What Is Your Favorite 4 Wt ?

[Doc Tom]

Winston LT-5 7'9". It is my favorite rod not just my favorite 4 wt.

[laker67]

Bman,

I am certainly no rod expert, but IMO a 9 foot 4 wt would be on the order of a wet noodle with a lead weight attached. IF you are strickly wanting a play rod, I would at least shorten it up to 8 foot to give it a running start. I know you love to fish taney, and I know that you and I fish similiar styles. I personally think that you will be very dissapointed in the way that a 4 wt will perform and especially handle a big fish on the tailwater. I bought a 4 wt several years back and traded it for a 5 wt after the first trip out. As far as lighter tippets, I have fished 7 and 8x on 5 wts for years. When I break off it's not the rods fault. I am sure that someone is about ready to tell me ,"that according to the winston fly rod manual", that my way of thinking is way off track. And I am ok with that. Like I said, I am no fly rod expert. I am only speaking from my own personal experiences on the water.

[Bman]

Laker67'

You know, I think that is some pretty darn wise advise. My fav all round do all Taney rod is a 5wt, and you are spot on about fishing lighter tippets with a 5wt. I was just thinking of a fairy wand to chase chinass trout with, 8x- 9x. But ya know, and I imagine you have the same preference...I would rather catch a few specific fish, than catch a bunch of chinass trout. It isn't the quanity, it's the quality. Maybe I will look for a 6wt replacement to the one I gave my son.

Best Regards,

[Whiteriver]

Laker67'

You know, I think that is some pretty darn wise advise. My fav all round do all Taney rod is a 5wt, and you are spot on about fishing lighter tippets with a 5wt. I was just thinking of a fairy wand to chase chinass trout with, 8x- 9x. But ya know, and I imagine you have the same preference...I would rather catch a few specific fish, than catch a bunch of chinass trout. It isn't the quanity, it's the quality. Maybe I will look for a 6wt replacement to the one I gave my son.

Best Regards,

[Jason R.]

In my experience, which is not all that impressive, a four weight is never going to be your all around tailwater choice. If you want one rod, go with a 5 or 6 weight. As for myself, I love my Orvis Troutbum 4 weight- but not on Taney in high water. It is great at Roaring or beaver or maybe on the Little Red as long as you don't want to chuck a streamer or two. My favorite rod right now is my 3 weight Sage TXL and I am sure it would be awesome in a four weight as well. I have used a few St. Croix's and they are solid sticks for the most part.

[Mike Davis]

I have an 8'9" 4WT TFO Finesse and 9' 4WT Pro and love them both. The Finesse is one of my "go to" rods here on the Little Red.

Mike

[troutgnat]

I fish a Loomis GL3 9' 6wt for Taney at night which I absolutely love for casting streamers. My primary rod for day use is believe it or not an old Penn Gold Medal 9' 4wt. It's a little softer rod but enough backbone in the butt to cast the distance when I need. I fish 7x on it all the time with no break offs if I do my part correctly. My go to's for Taney during the day are usually an #18-20 scud trailed with #22 wine colored brassie. An assortment of midges and soft-hackles. Some egg patterns when needed. Oh, and sowbugs. If I'm not nymphing the above I'm swinging soft-hackles and midges to surface fish. I can do it all on my 9' 4wt.

[drew03cmc]

7'6" Lamiglas Honey Colored fiberglass rod. I like how soft it is and how well it protects a light tippet. It is great for nymphs and wets in smaller flows.

[dgames]

I woulldn't dismiss a 4wt 9' rod as too light if it is fairly fast action. I have been using a sage RPL II 9' 3wt rod with a 4 wt line since 1994 as my sole trout rod. I carry a cheaper 5 wt as a backup in case I ever break my sage, but I never end up using it. I have always loved this outfit and others that have tried it have all been impressed. It may be that the reason this outfit works is that the old rpls were notoriously fast rods. This is also why I upsized the line wt on it.

I have seldom felt underweighted fishing this rod on tailwaters, the upper north fork or other area waters. I mainly fish some kind of indicator nymph setup, including big weighted rubber leg stonefly nymphs on the NFOW. It really doesn't have a problem throwing weighted wooly buggers either.

The only time it really feels underweighted is fishing really high water on tailwaters such as 8 units at Bull Shoals, 2 full units on the norfork or full generation at Taneycomo where you need really big split shots on long leaders to drift on the bottom. I have used this rod in these situations but it isn't really ideal (probably isn't for a 5wt either).

If you want a rod for Taney at high water, something heavier is probably in order. If, however, you target lower water more, you might really enjoy a 9' 4wt. In lower water, I throw a stimulator dry with some kind of bead head dropper a lot of the time and this rod is perfect for that setup.

[Indiana Trout]

I've got a 9' Redington that I like a lot.