Hi all, I am new to this forum. I have been lurking for well over a month reading various rod experiences and recommendations. I will try not to duplicate yet another which rod for me (but I do apologize if I end up doing so).

I am looking for a pan fish / small bass rod - warm water only.

Basically, started fishing after ~20 year break. Randomly bought an eagle claw featherweight 3/4 to screw around the local overflow ponds(complete with center water fountain) in the suburb neighborhood I am in... I am looking for a rod with better feel than EC. I also have questions regarding wt ratings... I see most posts I read has people playing with various line weights on the same rod to see what works best. I totally get that, but I don't have all the lines and would not be practical for me to do so just to test rods. I own lines in 3/4, 4, 6,7. I see most posts up line on most rods does this mean a 3wt that casts a 4wt well is actually a 4wt? I ended up liking the casting of the EC with 4wt but I have only fished with it on wulff TT 3/4. It honestly never occurred to me to upline or downline till I found this forum. I am a crap caster so in all honesty, I really don't have a feel what proper line should feel like. I can fling the wulff to about 20 ft and the 4 wt to about 25 feet. With the 4wt, I can feel the rod load much better than the wulff. While I have no issues with EC, the rod feels deadish the few fish I caught with it. I was able to simply haul the fish in like bassmasters on tv. Other than the Orvis store, I don't have a fly shop near me. I was able to cast 2wt superfine fiberglass on a 3wt line(which is the only wt store had) and it was really nice. But out of my budget. I drove an hour to another shop that carries echos... unfortunately, they only do the BAG glass. However, they have and I was able to cast a 2wt butterstick and a 4wt butterstick. The 2wt was on a 3wt line and the 4wt was on a 4wt line. I like the orvis 2wt much better than the butterstick and between the 2 buttersticks, I like the 4wt better. But casting wise, I don't feel the 4wt is dramatically better than the EC on 4wt line.

right now, due to budget, I am looking at cabela cgr 2/3/4 rods; which I think majority upline with 3/4/5. I do not have a 5 wt line so if the CGR 4wt needs a 5... I may rule it out.

this is getting too long. basically, my very limited experience, I enjoyed the EC but would like a rod with better feel. I enjoyed the sfg 2wt the best but it is out of my budget and I don't think butterstick is good enough of a difference to warrant the cost.

I am tempted with the diamonback meeker... since it is 1/2 off right now but I can't find much on them.

thanks for reading.

I would grab one of the 7'6" Phillipsons carlz has listed on the want ads, and fish it with a 6-wt.

Welcome slowpoke. For pan fish and small bass a 5 or 6wt would probably be the most commonly used. The 5 could be a bit funner (fish feel) and the six a bit more practical. If I was strictly fishing to put meat on the table I'd go with 7wt. If you plan on using bigger weighted serious bass sized flies a 5 could be limiting though.

If I remember right the new EC is actually more of a 5wt and by most accounts pretty decent. If you haven't already checked out the search feature on the upper right hand corner you can read a lot more about them there.

Welcome Slowpoke,
You're doing the right thing in researching whether rods you're considering will fish well with their rated line weight. I rate that piece of information highly in my selection of a fiberglass blank to build on - maybe the most important piece of information, as I'm generally targeting specific fly fishing situations when I plan for a rod. Right down to the line weight I'd want to present flies with. In your case you seem to know which flies (type/weight/etc.) work for the fish you target. Now work backward to learn the line style (DT or WF) and weight that might work best with those flies. Don't assume that up lining is the norm - all my fiberglass rods fish well with their rated lines.

That is because when I'm considering a specific rod, members here have been very helpful when I write to them to question how that particular rod performs/fishes with its rated line. I'm one who doesn't want to build/acquire a rod that I want to utilize at its rated line weight, only to find up lining is the best solution.

Good luck with your search, and feel free to continue asking questions until things are clear to you.

Jeff

Welcome. I’d echo the recommendation of a 6 wt. I get that you expect to hook smaller bass, but it’s not so much the size of the fish as the size of the flies. I guess you’ve figured out what bass and panfish flies you’d use in your area, but I pretty much use a 6 wt line for most of the smaller bass flies around here; sometimes and places I’ll use a 5 if I expect to find a lot of redbreast bream, but when going to more medium sized bass flies, I’ll tend more to a 7 than a 6. I’ve never fished an Eagle Claw 3/4, but I’ve not been disappointed in the “fish feel” of a decent bream, or a 10-inch bass, on any of my glass 6 wts.

Before you reject a 6 in favor of a 4, since that’s what you use on the EC, I’d suggest you get a few of the bass flies you’d expect to use and spend an hour or so just casting them with your 4 wt line, focusing on the casting, not any hookups.

