motosacto wrote:
Interesting couple of threads regarding 4 weight rods and (lack of) love. I thought this topic might merit its own thread.
I DO like my black glass 4 wt Scott. With it, I can do fairly delicate work and also handle decent-sized dry dropper rigs. I used it to catch all of the California Heritage Trout species back in 2020. On the other hand, I just did not bond with my Hardy Test glass rod - I was constantly throwing tailing loops with it.
I kind of feel like many 4 weights might fall into a gap - not quite substantial enough for big waters, but not really delicate like lighter creek rods. On the other hand, maybe a good one can do both?
Thoughts?
The first thought is that you are the one throwing the tailing loop. You haven't adapted your stroke to rod/line combination you are casting. Not saying you have to necessarily make the effort since you can pick an outfit that fits your stroke but it is an option. The more I play with my rods, the more I realise that whenever there's something I can't get along with in a rod - it's me that's at fault.
Re 4 weights and where they fall I have a story to tell about yesterday's fishing. It's end of season in the Ardennes, lowish water and not many trout after a warm summer. Took the 8' 4wt CTS that I built as I thought it would suit the conditions. It's a medium action 4wt. The day didn't start all that well and all I managed for the first hour were chub to three inches max. Then I noticed a deep hole with three very large barbel hugging the bottom. Given the slowness of the day I thought l might give them a shot - just for giggles. Tied a worm fly on the 6X tippet and focussed on sending it straight into the fish's mouth as they won't normally move much to eat (unlike trout barbel don't spook so you can get pretty close and this isn't as hard as it might seem). Hooked up and brought fish to hand in less than three minutes - 23"...didn't expect that to go that way but it did. About an hour later after a bunch more micro chubb I finally caught a 7" brown and that looked like it would be it. So I walked back down river to where the path turns up the hill to where the car was parked. Since the evening was warm and calm I decided to close the day by prospecting the tails of a series of pools just above the slower water that feeds into a large reservoir/lake above a dam in the river. Amazingly, in less than 12" of water I got a grab from a fat silvery, black spotted 12 inch brown that looked like it was headed upstream from the lake to spawn. It had nowhere to go but up in the air and it was a spirited but short fight before I had it in hand. The "last cast" literally changed the nature of the entire day. Back to the 4WT - it was a nice toy to play with, fast enough to strike the micro chub and limber enough to tame the 23" barbel.
Posted: 26 Sep 2023, 19:08 • 