3 Wt's are Fun

My friends all fish a 5 or a 6wt rods, generally they are 9' and i guess if you are on big water, after big fish or are throwing 60' of line this makes sense. But this seems like a lot or rod for a 12-16" fish which is where I spend much of my time. Lately i am in search of quite / small water; typically this means a 3wt either my 8.4 for open small water where casting is easy although not generally requiring more than 30' or so. I also have a 3 wt 5' J.P. Ross that i love for small, tight "cripple creek water".

I call anything where tree branches scratch both cheeks as you move up stream a cripple creek. At the head or tail of most any pool you can simply step over a few rocks and move from one bank to the fide side. Generally there is nothing more than an 8 or 9" fish in these waters. In here you can go a whole day without ever seeing another person. I think this has more meaning to someone like me who works with 50 folks a day and literally passed through 10s of thousands every day. I enjoy going a whole day with out a word or the necessities of polite conversation and while a 7" rainbow or brookie might not be worth mentioning at the club (or in print) it sure has made for fond memories. Besides with all the snakes, bears, deer, beaver, otters, bats, not to mention the chipmunks, and frogs i have had more than my fair share of heart racing excitement.

One reason to choose a lighter weight rod is that a 8" fish on a 3 wt = a 15" on a 5 wt or a 18" on a 6 wt and if it is all relative than i guess i am doing ok. Also most places i fish do not have a trail or even a rough fisherman's path, i spend entire days bushwhacking through some rough stuff and a bigger rod either gets in the way, breaks or needs to be broken down (which i only do at the end of the day and not even then sometimes). Lastly i love to be able to "clear" the tip while holding the butt and you just can't do that on a 7 or 9' rod.

It is true you can't cast far with a 5' rod, but far is also a relative thing. When most pools are a few feet to 10' across far can be the leader or the leader + a few feet of line. It is more a game of flipping than casting and stealth trumps a smooth stroke. The most successful folks are just trying to stay out of the trees.

Ok so what can't it do? Well you can forget about hi-sticking (nymphing) unless you are atop a rock overhanging the water and if you can shimmy up there without your rod or reel or some jinglingobject from your vest clinking against the rock and spoiling the pool you’re a better man than me. What else? Well when you do hit the 30' + pool you can't roll cast to the tongue (that is even if you could chain saw a path behind you for the back cast to unroll in).

Aside from these 2 things i think i will stick with my shortie stick for small water and pack the 5 wt just in case i find big open water.