on a short stiff rod (under 6’), generally speaking, is a #2 line better or a #4 line? or even heavier? i was just fishing my homemade bamboo t-rod lines with level fly line. it cast great but the weight of the line just drags the fly through the water too fast. unless i lay the line on the water.
after playing with two stiff rods, a heavier lines seems to cast better. but then you get terrible drifts
This matches my experience. I found that my level line rods really struggled to get a good cast out of a heavy furled line, but my stiff rod threw the furled line perfectly… The only issue was that the furled line was always in the water.
I found that the thinnest shooting line was an alright middle ground for weight that worked okay on both kinds of rods. It also handles wind exceptionally well.
i use the back end of some 1wt when fishing stiff rods or poppers and bass bugs.
i got a tiny ten last week. been fishing it the last few days. so far 3.5 FC. LL is working good
For me, and it’s an individual thing in that I actually enjoy casting practice at the park, I’m using the line that fishes the best for the given water, and used extensive practice to learn how to cast it well on the given rod for that water.
A relatively short stiff rod can cast a tapered nylon line very well once you create a casting stroke that works for that combination.
But, that’s just me…
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