3 weights...

[ksbrowntrout2]

In my never ending quest for light line fly fishing gear, There are a few new rods I'm looking at and wanted to know if anyone has any experience with the following:

Hardy Glass Series, 6 foot 3 weight
Scott F-rod, 7 foot 3 weight
St. Croix avid, 3 weight

Im going to use them for technical small stream fishing, and I just wanted some input.

Thanks

[Hardyreels]

KS,

Where have you been? I had a St Croix Legend Ultra 3wt and it worked well but was a bit fast for tight streams. I would give my vote to the glass Hardy guessing that it will offer the slowest action.

I use an Orvis Flea 3wt. for dry fly fishing tiny brooks and have a fast 6'3" graphit for streamers.

Glass Hardy or cane.

Ard

[flyguy66]

I'm with Hardy. For a true small stream rod along the lines of what you're after, you want a full-flex, slower action rod. And tubular graphite rods under-perform (generally speaking) in this category compared to fiberglass, bamboo, and Hexagraph rods. But there are some very respectable graphite rods in this category. You just didn't list any. I'm not a fan of glass, myself. And my order of preference runs as follows: Hex, bamboo, graphite, glass. So if I had to go for a graphite 3wt small stream rod, it would most definitely be the Elkhorn Nomad 8' for about $100. It's not a true full-flex, but it is a very deep progressive taper that gives it a medium action on the slowish side and is very soft and quite accurate for tubular graphite. It is also extremely durable for a hollow graphite rod and comes with a lifetime unconditional warranty and tube. Before I got my Hexagraphs, I fished Elkhorn Nomads and Travelers as my light duty rods exclusively for years. The Traveler is a "prettier" rod with a more conventional progressive taper (mid-flex).

[Hardyreels]

With all due respect to other posts,

When you tell me you are after a small stream rod in a 3wt. I would not consider anything over 6'6" in length. People are going to disagree with me but I can take you places where if you choose to bring an 8' rod the only things I'm going to bring are beer and snacks to enjoy while I watch the show. The places where I find the need for small stream rods the casting is so tight that a person fishing with much over 6' 6" of Rod will have to pass up 75 - 80% of the fishing opportunity's. These small streams exist from Nova Scotia throughout the North East United States and Canada and everywhere else I have fished on the continent. You just gotta go with a short stick for some places.

[FrankB2]

I can tell you that the Avid is a midly slow, nearly full flex rod. The only 3wt
Avid (IPC) I've had experience with is the 7'9", however. It bends right into the cork......

[flyguy66]

That's true, Hardy. And the shorter the rod, the softer I want it to be...to a point, of course. But I've got small stream rods that run from 8' down to 6'9".

[FrankB2]

I'm looking at St. Croix's site, and they've added a 6'6" Avid 3wt for 2010. I
can testify that Ard is fond of short rods for small streams .
http://www.stcroixrods.com/product/avid-fly

[Joni]

Although we are not as cramped (wink) that you would have to be restricted to 6 1/2' rod (my LL 2 wt is 7'9"), I am seriously kicking the idea of a nice 6 1/2' glass for the heck of it, plus it will come in much nicer for Uinta creeks. But it has to be glass or wood as I think plastic that short would be too fast for me.
with a full flex, it doesn't matter how short it is, it is going to feel great...;-)

[Hardyreels]

I love it when we all agree


And you guys know if I use an icon I really mean it!

The full flex of the little wood rod has always seemed like slow motion casting to me. I can put the fly where I want it and keep it away from the places I don't want it to be.

[ksbrowntrout2]

Im really leaning toward the glass rod from hardy. The 6" 3 weight is appealing to my needs for a slow delicate small stream rod.

I had a chance to cast the avid, and though a nice rod, it wasn't quite what I was looking for. Just a little quick.

Ill have to make a trip to cast the Hardy and the Scott, but Ill make that decision later.

Thanks for the input.