2 most important wt to have

[Pikecrazed]

what are two fly rod wt you think everyone should have
I believe that a 5 and 8 wt are two rods that are always useful to have
what are your thoughts

[Byron]

4 & 6

Just sold my 5 & 8 haha

[bogwalker]

5 and 7.. but that's just me..

[270WINCHESTER]

I would say a 4 weight and a 8 weight would be pretty good.

[alacringa]

Originally Posted by Byron

4 & 6

x2.

[Bow flyman]

5wt. for small streams and a 7 or 8 wt. for bigger stuff.

[rycoma]

4 and 8 as well

[pipercub17]

5 and a 7 for me

[Calgaryguy1977]

Ive always used a 5 or 6 in every situation....so I guess Im biased. So Id say 6 but if I bought another one it would be an 8 or 9.
The reason? Big heavy 8 or 9 to chuck giant streamers or if you decide to hunt bigger species in other provinces for example.
The 6 wt because it can adapt to just about anything (even small creeks) as you can adjust your cast leaders and tippets to adapt to something smaller.

All that said Id like to have a 3 or 4 as my 3rd choice.

[fish gunner]

Originally Posted by 270WINCHESTER

I would say a 4 weight and a 8 weight would be pretty good.

They cover most if not all fresh water fish, trout stream to all but the largest salmon.

[Pudelpointer]

Two? Two? Nope, can't have two.

3wt, 5wt, 6wt, 7wt, 9wt, 10wt.... might need to add a 12wt at some point.

[ADIDAFish]

I only have a 4 and 6 and it seems to work well for me. Although I am thinking of buying an 8 soon for traveling and pike.

[nekred]

a 4/5 weight with 5 weight line....

and a 4/5 weight with 5 weight line for the boy....

It has handled anything i have caught including an 11 lb 33" rainbow and many caught this summer up to 8 lbs.

I love to hear the reel scream!....

[Justbyfaith]

Originally Posted by alacringa

x2.

x3

[Justbyfaith]

Originally Posted by Justbyfaith

x3

I also have a 9 wt. which I only use a few times a year. Caught a 36" pike with my 6 wt. no problem.

[Scott N]

I have a 4wt, 6wt and 8wt, and I use the 4wt the most, followed by the 8wt. The 6wt was my first fly rod but I don't use it very often any more.

[bbbyro]

4wt 8wt all day. After that a 10 or 11wt one day.

[huntsfurfish]

4-6-8 wt
if 2 4-8.

[Okotokian]

Depends where you fish and what for. I have a 5 and 8. I like stream and rivers so the 5 is a great all-rounder near these parts. I bought the 8 for flats fishing in Mexico and will also use it for streamers in the Bow, lakes, etc.
If you only fished east slope streams and rivers a 4 and 6 would be nice combo. If you want to do steelhead and salmon on the coast it wouldn't be.

[shakeyleg02]

4 ,5,6,8 but mostly use the 4 and five ..caught a 20 pound pike on the 8 once would have been better with a 9 weight but it worked

[ALBTUFF]

How many fly rods does a fly guy really need???



OH YEAH! Just one more

[Lefty-Canuck]

I will second a 5wt and and 8/9wt if you could just have 2.....if you fish mostly in Alberta that is.

LC

[TMLhammy]

I use 5wt for the Bow ... it kinda felt a little heavy in some situations on the smaller guys down south Ab... I would vote 3wt and 5wt ... but the hockey coach did call me "Stone Hands' so who knows.

[32-40win]

I started with an 8wt years ago. Then went to a 6. Used that for a long time.
Then went to a 5, which I have stuck with for the last 20yrs or so. Used a 7 and 9 and 10 in QCI. I have a 3wt to use on small bass around Jaffery area, with poppers. Use the 5wt for some lakes there on bass. Use the 7wt over at Duck because of the weeds. The 5wt is good for all the trout lakes and streams. I'll use the 7 occasionally on rivers, if I feel like chucking streamers, or on pike lakes. I used the 7 with 200gr heads on salt water for rock bass and cutts & etc around the kelp, caught Coho & Ling doing that, gets a bit interesting. For intentional Coho and Ling I used the 9wt most of the time, with 250-375gr shooting heads. The 10wt was dedicated to a 475gr head to get down under herring balls, or bottom fishing in 80-100ft water at slack tide.
But, 90% of what I fish, is done with the 5 & 7 wt.

