Rod for a very small overgrown stream - recommendation please

[David Thursz]

Good morning
Despite having been a long term lurker, I think this may in fact be my first post!
I have a stream at the bottom of the garden which I have never fished as it is substantially overgrown and perhaps as I had never bothered to look , I never saw anything worthwhile. Certainly no one ever fishes here. Perhaps because of this, there appears to be a good head of wild trout!

The river is sufficiently overgrown that conventional casting is not really possible the technique is more poke and ping or indeed flick a leader out.

I have tried various rods but don't seem to have anything suitable e.g. a Daiwa lochmor 8' 4wt, an old Hardy delux 8'6 5/6 weight and even an Orvis practicaster .

The trouble is that they don't load properly for me as I am effectively just casting a leader?

I saw a post regarding the sale of Taniwha 10' 2wt rods which looked attractive but may not be suitable?

Can anyone recommend something suitable please?

Many thanks

[James Laraway]

10ft would've too long. I'd go sub 8ft. A taniwa  7ft6 #4 and a Barrio #4 would do the job nicely without breaking the bank...

[Sandy Nelson]

I'd be thinking glass too.
But possibly  6'6" for a 1wt or 2wt for just loading with the leader and minimal line.
There is a 5'7" 0wt on the market which is just for the tiniest streams and loads nicely with a tapered leader.
There's quite a few guys make them, chris barclay specialises in them. I picked up some of the blanks in 661, 662 and 570 from Adam Rawson when he sold them off, if you fancy building one. They work out quite cheap and are  Lots of fun to fish with.

Cheers

Sandy

[David Thursz]

James & Sandy, thank you very much for your replies.

I agree that a 10ft is too long but I think a 4wt is too heavy.

Sandy I am intrigued by some of the rods / blanks you mentioned but I have a concern that building the rod may make me lose the impetus to go out and fish. That said may I have more information on the blanks please? Even better if there was a nice ex demo rod for sale!

[Mark Dimeck]

I have a self built Taniwha 6'8" #2 that's not getting much use and may fit the bill. Just drop me a pm if you want more details.

[David Thursz]

I can't believe it's nearly  2 years since I posted this thread.

In the interim I have been using an Orvis Ultrafine 7'9 2wt but I find it a bit long and in reality the potential value means that I don't use it as I want to. I nearly swapped it for an Orvis 1 Ounce but that would leave me in a similar position,

So the hunt is back on for something that I can enjoy using and not cry if I break it. Ideally capable of roll casting arrow casting etc.

Are any of the current eBay or similar cheapies worth trying?

Or indeed does anyone have something prebuilt in say 7ft or shorter in say a 2wt or even lighter they can recommend or even sell?

Many thanks

[Bryan McDonald]

I have a Wynchwood 6 foot 2 weight, use it quite a bit on small streams, works great for me.
 Caught some reasonable fish on it, so it will get the job done.
Bought it quite a long time ago, so finding one could be difficult!
 I use the Orvis Battinkill 1 reel with it as as the original Wynchwood was nice to look at but the drag system was totally useless.