Need some advice

[adkjoe]

Alright first off this is my first post so hello! I'm not new to fly fishing but haven't done all that much. I have caught some small trout, bass, perch etc... but nothing I would brag about. I decided recently I wanted to really get into it. Up until now it has been a casual throw on a popper or a woolly bugger and just mess round for the day at camp etc... I recently moved to Vermont and live right on lake Champlain now and am also close to some really good trout streams/rivers so I want to fly fish A LOT more. I have been mostly using a 4wt for fishing small trout and small bass but a friend of mine just gave me a 9' 8wt. I want to put it to use but what can I use it for? I was thinking maybe large lake trout, pike, etc... on lake Champlain. an 8wt is way to large for stream/river trout correct? I guess I'm just looking for some advice on what to use my two different weight rods for. I live pretty close to the famous battenkill river also and I'm not sure if my 4wt is to small for those trout or not. The 4wt I have is only 7' I picked it up a while back because I used to fish in really brushy areas and it was hard to cast a 9'. I mainly only fish top water because I suck at wet flies but I've been practising so I know it will come eventually. Should I get some sinking tip line for the 8wt or what? Any and all advice welcome, thanks!!

Sorry for the long post

[ant]

Welcome!

I would say that you are good with what you have been doing with the 4wt, and could even fish for some large trout/bass, they would just give you a good run for your money.

The 8wt would be too much rod for anything but the largest trout or bass. I've never fished for pike, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but you could use it and do OK unless you hooked into a 3+ footer. Just make sure you have a pike leader which is metal as pike have very nasty teeth.

I've known people to use 8wts to go carping, if your interested in that.

Whatever you decide, welcome and good luck!

[peregrines]

Adkjoe, welcome to the forum.

The 8 weight would be a good choice for throwing large poppers or deer hair bass bugs for largemouth, and weighted clousers and crayfish imitations for smallmouth bass, large streamers for pike--- and if you ever decide to travel a bit to saltwater, it's a good choice for striped bass up north, as well as all kinds of stuff if you head south to Florida or the the tropics. Also a little closer to home, it's a good choice for steelhead and landlocks that run up streams that dump into Lake Champlain starting in late September- October--- On the NY side that would mostly be the Saranac, Ausable, and Boquet Rivers and on the Vt side the Winnoski and Lamoille watersheds. You're also close enough to do some driving foir weekend trips to Great Lakes tribs for steelhead (October- March), salmon (mid September- October) and ginormous lake-run Brown trout (October) and the 8 would be perfect for them too.

The 4 weight is a good rod weight for the batten Kill and other trout streams--- there might be times you'd want something with a little more oomph like a 9' 5 weight, but it's perfect for going off the beaten path and exploring the many wild brook trout streams, as well as some of the other better known trout streams near you (Mettawee, Poultney, Hoosic etc).

Again welcome to the forum--- looking forward to your posts.

[adkjoe]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm new to the area so I have no idea what good streams are nearby I just know there ARE good streams nearby . I work right on the lamoile and live on lake champlain so that's a start. Looking at the VT fish and game it appears you can only fish for trout until the end of October is that true, I don't know why you couldn't fish the larger streams that don't freeze in the winter. What do you guys fish for during the winter months in New England?