Rich,

I have heard the T&T Special Dry Fly mentioned before. I'm assuming it's discontinued. How would you compare the action to Winston IM6/WT, Scott G, Sage LL, T&T LPS if you have any experience with these rods?

10/2011 Update
Hard to pick just one of each, (definitely can't with the 4 wts!) but here are some current favorites, although I haven't fished the graphites in over 4 years :
3 wt: Glass: 7' 3 pc. Lyons build of McFarland blank
Bamboo: 7' 3 pc. Mike Brooks permacane off Leonard 3734 taper
Graphite: 7'9" 5 pc. Winston LT

4 wt: Glass: 7'9" 3 pc. McFarland Yellow glass/custom soft taper
8'2" 3 pc. McFarland Yellow glass
7'6" 3 pc. Honey Lamiglas
Bamboo:7'5" 2 pc. built by Jim Downes/ a Carpenter taper
7'9" 3 pc. built from a Mike Brooks permacane blank
7'9" 3 pc. built by me
8' 2 pc. built by Mike Shay
Graphite: 8'6" Winston BIIx

5 wt: Glass: 8'3" 3 pc. McFarland
Bamboo: 7'6" 2 pc. built by me with George Maurer's help
8'6" 3 pc. bamboo ferruled built by Billy Carter
Graphite: 9' Sage SLT
6 wt: Bamboo: Orvis Battenkill 4 1/4 oz made in 1958

This last fishing season the McFarland 8'2" 4 wt. has gotten the most use, although my own 7'6" and 7'9" bamboo rods get used, as does the Carter 8'6" 5 wt. The McFarland 8'3" 5 wt. is also a fantastic all-round rod that gets used a lot. The 3 pcer's come with me on trips. The custom soft 7'9" 4 wt. McFarland is a special rod, as I assisted Mike rolling it in his shop, and is a sweet rod to fish.
Regards, Steve

3wt
bamboo - Sharpes of Aberdeen build by Old Yankee Rodsmiths
fiberglass - McFarland Spruce Creek
Graphite - none

4 wt
bamboo - none
fiberglass - Lamiglas build by Old Yankee Rodsmiths
graphite - none

5 wt
bamboo - none
fiberglass - F.D. Lyons (woof!)
graphite - Fenwick Streamer 9'

I have two 3 wts, Axisco 7' 6-pc,. and 6-1/2' Loomis GL3 (but it's really a 4 wt - but an acceptable rod)

4-wt.
8' 3-pc. Dwight Lyons glass
8' cane trout rods, Heddon 1-3/4f and DR Stone FE Thomas Light Special (Exceptional Rod)
I gave my daughter my Powell Silver Creek 8-1/2' IM-6, and it is a delightful rod

5-wt.. Well, this is going to be all over the board, and the answer couldn't be more different rods.
7' - Phillipson Registered
8' - Quiet Loop vf805
8-1/2' South Bend 323 cane
8-1/2' FE Thomas Special
8'11" Fisher Sterling (hell of a rod that's landed AK rainbows and the 12-lb. salmon bycatch)

Fun thread!

I'm going to cheat and reserve the right to enter a short and long rod at each entry. :-)

3 wt:

Bamboo: FE Thomas 'Fairy' (clone) 6'8" 2/2 - (none)

Fiberglass: McFarland 'Yellow Glass' 6'6" 3/1 - (none)

Graphite: (none) - Sage GFL 389-3 LL [added 12/01/2011]

4 wt:

Bamboo: Constable of Bromley 'Wallop Brook' 6'9" 2/1 - Payne '100' (clone) 7'6" 2/2

Fiberglass: Tiemco Fenwick 'Little Yellow' 7'0" 5/1 - Diamondback 'Diamondglass' 8'6" 3/1

Graphite: (none) - Sage GFL 486-3 LL [edited 01/12/2011]

5wt:

Bamboo: Pezon et Michel 'Super Marvel' 7'0" 2/2 - Wright+McGill 'Granger Aristocat' GA8040 8'0" 2/2

Fiberglass: Lamiglas 'S-Glass' 7'0" 2/1 - Cortland 'Leon Chandler' 8'0" 2/1

Graphite: (none)

6wt.

