Small Glass?

Blue Lines

Steelhead
A few months ago I picked up an Orvis Superfine Glass 3wt 7’6” and it’s quickly become my favorite rod. With a little click reel and the superfine 3wt line it is a joy to cast. So far it’s really fit the bill for everything from small coast range blue lines to the Metolius
 

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mcswny

Legend
Forum Supporter
A few months ago I picked up an Orvis Superfine Glass 3wt 7’6” and it’s quickly become my favorite rod. With a little click reel and the superfine 3wt line it is a joy to cast. So far it’s really fit the bill for everything from small coast range blue lines to the Metolius

That’s a sweet sounding stick. With that being said, it think I’m anomaly in that I kinda hate click reels. They’re like nails on a chalkboard to me, which makes getting a 3 wt line holder/reel a lot more expensive.
 

clarkman

average member
Forum Supporter
That’s a sweet sounding stick. With that being said, it think I’m anomaly in that I kinda hate click reels. They’re like nails on a chalkboard to me, which makes getting a 3 wt line holder/reel a lot more expensive.
You're not alone...there's a reason I love my Danielsson Originals...silence is one of them.

Ok, so maybe there's only two of us...😆
 

krusty

We're on the Road to Nowhere...
Forum Supporter
Hell....as long as you're fishing tiny brush clogged blue lines and absolutely sure no other flyfisher sees you...one of the $34 6.5' 3wt Eagleclaws works just fine. I threw on one of my old Perrine automatic reels, which really simplifies keeping the excess retrieved line from being swept into brush piles. The rod doesn't cast worth shit, but there isn't much casting to be done in such places...unless you want to spend most of your time getting your fly back from tree branches.
 
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Northern

Seeking SMB
Forum Supporter
^^This
Especially if you're looking for something for tiny, brushed in creeks with little trout gems and a kid in tow.
An inexpensive, sub 7ft rod with any cool looking cheapo reel off ebay is a great option. I like my Eagle Claw Featherlight, and fish it on lakes for stockers too, but I happen to really like bright yellow things 😁
If you prefer something classier looking, the Cabela's CGR is nice at $80 (or was, mine were bought pre BPS buyout.) The 2wt is very soft - that fish in your OP will put a bend in it - but can be pushed out to 50' if you work with it.
So can the Featherlight, and either will easily make short casts in close quarters.
The best thing about these cheap, light rods is that you can hand them to your kid without stressing about damage. The Eagle Claw is pretty tough, also.
And when you're setting up to take a pic of your little one (no matter what age) fishing with you on a tiny creek, you can see that bright yellow rod through your suddenly misty vision :cool:
20180812_122255.jpg
 

booner05

Just Hatched
That’s a sweet sounding stick. With that being said, it think I’m anomaly in that I kinda hate click reels. They’re like nails on a chalkboard to me, which makes getting a 3 wt line holder/reel a lot more expensive.
Get an Orvis bbs and remove the clicker? It's just a plastic dong held in by 1 screw. It'll leave you with enough drag to prevent backlash.

I think most of the click-pawl and caliper click vintage reels have a 'disable-able' click as long as you don't care about drag (which I've never used on <5wt)
 

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Blue Lines

Steelhead
That’s a sweet sounding stick. With that being said, it think I’m anomaly in that I kinda hate click reels. They’re like nails on a chalkboard to me, which makes getting a 3 wt line holder/reel a lot more expensive.
I get that, to each their own. Click doesn’t matter to me much, more about the less engineered, easier to work on/fix, bulletproof aspect to a good click reel. Kind of like working on cars when I was a kid vs the monstrosities under most hoods these days.

Also- The click is much more noticeable when the reel isn’t loaded with line. Once loaded and on my rod I stopped noticing it after 20 min of fishing.
 

Dloy

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
Plenty of good advice here. I’ve had (& have) some small(ish) water rods by Steffen (now Graywolf), Graywolf, McFarland and Barclay. If you want something nice you can’t go wrong with these guys. My only add is that if you intend to fish mountain streams, you will occasionally need to deal with wind (often late morning through early afternoon). IMO for that you need a 3 or better a 4wt at least, unless you enjoy naps. But it sounds like you’re aiming at lowland creeks. I will say that days spent in a micro environment are every bit as fun as any big water, to me. Intimate and satisfying.
 

iveofione

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
About 30 years ago I built an IMX 7'6'' 2wt for fishing smaller streams. It weighs a massive 1.85 oz and is just a delight to cast. It is magic on some of the larger small streams easily handling fish around 16''-which are seldom on small streams. It is superb on meadow streams where the backcast is not an issue but if your tiny streams are as tiny as mine are a 7'6'' rod is a foot too long. I have plenty of 3wt's and 4wt's but for me the sweet spot is the 2wt for small streams.

