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Your favorite rod.

15K views 145 replies 102 participants last post by  Paul Potter 
#1 ·
Though it would be fun to start a thread where we name our one and only favorite rod. The one that made you fall in love. The rod that you can not live without. Crack a beer and lets bs about our favorite stick.
 
#67 ·
Many years ago I picked up a no-name rod hand made from a blank that only says it's a 4-wt and "Chalkstream." I got it at an outdoor show, where one of the fly shops exhibiting had a few of these, made by one of the employees. It's only 7'8", and after using it for several years, all of the other rods seem like broomsticks by comparison, but I never thought of it as a "slow" action rod until then, and can still put out as much line as I need with it. I use many others now, but it's still my favorite.
 
#71 ·
I'd be reluctant to pick one as the "Favorite" for fear I'd offend the rest of the rods in my quiver & they'd lose their mojo. The "Most Delightful" rod in-hand would be my old Orvis Superfine 2-wt on a skinny blue mountain stream. Among the "Most Cherished" would be an old G Loomis 7-wt that still bears faint dear departed Maggie puppy-teeth marks in the cork from when she entertained herself while I released the first of many Steelhead that were caught on that rod. Then there's my Dad's old Phillipson bamboo, but I digress . . . suffice to say that they are all "Dear Friends" and we've created memories together . . .
 
#72 ·
Hands down, the one that really "speaks" to me is my Steffen 8' 6wt....and has been for the last 8 years. It'll throw anything I need for trout or smallies, makes small fish feel big, has nice reserve backbone to deal with larger fish, casts like a dream...what's not to like?



a distant second would be an old Fenwick HMG 8' 6wt...a little faster than the Steffen, but it still really casts nicely with a nice moderate action.
 
#86 ·
Wow, blast from the past....

for trout, this still holds true...damn, I love that rod. Unfortunately, I don't fish for trout nearly as much as I used to (unless I need a numbers day).

Hands down, the one that really "speaks" to me is my Steffen 8' 6wt....and has been for the last 8 years. It'll throw anything I need for trout or smallies, makes small fish feel big, has nice reserve backbone to deal with larger fish, casts like a dream...what's not to like?
For steelhead, I used to stick with My Steffen 7/8 SH rod, but I recently picked up a Seele 8'8" 8wt that is just bomber, so that'll be getting a bit more play than anything else this winter.

For Tigers, I really love throwing my Epic Bandit 7'9" 10wt, but I AM a touch limited with the size flies I can throw with it (it'll throw most 8-9" singles pretty easily), then there's my most used rod for that, my TFO Mini Mag, which is actually pretty sweet for the type of fishing I do but day in and day out, my favorite for that fishery has gotta be my Seele 8'2" Salz Pro 12wt that'll throw anything and everything and tame every single fish I'd encounter out there...buuut, it's also a BEAST that sucks to throw all day (my TFO feels like a trout rod by comparison). The kicker is once hooked up....words can't explain it.

Cheers!
 
#73 ·
currently my z-axis 7110 is my favorite rod. I have caught summer steelhead,sea-run cutthroats, bull trout, chum salmon (not the species I was targeting), and winter steelhead up to 17lbs on that rod and never felt under gunned. The only limitations I have experienced with it are casting heavy flies with heavier tips, and comes up short on the longer casts, but I didn't get it for those situations. Thats why I got a tcx 8119, or a z-axis 8134.
 
#75 ·
Hands down my favourite for the past few years has been a 3 wt Avid St Croix I picked up from Mingo.

Love the feel of that baby and it has landed me many, many fish. Been lost in the Cedar only to be found again the next morning ... great karma.

That being said, the new Sage 379 LL I picked up over the winter is fast coming my new favourite, but it has yet to establish any significant karma with/for me. Will probably come with my soon-to-be trip to the Elk river in BC.

Stew
 
#76 ·
Hands down my favourite for the past few years has been a 3 wt Avid St Croix I picked up from Mingo.

