Two Rods, One Line

The reader would probably have to personally experience fishing a variety of western mountain streams to understand this topic. Without the experience, it would be understandable if they judged me as over thinking my fly gear in some way.

I like a simple fly gear pack when I head out on a one-day fishing trip. And, there are a couple of streams where I prefer having available two rods that are both seven foot in length, yet in 2wt and 3wt line capacities. However, I will only throw in one reel into my tackle bag for use with both rods, spooled up with a WF3F line. Which rod I lock that reel into depends on where I'm fishing.

I have found classic Winston rods such as the IM6 and WT rods are happy when they are over lined. They don't like to be under lined very much, but a little more line weight is accepted quite nicely. Why does this matter with a fly rod? It gives you the option to fine tune your rod to a specific stream environment.

When I'm fishing in tight quarters on a mountain Rio, I will often rig up a 2wt fly rod and lock in a fly reel with a WF3 fly line. Why? Because I'm not concerned with long casts, but want the rod to load the line easily for short casts that will throw a slow line and land my dry fly softly. I've heard some calling this a 'sticky' cast and I've learned specifically where on Rainy Mountain to use this rod/reel combo...yup, it is used a lot.

There are a few streams on my regular rotation that are more open and where some longer casts are beneficial. These streams also have a few tight spots that call for a need to still use a 7' rod. It's these streams where I'll rig up a conventional kit using a 7' 3wt rod with a WF3 fly line. Some may know, my favorite 7' 3wt rod is a Winston WT model and I use it with a few different reels that are spooled up with a WF3 fly line.

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