[sesro1978]

Hi-

Is a 9' 5-wt. a suitable small-mouth bass fly rod? Specifically I'm thinking about the Sage ZXL 9' 5-wt. I've mainly been trout fishing but haven't really considered bass on a fly rod... Anyway, would this be a decent rod for smallies?

Thanks,
Seth

[packfancjh]

Go with the Sage Bass fly rod. It's an awesome rod, costs only $350.00 and comes with a line.

[dshort]

Seth, I use my 5 weight for smallies quite a bit, especially later in the season when the flies aren't so big and heavy. If you think you might be tossing some heavily weighted flies, a 6 or 7 weight might be a better choice, though.

[plland]

Originally Posted by packfancjh

Go with the Sage Bass fly rod. It's an awesome rod, costs only $350.00 and comes with a line.

Can you comment on the fly rod and line you're referring to? Is the rod very stiff? is the line a sink tip, or floating? What weight rating would the rod compare to if Sage used a traditional line rating for that rod, 7wt, 8wt?

[packfancjh]

The largemouth rod is a 6 wt and comes with a 330 grain floating shooting line. The smallmouth is a 7 wt and comes with a 290 grain floating shooter. They are designed to throw a weightless deer hair popper in the wind with no problems or launch a weighted clouser. I'll put money up if you can find a farther casting rod than these puppies. I love them.

[RDRogers]

so the smallmouth is actually a heavier rod than the largemouth?

[RDRogers]

[packfancjh]

I might have mixed those up I'm gonna check that out.

[packfancjh]

Yep sorry, largemouth is the 7 wt. Don't know what I was thinking. Great rods though either way.

[Cooler00]

Aren't the 290-gr and 330-gr line weights suitable for 10wt and 11wt respective rods? Is Sage using a different reference standard for the line weight or is there an advantage overloading the rod to that level?



Scott