And FWIW, I think that CGR is about equal as a 4 or a 5, but not particularly good with either (I’d say the 7’6” 5/6 is decent as a 6 but nowhere near as good a rod as the 7/8 in that series, which I fish as a 7.). And I’d add a caution about getting a rod with the expectation to upline; I often settle on such a line but frequently not, even sometimes “underlining”; really no such thing since the manufacture’s recommendation is just that, a recommendation.

Thanks for the recommendation Bulldog,

For most warm water fishing (panfish and bass) I like a 6wt, though a 7wt does well too.

In vintage glass, I agree a 7'6" phillipson works well, but also almost any 8' Fenwick will work.
If you need a 4pc rod, I would be on the lookout for a used graphite Cortland GRF-1000 5/6 or 6/7 4pc

PM me and I will see what I have laying around. I'm trying to empty my closet.

That Wulff TT line is a long belly taper & casts best with 30+ ' out. I agree with the Phillipson 7' 6" rods but they are 6wt. You will eventually end up with a 6 or 7 & they are good all around rods. Right now Orvis has a sale on Clearwater lines for 19.00, a great deal plus the tapers are aimed at beginning casters. Worth a look.

Thank you all for the welcomes! I totally understand that a higher weighted rod will help throw heavier flies better. The main reason I am keen on a 4wtish is because my main graphite is a 4 wt and I have multiple lines invested (float sink intermit). Catching little fish on that one is no fun.

@johnL, thank you for the heads up on orvis sale. I am going to pick up a 5wt to see if the EC will work better than the 4wt. Honestly, the EC on a 3 was fine out to 20 ft or so and out to 25 ft with 4 both with minimal effort. But, $19 for line in the fly fishing world is not too bad... I kinda wish they have a 5wt from their bass line... the taper chart description has it from 5 and on but the web site only starts with 6wt. I read some reviews that the clear water is not durable and I would rather spend $10 more on something that will last longer.

A small fish is gonna be a small fish no matter what you catch it on, and is hard to make em more challenging. But for me, they are still fun. You get to define what is fun for you

One of the joys of this forum is all the pictures of beautiful, little gems of fish. There are many boards were such pictures would get you shamed/scorned/laughed at. Not here.

And just about any water that has little bass, has a couple of big bass

I too would recommend a 6 or 7wt. In most cases they will make casting easier as you will be able to make the rod load.

What a rod say on it for a line is just their best guess. The right line is the one that works best for you.

What he said. The 4 weight choice makes sense in the context you describe. BUT, for very modest cost, a 7' to 8' glass rod--a "vintage" model would be least expensive but every bit as good, sometimes better than a "modern" one--for six line will open up a new world of casting ease, line management in fishing, and landing fish--small or large. It's another story, probably, but as you consider these meat and potatoes rods--versatile and easy to fish--you may eventually find that a 7 or 8 weight is even better, depending on the maximum size/weight/bulk of the flies used. In the 6 to 8 weight range, vintage rods of good quality abound; it is easy to find a good one because that sort of standard configuration of the time, it was hard to make a bad one.

that's one rod, friend, Phillipson MF66 - IMO, the most desirable small water glass rod ever made, with a 7' Phillipson a close second, and 6' Phillipson still a whole lotta fun (and amazing roll-caster for its short length).

As far as fish-handling feel, right off subtract two line weights for glass compared to graphite. Graphite works best in 9' rods, and a 6-wt graphite is a big-river, big-fish rod.
So consider a glass 5/6-wt already feeling like 3-4-wt graphite for fish handling.
Then there's the length/leverage factor. In shorter rods, you're giving up leverage to fish.

a day out with Les and his friend about a decade ago, fishing Johnson Creek with an A-strain of endemic bass.

Rods are FF605
Phillipson 6' from blank
Phillipson MF66

we call these Texas brook trout, and you can catch them on trico dries (cats whiskers, briminators, etc.)

Same day, Les a bit up the Guadalupe N fork at Mayfair crossing

"subtract two line weights for glass compared to graphite"- I'll disagree with bulldog on this, I think there is a three line weight difference between fish handling feel and tippet breaking stiffness between graphite and old 'glass rods rather than two. Maybe four.
I have successfully fished 1/2# & 3/4# test tippet (long time ago, when tippets were just line) on several 9wt 'glass rods and routinely break 1.75# tippet with 5wt graphite rods in the same conditions. An 8wt glass takes less effort of my painful shoulder to cast than a 5wt. graphite, but part of that is there enough mass in the line to get out there with no false casting.
Even with graphite though and regardless of line weight, if I keep those tiny fish on the rod tip and keep the line in my hand rather than put them on the reel and using the rod butt, I can feel fish as small as 3-4" parr marked trout.
fwiw my 7 1/2' Phillipson will cast a couple line weights less than suggested on the rod, and on that line of thought; I rarely over line fiberglass, but almost always do graphite.
I don't know if you saw this:

sage advice, imo.

Out of your list, the Heddon Pal Pro Weight 8381 would nail our OP's bill.
If you found one for less than $100, it was a steal.