Love the feel of that baby and it has landed me many, many fish. Been lost in the Cedar only to be found again the next morning ... great karma.

That being said, the new Sage 379 LL I picked up over the winter is fast coming my new favourite, but it has yet to establish any significant karma with/for me. Will probably come with my soon-to-be trip to the Elk river in BC.

Stew
I have the 7'9'' Avid , and really enjoy using it .
 
#78 ·
I've already commited my favorites but after reading Randall's post above (#72) regarding his 6wt Steffen (a rod I'd like to try), it's hard not to also include my old Fenwick FF806. I have comparatively very low dollars into this rod, 2 Pfleugars (one inherited) and Cortland DTF and WFI lines. It'll huck line with the best of them, I can leave it in the car with practically no risk and fish it most anywhere, salt or no. Probably closest to a one size fits all rod ever made. What's not to like.
 
#83 ·
For the past couple of seasons, most of the time I take an 8 foot, 2/2 6wt Winston bamboo rod (Glen Brackett era). Started with bamboo long ago when a youngster, spent lots of time with fiberglass, then graphite, and still have several Sage LLs and Winston IM6 and WTs. Am fishing bamboo more now than ever before in my adult life. The rod loads and fishes well, with enough "backbone" for the larger fish. Oh yeah, and it looks good too.
 
#85 ·
My Hardy Proaxis 6wt is my favorite rod I’ve owned. I use it for chucking streamers for trout, src beach fishing, rock bass in MA4 or MA5, poppers for bass, pinks, occasionally hooked smaller lingcod, carp, chums, and coho on it. Been a great all around rod.

My old favorite rod was the Sage RPL 8wt I sold to my brother in law for dirt cheap. He fishes it a lot and loves it. I get jealous whenever we fish together that he has it now.
 
#88 ·
Oh wow, talk about an impossible question to answer, i have deep and personal attachments to so many..
I'd have to say any of the 3 piece and early 4 piece Burkheimers they were rods that Kerry and i designed together, that is to say rods that Kerry designed and and where my input were important during the evaluation.
Later on there were more people giving input but those early ones were pretty much just Kerry and me. Mostly Kerry. Ohh and i can't forget Jim Seaman of mill creek custom rods he had imput too.

Ok i have decided... the 489-3

I'll change my mind in about 2 minutes.
 
#97 ·
Since we’re updating here, I’ll play:
High on my list at least:
Epic 686 (fast glass) - versatile rod, fun to throw. Likely choice for the “if you could have only one” question. Does most things really well and OK on 80% of what’s left.
XP 697 - best SRC stick in my quiver, but the Radian could take it down probably.
McFarland (glass) 7’9” 5wt 6 piece - ultimate travel trout rod, for me anyway. Fits in any carry on or day pack. I just like having a rod with me.
Barclay 70P (7’ 4wt glass) - terrific small water rod. Also a great travel rod, but not quite the “all rounder” that the 5 is.

But, I move around often as to favorite.
 
#99 · (Edited)
Yup, old thread. I don't have a "one" rod that meets the 3 criteria listed by the OP.
In 1972 I begin using an UL spinning rod for high lakes and streams with 1/8 oz Daredevle spoons and a teardrop casting float to cast flies. I was never skunked using that combination.

My first rod for fly casting in the mid 1970s was a Fenwick spin-fly combo and a Shakespear Omni 33 reel.. It was nice because I hiked into high lakes and streams and could use one rod for spin fishing and fly casting.

After reading The Curtis Creek Manifesto in ~1986 I did buy a 9' 6 weight Cortland graphite rod and fell in love with fly fishing and the pursuit of the mythical Curtis Creek small streams (I still have two). However the rod that made me give away the Fenwick and put away the UL spinning rod for many-many years was a 9' 6 weight Gary Loomis Signature IMX in 1992. I still use that rod for fishing nymphs and streamers. Now the bigger waters and large fish were calling.