Bamboo: (none) - Heddon '#20 2F' 8'6" 2/2

Fiberglass: Berkley 'Curt Gowdy' 7'0" 2/1 - Fenwick 'FL96-6' 8'0" 2/1

Graphite: (none) - (none)

Awfully hard to make such choices! But also possibly a worthwhile exercise to mentally pare-down one's collection in this way occasionally?

My favorite 4 wt was a lami 6-piece that I broke. I don't have the rod collection like you guys. So I have very limited knowledge, but if anyone has one of those 6 piece lamis laying around ...

3wt
bamboo - none
fiberglass - Scott F 601 (the one and only 3wt of any kind in my arsenal)
Graphite - none

4 wt
bamboo - Raine 7'0" hollowbuilt parabolic
fiberglass - Wojnicki 6'5" and 7'5" semi-para (sorry, had to pick two)
graphite - none

5 wt
bamboo - Thramer 7'6" Signature hollowbuilt
fiberglass - Steffen 7'0"
graphite - Scott G2 845 and Hardy Zenith 905 (it's a tie! no, really.)

6 wt (Seriously, can anyone do this list and not mention the most valuable line weight of them all?)
bamboo - Carlin LL 8'2" hollowbuilt
fiberglass - Steffen 7'9" 5/6 (if I could only have one rod ... )
graphite - Scott S4 906FB

And ask me again next year after I receive my Steffen 8'0" 6/7 at which point I'll need to insist on adding a 7wt too.

Nice old thread to bring back. I'm with Corlay. I'd have to cheat. I've been in the process of paring down my rod selection in an attempt to have nothing but GoTo rods depending on the situation. I've still got some rods that I don't fish at some time during the year but still manage to fish all of them within a 2 to 3 year period. I don't classify it so much as a GoTo rod in each material, but rather a favorite rod in each length within a weight class. Given that, most of my rods above 8 feet are graphite and most of my rods 8 feet and under are fiberglass with some cane sprinkled in. I also fish for trout and salmon in lots of different environments so could list rods up to 9 wt. from short to long. Nonetheless, even though I'm not quite done with the paring down process, here are some of my favorites from 3 through 6 wt.

3wt.
Glass - Steffen 7'6" 2/3 3pc
Graphite - Scott G 8'8" 3pc
Cane - none

4wt
Glass - Steffen 8'0" 3/4 3pc, Kenney 7'9" 3pc, Scott (Brown Blank) 7'0" 3pc
Graphite - GLoomis 9'0" 4pc StreamDance
Cane - Jenkins 7'6" 2pc, sold everything else

5wt
Glass - Steffen 8'0" 3pc, Fenwick FF75-4 7'6" 4pc
Graphite - Sage Z-Axis 9'0" 4pc, Scott G 8'4" 5pc
Cane - Phillipson 8'0" 3pc Premium, sold everything else

6wt
Glass - Steffen 8'6" 5/6 2pc, Hardy Jet 8'0" 3pc, Sage SFL 7'9" 3pc, Winston 7'6" 2pc,
Graphite - Scott G 6'10" 3pc.
Cane - None, sold them all

1wt.
Bamboo: None
Glass: None
Graphite: Sage SPL 8'1" 3pc.

2wt.
Bamboo: None
Glass: None
Graphite: Sage TXL-F 7'10" 4pc.

3wt.
Bamboo: None
Glass: McFarland Yellow Glass 6'9" 3pc.
F.H. Paddock Lemon Drop 7'10" 3pc.
Graphite: None

4wt.
Bamboo: None
Glass: None
Graphite: None

5wt.
Bamboo: Orvis Deluxe 7'6" 2/2
Glass: McFarland Yellow Glass 7'2" 3pc.
Graphite: None

8wt.
Graphite: Sage SP 9'0" 3pc.

Hi Corey, I don't even have a single 4 weight fly line. Most of my fishing is with either a 3 wt in the mountains for brook trout or a 6 wt. fishing smallmouth. If I had to keep only two rods I could easily fish the rest of my life with my 3 wt. Dave Lewis glass rod and my Scott G 906/4. But that wouldn't be any fun to have only two rods.

3 wt., glass
LKenney 8'1",Kabuto 7'

4 wt.,glass
McFarland 7'9" (brown blank), Scott F1 7'6"
graphite 7'6" Winston pre IM6, Steffen 8'6"

5 wt. glass
Steffen 8'6", Kabuto 8', LKenney 8'3"
graphite 8"8" Scott G