[Outbound]

i run 3wt, 5wt and 8wt. all kind of "middle" weights. i've never seen the point of a 4, 6 and 7. 4..i'll go down to a 3 for more fun. 6...i'll stick with a 5. 7...may as well step up to an 8.

i think 3wt, 5wt, and 8wt are the bare minimum for Canadian sport fishing. Covers you all the way from light dry fly on spring creeks to heaving large streamers for salmon and steelhead.

[FisherPotch]

I had a 5 wt tfo break landing a large bow. Yeah the 6wt is a little beefy for small trout or grayling but I don't target small fish ever and grayling rarely.

I run two 6 weights but have three, this way I can be set up with multiple types of line easily. Got a 16.5 lb brown on a 6wt, but she was purdy much dead by the time I landed her. For this reason an 8wt will be my next rod for lakers/bulls/pike. I also got a pike over 40 on either a five or six weight, takes some angling skills but its certainly doable. 6 wt in my opinion is the best rod for middle of the pack (In AB). If you want to go with a weight more specifically suited to what your fishing I'd say 3 rods would actually be best. 4, 6 and 8. For Alberta that is.

[Outbound]

Originally Posted by FisherPotch

I had a 5 wt tfo break landing a large bow. Yeah the 6wt is a little beefy for small trout or grayling but I don't target small fish ever and grayling rarely.

wow, how big was the bow? must have been a lunker. did you actually manage to land him though?

i've used my 5wt for pink salmon up to 6 or 8 pounds and coho up to 12 pounds without trouble. anything larger, i just grab my 8 weight.

[FisherPotch]

Originally Posted by Outbound

wow, how big was the bow? must have been a lunker. did you actually manage to land him though?

i've used my 5wt for pink salmon up to 6 or 8 pounds and coho up to 12 pounds without trouble. anything larger, i just grab my 8 weight.

I was reaching out with a short net in the pontoon. My angle got a little to extreme as I was guiding him to net. One big head swing downward and the rod tip bust just as I landed him. Now I use an extension net. From the shore one can just back up to avoid the big bend, no backin up in the toon. Likely not the five weights fault unless it had a defect. But none of my 6 wts have broken yet with similar abuse. It wasn't a huge fish, 6lb male. Thanks to this lesson I was extra cautious landing my big brown on the 6wt st croix.

Just checked the photos and my 40inch pike on the fly was on the 5wt. But again (like the brown) because I was under gunned the fish had little steam left when I was finally close enough to be landing it (this pike was on 7 lb test, 4x flouroflex plus) thankfully to the fridged waters this fish still responded well when released. The bow that broke my tfo was still jacked up because I saw a chance to rush him in. The tfo is an entry level rod too not a top model. Lots of variables that lead to the rod breaking, not necessarily because it was a 5wt. But I'd bet all my fly rods my 6wt st croix rods wouldn't have snapped.

The only reason I have a 5wt is because it was cheap to get a new piece. Otherwise Ida gotten a four. Personally I see no need to go down to a three unless your fishing for Dace or Chubs

An 8 is necessary for myself as I don't want to have to play fish

[DarkAisling]

Tough question.

If I could only keep two of my rods, I would not surrender my 8.5' 5wt or my 11.5' 6wt switch.

[Outbound]

Originally Posted by FisherPotch

I was reaching out with a short net in the pontoon. My angle got a little to extreme as I was guiding him to net. One big head swing downward and the rod tip bust just as I landed him. Now I use an extension net. From the shore one can just back up to avoid the big bend, no backin up in the toon. Likely not the five weights fault unless it had a defect. But none of my 6 wts have broken yet with similar abuse. It wasn't a huge fish, 6lb male. Thanks to this lesson I was extra cautious landing my big brown on the 6wt st croix.

Ah yeah. That'll happen. I broke my 8 weight on a pink salmon while landing him at my feet where I had no room to back up. I hate breaking rods but I have a morbid curiosity with it. I used to work in a fishing store and whenever someone brought in a broken rod I simply had to know the back story. lol.

most of my rods are TFO, though I run the higher end Axiom line up. I love their casting ability and the fact they offer a better warranty as the much higher priced mid-level sage rods.

i suppose back to the spirit of the thread I should narrow my choice down to 2 rod wts.

i'm a huge fan of my 3wt for delicate dry fly presentations to arctic grayling or small cutthroat trout in northern BC. i have so much doing that kind of finicky fishing that i'd have to keep that rod.

my other rod would be my 5wt simply due to it's versatility and how it's proven itself to me for everything from grayling to coho salmon.