There is little doubt that if I wanted another tiny stream rod I would go with the Cabelas CGR 2wt at 6'6'' and $80. I may buy one anyway and mount my little Battenkill II click pawl on it that weighs less than 4 oz spooled with a 3wt DT line. One of our brushiest and most difficult to fish creeks should have good water in it this year and be the perfect spot to exercise the new rod.

For you Tenkara haters, I have fished this stream for several years and know the places that generally hold fish. Two years ago I was fishing a corner run that is very fishy. Sneaking in from downstream I made several nice casts with my 2 wt and hooked but didn't land one fish. I had a 5' Tenkara rod with me so I scooted on my butt down to the edge of the water and rigged it up. In the next few minutes I hooked 6 fish and landed 5 of them! Knock it if you want but on that day Tenkara was 6X better than my western fly rod.
 

Gary Knowels

Hack of all trades
Forum Supporter
5-6 years ago I bought a no name Chinese fiberglass rod blank from a guy on the rod building forum. It is 6'6" and a 3 weight. I finished building it last year and it is pretty fun, but too whippy for my liking. It actually does pretty well with a DT4 line for short casts. The WF 3 line is ok and I have managed to throw about 40 feet with it, but it takes 3 days to stop wiggling after every movement. If you're up this way, you're welcome to cast it for shits and giggles.
 

Dloy

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
I had a 6’ Steffen 3wt with a Sage Click reel for a few years. Lightest I ever had, and was good fun but ultimately I sold it. Best small water option now is a Barclay 70p (7’ 4wt semi-parametric fiberglass). Casts very well from 10’ to over 30’ and can reach 40+ if needed. Parametric taper took a little getting used to, but it’s an outstanding roll caster.
 

Dloy

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
I don’t want to come off as a small stream expert as I’m sure most of you get out more often than I. But I haven’t seen this tip for quite a while, that many of you may already know. Let’s say you have around an 8 foot 4 piece rod you enjoy, and you find yourself in a restricted canopy. Chances are you’re needing a fairly short cast. Pull out a suitable length of line, detach the butt section of rod and stuff it and reel down your shirt. Voila, you have a 6’ rod, and it casts well enough. Pretty good actually at 25’ and under, and you don’t really need a reel for this anyway.
 

mcswny

Legend
Forum Supporter
I don’t want to come off as a small stream expert as I’m sure most of you get out more often than I. But I haven’t seen this tip for quite a while, that many of you may already know. Let’s say you have around an 8 foot 4 piece rod you enjoy, and you find yourself in a restricted canopy. Chances are you’re needing a fairly short cast. Pull out a suitable length of line, detach the butt section of rod and stuff it and reel down your shirt. Voila, you have a 6’ rod, and it casts well enough. Pretty good actually at 25’ and under, and you don’t really need a reel for this anyway.

never heard of anyone doing this, kinda hilarious.
 

Dloy

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
never heard of anyone doing this, kinda hilarious.
At the time I heard about it I had a 5 piece 4wt Winston LT, and got out occasionally, so I gave it a try. It really works pretty well. I even thought about getting/making a detachable foam handle that would snuggly fit over the shortened rod. Never did. It’s not like I used the shortened rod trick for extended hours, but it’s handy for the occasional situation.
 

VAGABOND

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Combat fishing. Have done it with a 9’ 2 piece. Be careful tho what you wish for.
Tossed the reel & butt up the bank out of the way, or so I thought.
The wrong (right!) fish and mayhem occurs instantaneously. I still have scars.
 

Tom Butler

Grandpa, Small Stream Fanatic
Forum Supporter
Lots of good choices in here, hope you're having fun shopping. I used to have a 7.5' heddon glass that was a good size for smaller north cascades streams (stevens pass area). I have a 7' 3/4 in soft graphite and frankly I find it too short to be an efficient fishing tool anymore. It casts fine but too often on small waters it doesn't have the reach to get around/over stuff or length to dap in tiny pockets I would like. It also doesn't have much muscle to handle a bigger fish, and I like to have enough rod to fight the fish I hope to find, not the regular ones.
I like my steffen 8' 5/6 so much that if I was to do another I would go 8' 3/4 over 7'3" 3/4.
 
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