I rediscovered small streams again in 2009 and was using a very nice March Brown Hidden Waters 9' 7 pc 4 weight rod that is a great all-round high lakes and streams pack rod. But in 2011 I bought the TFO 7'9" Finesse that OMJ raves about. Wow, nice small stream rod, and I fell in love with small streams all over again! In 2015 I bought a 7' 2pc Pennington Pine River bamboo rod (Garrison 201 taper) that fishes best for me with a DTF3 and like it even more. I used the TFO when I knew I would be bushwhacking, and the Pennington for easy access stuff.

However in 2017 I came under the faerie spell. My buddy who taught me to fly fish in 1978 discovered Tenkara :eek:. I fished many small waters with him that year using my bamboo rod. My initial disbelief and disdain slowly morphed to amusement, then to being truly impressed with the number and size of the fish that he landed with just a rod, line, and an unweighted (dry-wet) fly.

At the end of that season, I purchased a very nice Tenkara rod; a DRAGONtail Hydra 390zx that fishes at 3.5 and 3.9 meter lengths, with all the accessories I needed to begin for $125, shipped. In the winter of 2017-2018 I read every article and watched every video I could find about how to fish using the traditional Tenkara methods. In early May 2018 I went to a well known local stream with the Tenkara rod and was skunked. Two weeks later I returned and caught 6 fish including the largest fish I had landed in that stream over 8 consecutive years, using a weighted nymph and dry-wet flies. The "impressed" from 2017 immediately changed to "astonished" that a rod able to detect light takes from a 4" fish and make it seem "sporting" could put up one hell of a fight and land a 16" fish with "authority".

That one fish changed me immediately and probably forever, not so much to be purely a Tenkara angler; ex. my 9' 7 pc 4 weight is a better high lakes rod, but that simple gear and techniques harkening to me all the way back from the 1980s with The Curtis Creek Manifesto along with precise tight line drifts will get it done.

I have since purchased two shorter rods; A full flex Tenkara Times Watershed 300Z that fishes at 2.4, 2.7, and 3 meters that's the ideal rod for brushy creeks with overhead cover, and the DRAGONtail Mizuchi 340zx that fishes at 2.4, 2.9, and 3.4 meter lengths that is more versatile and could almost be an EDC rod. I also bought a much longer Suntech GM "Keiryu" Special 53 rod that fishes at 4.5, 4.8, and 5.3 meter lengths and can cast weighted nymphs or dry-wet flies a good ways out into big water like the Deschutes near Warm Springs and land larger fish, but the Hydra is still my "S" river rod, and a great all-round beginners' rod for EDC.

BTW, I'm going to try using my Keiryu rod at a salt beach in this midday high tide cycle to see if I can hook and land SRC. But I won't be leaving my western 6 weight beach rod at home ;).
 
#100 · (Edited)
Scott Meridian 9' 6 is hands down my favorite rod.

Orvis Helios 3D 9' 6 is probably 2nd.

Hardy Zenith 8' 9" 7 one piece is right in the mix as well but I don't fish it anywhere near as much as I used to.

Lately I've been fishing a 9' 12 wt Redington Vapen black and have become pretty attached to that as well but mostly because I've been having so much fun catching albacore on it
 
#101 ·
This the toughest question I’ve had to answer today.... and today was a day full of tough questions.....

After much consideration, I have failed to come to a conclusion....choosing a favorite fly rod is tougher than choosing my favorite dog.... it just doesn’t feel right to even try...

But, I can tell you which rod I miss the most.... The original Orvis Helios 8’6” 4wt Mid-flex... the slow deliberate action was perfect.... then a triploid broke it on Dec 21, 2014......so I “upgraded” to a H2 6wt..... but it just didn’t have the same magic.....and I’ve missed that rod everyday since.....

New doesn’t mean improved.... and More Expensive isn’t necessarily More Better....

Several times I’ve thought about trying to find another rod like the one I lost.... but as Thomas Wolfe wrote “ You can’t go home again”.... and instead, I’m focused on trying to find the next rod that I’ll miss years after it’s gone....

(The attached pic was taken moments after my rod broke..... Rest In Pieces....)
 

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