Walk into any fly shop, or browse around online, and you’ll quickly realize there are more fly rod choices out there than questionable food at a casino buffet. In this case, though, picking a less-than-stellar rod won’t give you food poisoning, so there’s a lot less risk involved.
All kidding aside, picking out your first fly rod isn’t as tough as it seems. You just need to go into the process able to answer a few key questions and understand a few simple terms.
What does a rod’s line weight mean?
Fly rods are classified according to two things: their length and line weight. We’ll dive into length in a minute, but let’s clear up line weight first.
In fly fishing, the line we use to cast is weighted, and our flies don’t weigh much. This is in contrast to conventional angling, where your lure is weighted, and your line doesn’t weigh much. So, your fly rod is designed to cast this heavy, weighted fly line; more specifically, your rod is built to cast a certain weight of fly line.
Fly line weights range from 0 to 14, with 0 being the lightest and 14 being the heaviest. The heavier line you’re using, the larger flies you’re able to cast. Generally speaking, when you use larger flies, you’re also able to catch larger fish, so a lot of big fish are caught on heavier-weight rods. Fly fishing in the ocean, for example, often utilizes 8, 9, and 10-weight rods to throw large streamers imitating crabs or baitfish in front of bonefish, permit, snook, and even tarpon.
A 3 or 4-weight rod is perfect for smaller flies and smaller fish. Think trout in the high country, or panfish at the local pond.
Pike and bass rods are often in the 7 to 8-weight range, and musky fishing often uses 9 or 10-weight rods.
So again, to boil it all down: fly rods are rated based on the line they’re designed to throw. The higher the number, the larger and heavier the fly that the rod can effectively cast and place in front of fish. For a more detailed breakdown, check out our guide to fly rod weights.
Does rod length matter?
Fly rods come in all sorts of sizes, from short 6-foot rods to ones topping out closer to 14 feet.
Generally, the shorter a rod is, the more accurately that rod will cast your fly line and flies. But longer rods give you the ability to make longer casts, reach across water to ensure drag-free drifts, and a bit more power and backbone for fighting wind or large fish.
That’s why you’ll see most fly rods sold in a length of 9 feet. This is the sweet spot between accuracy, reach, and power, and a 9-foot rod is a good length for a vast majority of fly fishing applications.
What about rod action?
Finally, you’ll also hear rods described by their action—fast, moderate, or slow. Action is just a term that refers to how much a rod bends during the cast.
A fast-action rod bends in the tip section of the rod. A moderate, or medium, action rod bends in the top-third to top half of the rod. A slow-action rod bends from the tip, all the way down to the cork grip.
Generally, the slower a rod’s action, the more feel and feedback you’ll get during the casting process. This is key for learning how to cast a fly rod, since good fly casting all comes down to feeling the rhythm of the fly line moving through the air. However, slower-action rods are less forgiving of mistakes, so a lot of beginners get sold fast-action rods that sacrifice feel in exchange for a shorter learning curve on casting.
Picking a moderate-action rod is your best bet. You get some of the benefits of a fast-action rod’s forgiveness, but you retain enough feel and feedback that you’ll quickly learn what a good cast feels like.
Now that we’ve got those terms defined, let’s answer a few questions to figure out exactly which rod you should pick.
What kind of fishing will you be doing?
This is the most important question to answer, because this determines what sort of rod weight you’re looking for.
If you’re like most people who take up fly fishing, you’re probably interested in chasing trout in rivers or smaller lakes. In that case, rods in the 4, 5, or 6-weight range are your best bet.
Remember, since a 4-weight is lighter than a 6-weight, a 4-weight will be more suited to throwing smaller dry flies and small nymphs. It’s not the best rod for throwing streamers with.
A 6-weight is better for larger dry flies and nymph rigs and is great for use with streamers.
A 5-weight is the do-it-all rod of the trout fishing world. It’s light enough to handle most dry fly work, but stout enough to throw streamers and heavy nymph rigs. It’s like the .30-06 of fly fishing. With a well-placed shot, a .30-06 can take down any wildlife in North America. With a good 5-weight, you can tackle most any trout fishing situation you find yourself in.
If you’ll primarily be fishing for bass, you’ll want to look at 6, 7, or 8-weight rods. Bass flies are larger and heavier, so you want a heavier line weight to effectively put these in front of fish.
If you plan to go after panfish or smaller trout, a 3, 4, or 5-weight might be a better choice.
Have you ever fly fished before?
If you’ve gone out fishing before, with a guide or just with a friend, you might have a better idea of what sort of rod you like, or don’t like. So, if you’ve fly fished before, think back on that experience. What did you like or dislike about the rod you used?
This might seem like a simple step, but if you’ve already fly fished before, you might have some expectations, especially for your gear. So, looking for gear that’s similar to what you’ve already used can help make the learning process a bit more enjoyable.
How important is top-tier performance vs affordability?
Alright, it’s time to talk price. You can spend an eye-popping amount of money on a fly rod these days. Some production rods go for more than my mortgage payment.
Those top-tier rods are wonderful tools, and generally speaking, they’re worth the money. You’re getting the latest and greatest tech and materials, backed by a warranty that’ll keep you fishing the rod for decades.
But you don’t need that rod. There are plenty of great options at more reasonable price points. Rods around $200 are a good place to start. Going much lower than that price point means you’ll end up with a rod that was built to sell at a certain margin, and not necessarily be a good fishing tool.
Around $200, though, you’ll get into rods that are built to be effective on the water. And if you’re making the investment to learn, then you should get a rod that won’t hamper your progress.
You might hear about people using $80 Amazon rod-and-reel combos and doing “just fine” with fly fishing, but that’s often not the case. Those super-cheap rods don’t have the feel and feedback you need to develop a good cast, and they often don’t come with any warranty or support. Plus, they likely weren’t designed and built by people who fish, which matters to how a rod performs on the water.
Wrapping Up
Buying your first fly rod doesn’t need to be an outrageous challenge. You just need to know what line weights mean, why so many rods are offered in different lengths, and have a good idea of the fishing you’re likely going to do. By going shopping with that in mind, you’ll quickly be able to cut through the noise of all the options and pick a rod that’ll work well as you start to learn this sport.