Having 1, 2 and 3 weight rods and fishing quite a bit up the Carolina mountains to find skinny, clear water, I find the two lightest rods gathering dust. I use the 3's on rare occasions but find I have a lot more options open with a 4 weight and above.
Though darn near impossible to find by todays major plastic rod builders (until marketing needs that next big thing that is!) short rods with some spine are what I'm looking for.
I've found some blanks that fall in the short rod/5-6 weight category and plan on wrapping one or two up this winter.
When manufacturers built rods like this back-in-the-day, the folks around the small streams in the Appalachians loved them for tossing big, hairy flies and hopper-dropper rigs. They also knew they didn't have to head home if the wind gusts peaked at 3 MPH!