[Ian Fraser-Stables]

Hi Chaps
My dad was born in Inverness, but brought up in Pitmedden. He moved South with the RAF during the war and raised his family. I was fortunate enough as a boy to have him show me the ropes on some of the superb Scottish rivers and lochs including Loch Ness, but with heavy Greenheart or Split cane rods and silk lines.
I now live in Hampshire opposite the Isle of Wight and live not far from some of the Southern Chalk streams, which are hellishly expensive to fish so most of my fly fishing is at stocked still waters, although most here are chalk stream fed.
A friend and I have saved for a day on the Lower Itchen at the beginning of May so we want to make the best of it. I have a Hardy Swift 9'6" #7 for lakes and a Bloke 9'6" #8 for sea, which I proudly built myself. I don't have experience of lighter rods and lines and asked the question on another forum but got quite a few different opinions from 8' #3 to 10' #5.
It's not a wide river possibly 10m with some deep holes and nice gravel glides. I can be fairly delicate with the Swift, I use Mike's GT90 #7 which I love. However I can't help thinking I ought to use something lighter for a better presentation especially with Mayflies about to appear. Sadly there is no wading due to some of the holes being quite deep.
So I'm thinking say a 9' or 9'6" #5 with one of Mike's Smallstream II lines.
Any thoughts would be very welcome even if they are diverse.
Here are some stock photo's of the river.

 

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Ian 

That looks like a lovely piece of water and very different from the rivers that we fish up here, I'm sure you'll have a great time!

Yes, I'm sure you'll receive a wide variety of suggestions based on folks' personal preferences. From what you describe, I would probably opt for a 9' #4 or #5, although if I was choosing from the rods that I already have up my sleeve, I'd probably fish my 9' #3 

Fishing from the bank, an 8' to 9' rod would hopefully help to keep your line above some of the bankside vegetation, and 9' #4 and #5 are good all rounders, something that you'd be able to fish and enjoy just about anywhere, including stillwaters.

Hope that helps, just my personal preferences - looking forward to seeing what other folk suggest.

Cheers
Mike

[James Laraway]

Hi Ian

For the majority of my life i fished a 9ft6 #7 and you know what i did just fine.

Then I bought a Scott #5 and it was a revelation - lighter lines transformed things for me!

Since then I have bought a Taniwha #4 glass rod and quite frankly i don't really use anything else. Amazing value for money and when paired with a light reel it will transform your fishing.( performs better that rods double the price...)

Works amazingly well with Mike's small stream #4 line.....

[Sandy Nelson]

Hi Ian

Not being able to wade makes things a bit different. I have built quite a lot of rods for folk to use on the chalkstreams and they are almost always 4wt.
Quality Glass in an 8' 4wt is very versatile and has plenty power to control bigger fish too, yet presents like 2 or 3wt carbon can only dream about.
That said not being able to wade may make a slightly longer rod more handy, in which case id be looking at 8'6" or 9' for a 4.  In the longer sizes carbon is more pleasant to fish.
There are lots of very good 4wt carbon and glass options out there, so it comes down to budget and how you cast.  Then it becomes a huge question with multitudes of answers depending on peoples preferences. If you want it to double up for stillwaters then in my opinion, one of the presentation orientated 9' 5wts would be the best way to do an allrounder. it will still be good on the smaller river, but will be good for casting distance if required on a small stillwater and manage a small lure or team of nymphs better. There are a few exceptional ones and lots of good ones. That fit the right bracket, again budget and preference will affect this. if you want to send more details by PM i could make a few specific suggestions to go and try.

The New GT90 mark 2 is about as good a dryfly line as you will ever fish, i have been using it extensively in 4wt and 5wt with dries and its better than the original and that's saying something.  Especially on Carbon rods.

Sandy

[Ian Fraser-Stables]

Thank you all, there is so much great advice, I really appreciate it.

No doubt we will return a couple of times but generally I'll be sticking to still waters so I think from what you chaps have suggested a 9' #5 will make a good allrounder. I bought Bloke XGNP  blanks (Toray Carbon Fire with Graphene oxide) for my 9'6" #8 Sea rod a couple of years ago and built that with titanium rings etc and I am really impressed with the way it handles different lines.  I thought it might be a bit gimmicky to start with but I've used one of Mike's SLX WF7 lines and a Predator 25G-F for heavy sea lures and it casts both like a dream with both.



Consequently, I have been thinking about one of his 9' #5 Graphene blanks and make it up from there.  However you chaps talk about Glass rods, I am only familiar with solid glass spinning rods or hollow glass beach casters, which took over from split cane but are all now carbon fibre.
Why glass, if you don't mind me asking and what is S Glass? 

Edit. However, Mr Laraway, I've just looked at Taniwha website and see that he is not far from me in Salisbury......I feel a visit coming on. 

[Sandy Nelson]

Ian

I've built a couple of those Bloke XGnP blanks too and they are superb fishing rods, the 9ft 5wt one is a belter, so is the 9ft6" 7wt.

