3wt fly rod

[drew03cmc]

Will a 3wt cast a #10 bugger or mickey finn?

[Terry Beeson]

It will, but that's a bit oversized. A 3wt rod/line is more for around a 24/22 to 16/14 hook size. For a size 10 fly (ESPECIALLY with any weight - lead or bead or conehead) you should go at least 5wt to 10wt.

On a 3wt, you'll find unweighted size 10s will "tug" at your rod tip during the backcast and actually waste some of the load. If it's weighted, it gets worse.

I would go down to a size 14 unweighted or 16 weighted on a 3wt.

[timsfly]

we cast #10 woolybuggers with 3wts just fine, weighted buggers will throw a little heavy, but it can be done, keep you casts short and the use of a DT-line helps a lot, but a 4 or 5 wt will throw a weighted bugger better, we use a lot of #14 buggers here(baby buggers) and they work well also.

[Terry Beeson]

Tim... you hit on a good point. I would say shorter casts are a key. I tend to cast my streamers "out there" in most of the water I fish - Taney, BS and Norfork tail waters. Casting a #10 conehead wooly with a 3wt 40-50 feet might not be a good idea on a consistant basis... But 20 ft casts around RR would be OK.

[timsfly]

Yeh at taney I use the 10ft 3wt, and here at the river I use the smaller 5 and 6 ft rods, sometimes I'll use the long 7' rod I use the 10' 3 wt for bluegill also, it will throw a #8 bugger or a pretty big popper.

[drew03cmc]

Cool, so a 7' or 7'6" 3wt will be plenty for the park as well as the creek on the way home, Tim? Thanks.