[Iain Goolager]

Anyone got opinions on using a 2wt outfit for small rivers (Feugh, Cowie, Carron, Gairn for example), burns & maybe for up to 2lb Trout from the Tube?

I've always fancied a wee try of such a wee set up and I had a wee picnic with the Loon a few weeks back at Feughside and a wee set up would have fitted in just fine with the river conditions & wee troot rising.

I'm sure these rods have the backbone to deal with the odd larger fish.

Iain

[Rob Brownfield]

Iain,
I used to fish a tiny burn that ran through Auchenblae (well, my garden ) with a 7 foot cane rod. I bought the blank from Somers some 23 years ago and made up the rod. I used a double taper 2 or 3 weight, cant remember which..sure it was a 2 though coz i struggled to find a line! Lovely chestnut brown colour.

It was fantastic fun and i had many a 10-12oz brownie on the dry, or sometimes a nymph. The biggest trout I took from that burn was just under 3 pounds, and it was nearly all head. Horrid looking thing, but the rod coped well.

I also had a shot on the West Water with it, and encouraged by Richard Walker, even took a few rainbows from Inch with

It met its demise on a tree trunk 

I am a firm believer that cane is superior to carbon when it comes to short rods and very light lines as they seem to cope far better with the shorter casts required. All to do with the weight of the blank flexing itself rather than the fly line and thus laying a fly line out rather than trying to punch one. That 3 weight I bought from Sandy works so much better with a 5 weight line on it for short distance work

[Sandy Nelson]

That 3 weight I bought from Sandy works so much better with a 5 weight line on it for short distance work

Wait till you've been to a couple of Outcasts meeting and learned how to cast properly

Iain, i used to fish the Ury with a Sage '0' wt 8ft rod, absolute dream on small waters, hopefully 'Bigtroot' is getting the benefit these days moving to far from the river to pop out for a couple of hours meant it sat doing nothing . Was fun from the tube with fish up to about 5lb, would be a bit scary with anything larger.
I would suggest trying a 7ft 6'' 3wt though, as you could use your existing lines and it would be so sweet for dryfly.
I would guess a 2wt would still be lots of fun, i just don't like even number line weights ??? Superstition is a funny thing

Sandy

[Rob Brownfield]

Wait till you've been to a couple of Outcasts meeting and learned how to cast properly

Ahem..I dont think I will be seeing anyone wanting to cast 5-10 yards at one of those meetings  ...The 5 weight line works a dream for close work

[Sandy Nelson]

Ahem..I dont think I will be seeing anyone wanting to cast 5-10 yards at one of those meetings  ...The 5 weight line works a dream for close work

I hope you do ,there is soooooooooooooooooo much more to casting than distance and hopefully that will be the whole point, expanding peoples repetoire, so they can adapt to a variety of challenges.
The distance thing is inevitable but hopefully the rest will be of more practical use.

Sandy

[Rob Brownfield]

I hope you do ,there is soooooooooooooooooo much more to casting than distance and hopefully that will be the whole point, expanding peoples repetoire, so they can adapt to a variety of challenges.
The distance thing is inevitable but hopefully the rest will be of more practical use.

Sandy

It was Mike that suggested a tape measure..fatal in my view...the penis envy will surface very quickly! 

For me distance with the Pike outfits and saltwater fishing is vital, plus casting into strong head winds....for trout, its all short, delicate stuff. Been practicing the spiral spey or whatever its called...getting there