Glass has distinct advantages if you are not casting far, (up to 50ft) , most of the time. it is very controllable and you can get exceptional presentation from 4 and 5wt rods, even 6wts without too much effort. The rod tends to do a lot of the work for you so you have to back off and become lazy, but then you concentrate more on where the fly is going rather than casting. They also tends to be more powerful for its line weight and bend deeper which i find makes fighting a fish quicker and you have confidence in the tippets. It really depends on how you intend to fish and what your expectations are.
S-Glass is basically a unidirectional cloth that has a thin scrim to bind it, so is similar in construction to regular carbon fibre cloth. it is better for the longer rods as it tends to be lighter in the tip sections, however for shorter rods it seems to be less controllable and the E-Glass which has about a 25% built in cross weave cloth is much more robust and makes for a stiffer tip section, which for short rods actually performs better.  there are some superb S-Glass 8ft blanks in 4 and 5wts and they don't have to be expensive, although a lot of the cheap stuff isn't that good (too soft and floppy) The Taniwha and Livingston blanks are well priced and offer exceptional value for money with superb fishing actions. The Taniwha 7ft6" 4wt that James mentioned is a rod i regard as a Gateway drug to get into glass.  There are Livingston Demos available if you wanted to try one out and see if it works for you.

If you can Visit Mark, then that would be a brilliant way to explore glass he probably fishes the same waters as you as he is in the Salisbury and district association

Sandy

[Ian Fraser-Stables]

Ian

I've built a couple of those Bloke XGnP blanks too and they are superb fishing rods, the 9ft 5wt one is a belter, so is the 9ft6" 7wt.

Glass has distinct advantages if you are not casting far, (up to 50ft) , most of the time. it is very controllable and you can get exceptional presentation from 4 and 5wt rods, even 6wts without too much effort. The rod tends to do a lot of the work for you so you have to back off and become lazy, but then you concentrate more on where the fly is going rather than casting. They also tends to be more powerful for its line weight and bend deeper which i find makes fighting a fish quicker and you have confidence in the tippets. It really depends on how you intend to fish and what your expectations are.
S-Glass is basically a unidirectional cloth that has a thin scrim to bind it, so is similar in construction to regular carbon fibre cloth. it is better for the longer rods as it tends to be lighter in the tip sections, however for shorter rods it seems to be less controllable and the E-Glass which has about a 25% built in cross weave cloth is much more robust and makes for a stiffer tip section, which for short rods actually performs better.  there are some superb S-Glass 8ft blanks in 4 and 5wts and they don't have to be expensive, although a lot of the cheap stuff isn't that good (too soft and floppy) The Taniwha and Livingston blanks are well priced and offer exceptional value for money with superb fishing actions. The Taniwha 7ft6" 4wt that James mentioned is a rod i regard as a Gateway drug to get into glass.  There are Livingston Demos available if you wanted to try one out and see if it works for you.

If you can Visit Mark, then that would be a brilliant way to explore glass he probably fishes the same waters as you as he is in the Salisbury and district association

Sandy

Hi Sandy

Thank you for all this valuable  information, I have to say that with all your experience, you need to write a book and makes loads of money and the rest of you too! 

I can see why Mike has consolidated his lines to Small Stream and GT90. The SLX I'm using is a #7 for my #8 Bloke 9'6" has a head weight of 15.2 grams over the GT90 #8  of 13.6 grams, hence it works so well with the rod and the 25 grm  predator, well, it's phenomenal.

I'm going to try to digest all this and see what I can come up with.


 

[Ian Fraser-Stables]

Right chaps,

I'm going 5wt, not ideal, but will be fun on lakes and I think if I do get more opportunities with small streams, I can always add something like a 3 or 4wt.

So, the million dollar question, do I order a Small Stream II 5wt or a GT90 5wt? 

[Sandy Nelson]

GT90 100%

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Ian

From what you describe, my choice would be the GT90 too.

Cheers
Mike

[Ian Fraser-Stables]

Okey dokey and some of those Roman Moser braided loops.

Order on its way. 

[Ian Fraser-Stables]

Thank you Mike, the line arrived on Tuesday, very prompt, amazing service and the GT90 II looks amazing. I've got a Greys GX1000 I'm going to put it on.  It's a shame you're not selling the 12 strand braided backing line, I love that stuff, supply problems no doubt.

Mike Bell from Bloke Rods has retired and sold to Alan Tait of Rede River, sadly he hasn't got a 9' 5wt XGnP . However, I thought you chaps may be interested that I've been in touch with Mark at Taniwha and although he's just come back from his hols, he replied to my e-mail, proper chap. He has 9' carbon blanks, sharp intake of breath from Glass lovers  , but he's agreed that for the rivers and lakes "darn sarf" this would be a great all rounder. A nice fast action with a tip that although won't cast a Black Mamba (Zonker) or heavy Damsel Nymph it'll work well with dries and hare's ears etc. perfect for the Itchen.

 
 

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Ian, I hope you enjoy your line