not 6wt, because I want to use it with "microskagit" type of line,
and they are quite heavy for it's class designation , compared to "normal" fly lines
TT Ambush 3wt - 175 grain, 4wt - 195 grain
OPST Commando 3wt- 150-175 grain, 4wt - 175-200 grain
actually, I was under impression of this setup, and want something similar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lc4H8KB40g&t=22s


FWIW, my Lami Honey 7'6" 4wt likes the Commando 175 over the 200. That, plus a 6-7' length of T-8 and I'm in business. I personally don't like it with poly leaders at all as they just don't dig into the water enough for me...but, as you can see in the video, a short floating tip works great too, you just need to watch your timing a little more carefully.

He throws some nice loops with those though! I initially got hooked by watching "Sailing Expedition" since it's closer to some of the water I'm fishing.

Cheers!


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Post 02 Oct 2017, 23:26 • #16 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/27/14
Posts: 1501
Location: ON, Canada
clarkman23 wrote:
easternffer wrote:
the reason I want to use 4wt and not 6wt, because I want to use it with "microskagit" type of line,
and they are quite heavy for it's class designation , compared to "normal" fly lines
TT Ambush 3wt - 175 grain, 4wt - 195 grain
OPST Commando 3wt- 150-175 grain, 4wt - 175-200 grain
actually, I was under impression of this setup, and want something similar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lc4H8KB40g&t=22s


FWIW, my Lami Honey 7'6" 4wt likes the Commando 175 over the 200. That, plus a 6-7' length of T-8 and I'm in business. I don't like it with poly leaders at all as they just don't dig into the water enough for me.


Agreed - I’m sure 200gr would be too heavy for my liking. Im liking my single hand commando setups a couple notches lighter than OPST’s recs. I actually fish my Steffen 8ft 4/5 with a 120gr Rio floating MOW tip rigged as a skagit head as I find the 150gr Commando a bit too heavy. It can easily turn over the 5ft opst sink tips and the 7.5 ft floating tip turns it into a scandi.
Really really fun way to fish.


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Post 02 Oct 2017, 23:47 • #17 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/21/06
Posts: 3081
Location: Orygun
brockton wrote:
Really really fun way to fish.



that ^^


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Post 04 Oct 2017, 00:01 • #18 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/08/05
Posts: 3570
Location: Western PA
Streamer fishing became big back when fiberglass rods were introduced to the market. They're more likely to survive a streamer rig boomeranging into them vs bamboo or graphite.
Back when I started to purchase graphite rods, I saved a couple glass rods because they're superior to graphite rods for fishing streamers.
Suppose I think that because I like to roll cast streamer rigs and glass excels at that.


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Post 06 Oct 2017, 09:13 • #19 
New Member
Joined: 10/05/17
Posts: 6
Location: Western North Carolina
Wish I had seen this thread before the trip I just had out West! I had the opportunity to fish on a lake for the first time ever, throwing articulated streamers to some really healthy trout. As I'm not used to throwing such heavy flies or throwing them a great distance, I struggled quite a bit. Thanks for all these pointers, now I know for next year, starting with probably getting a shorter rod (I was using the Echo 690).


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Post 06 Oct 2017, 14:28 • #20 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/24/11
Posts: 1144
Location: Belgium
Shouldn't be problem throwing streamers with a 9' 6wt rod. That's probably the best tool for the job if distance is what you desire and carbon is the better choice on a lake with maybe some breeze. Could even use a 9'6" rod but it's more work. If you are having trouble you need to look at line leader combination but that's really only secondary to casting skills.


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Post 29 Nov 2017, 16:27 • #21 
Guide
Joined: 01/21/13
Posts: 111
Location: US-OR
4 piece 686. For small water, strip off the amount of line you need, remove the butt section and stuff it in your shirt. Viola, a 6'5" 6 wt.
Kidding, a little. It does work though, for incidental occasions.


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Post 29 Nov 2017, 18:31 • #22 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/24/14
Posts: 1896
Location: US-NC
Betweentwobanks wrote:
I had the opportunity to fish on a lake for the first time ever, throwing articulated streamers to some really healthy trout. As I'm not used to throwing such heavy flies or throwing them a great distance, I struggled quite a bit... now I know for next year, starting with probably getting a shorter rod (I was using the Echo 690).


I realize it's been a while since you posted the above comment but in case you happen to be checking back....

Following up on what giogio said, I would think a 9' rod should be fine. Not sure exactly what you were throwing and some articulated streamers can be on the small side, but for the heavy/bulky stuff I would consider going up a line weight or two and/or getting a line that has a lot of weight up front (like a SA Titan for example ) to help with turnover, and also make sure the leader is stout enough.

I had not heard of your blog, but checked it out and enjoyed the posts I read.


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Post 29 Nov 2017, 19:14 • #23 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
wjude wrote:
I have a similar sized stream in my area to your home turf, I typically use a 7.5ft 5wt or an 8ft 6wt on it. I base it on how much water is in it and how heavy of a streamer I need to use to get into the bottom of the pockets where the fish are.


I'm with Bill on this one... my favorite rod to fish streamers is my 8' 6wt Fisher.


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Post 29 Nov 2017, 22:42 • #24 
Master Guide
Joined: 05/30/13
Posts: 853
Location: Wisconsin Driftless
Cabelas Prime 5wt is one sweet streamer rod imho. Overlined with a wf6f, it's a sweet caster. If you've got the dough. Chris Barclay's 7' 6wt is a beast of a streamer rod. Just got one recently. The Prime was my go-to. Now that I've got the Barclay though its a backup.


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Post 05 Dec 2017, 23:44 • #25 
Master Guide
Joined: 06/27/06
Posts: 774
Location: SW Missouri Ozark Plateau
What do you think people used before graphite? It was either bamboo or glass for ALL fly fishing. So why wouldn't glass be good for streamers today, especially with the new glass and resins available now?


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