# 8wt



## ronnie84 (Aug 1, 2006)

I purchased a St. Croix Premier 9' 8wt (was on sale) about a month ago for steelhead. I'd like to get more use out of it because I love the way it feels but obviously it would be overkill on trout. What I was wondering is what else would be ideal to pursue with a rod of this nature? I'm thinking river smallies...

My understanding is that the higher weight rods are mainly for casting larger flies, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Lastly, I've got it rigged with some WF line but I think I read that for casting larger flies, there's another type of line that's more ideal...can someone clarify that?


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## jsalkas (Feb 18, 2005)

The 8 wt might be a bit of overkill for smallies as far as fighting the fish is concerned, but I think you're right, it would be pretty good at chucking the bigger bass bugs and clousers. I manage to do that with a 5wt, ableit, it's not pretty.

That being said, that would be a good rod for carp as well. I use an old 7 wt, and it works perfect (good fight but doesn't take an hour to bring them in). 

that would also be a great rod for going after pike as well (both for casting large flies and fighting).

I'll defer to someone else on the benefits/drawbacks of shooting head / bass taper lines, I've always used weight forward but haven't even played with any other type.


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## jholbrook (Sep 26, 2006)

In my opinon, nnless you need to cast flies the size of a Volkswagon, a WF line is fine. The shooting head lines are designed for long casts with big flies. For river smallmouth, steelhead, and carp, your setup is good. I even used a 8 wt. with WF line for salmon. If you try casting huge streamers for pike or saltwater fish, you may consider it.


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

I have a simular st croix model 8wt, except I have 9' 6" rod, good steelhead rod. I used mine for carp last year and one carp took me down to my backing. Took me about 20 minutes to land a 12 pound carp. I would use the 8wt for larger fish, northerns, pike larger game fish. Might not be much fun to use with smallies, I would recommend smaller wt rod like a 5 or 4 would be better suited, have a little more fun with them.


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## sevenx (Apr 21, 2005)

ngski nice carp,,,,they shure are fun, not to hijack this thread but what did he take,


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## ronnie84 (Aug 1, 2006)

Has anyone here ever tried going after northerns exclusively on a fly rod and if so, how successful were (or are) you?

Upon doing the homework on their behavior in rivers, I think that would be a species I'd take a lot of interest in going after on the fly.


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

Used a #12 roe color samon egg, cheated alittle too, threw some bread out to get them feeding on top of the water. 

My recommendation is practice using your 8wt with carp or steelhead, once you've landed them using 4x or 6x tippet your ready for the Northerns, cause you use a little heavier leader and tippet.



sevenx said:


> ngski nice carp,,,,they shure are fun, not to hijack this thread but what did he take,


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## rweis (Dec 20, 2005)

I also started out with an 8wt and stiil use it for Steelheading and tossing large Bass bugs. The line you ask about is Bass Taper, which has a heavier front taper to turn over big flies. SA Mastery makes a line called Headstart which is very similar to Bass Taper, but less expensive.
The problem for me is that the 8wt is too heavy to cast Bass flies for more than a couple of hours and my 58 year old arm starts to whine. I now have a 5wt and a 3wt. I have caught a 26" and a 31" Carp, an 18" Brown Trout, and a 30" Steelie on the 5wt with 2X tippet. I have landed a 12" Crappie and a 2-1/2 lb Bass on the 3wt. I have fallen in love with these lighter rods.
I have never fished for Pike in rivers, but have flyfished for them on Canadian lakes. I was using home tied Dalhberg Divers, one of which was just over 7" long. I also used a wire leader. What a blast! I have had success both casting and trolling flies. Casting is more fun, but we refer to trolling as Geezer fishing - and we are entering Geezerdom. My best was a 41"er on a yellow and chartreuse diver.


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## jsalkas (Feb 18, 2005)

rweis is dead on about how tiring those heavier weight rods are. Thankfully, when I'm carping my casts are usually very short. I love my lighter weight tackle now for the same reason, although I don't think I've got the fighting skills to land a trophy carp on my 5 wt (tried it once, it took forever).

When we've targetted pike on the fly, we did it just like we were bass fishing. One guy controlled the boat and trolled along the shoreline, the other guy tossed big deer hair bugs to structure (lot's of casting). Didn't get anything much over 24", but a 24" pike on a fly rod is a blast. Oh, and we switched off every half hour or so because once your arm gets tired, it gets really difficult chucking those wind resistant bugs. It becomes very apparent when your partner's form start to fall apart.

We were also at a very good Canadian pike fishery, one that made the extra effort of using a fly rod worth it. Not sure if there's anything like that in Ohio


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## ledslinger (Aug 24, 2006)

being that flycasting is not a natural motion found in other sports its common for your arm to get tired especially in the backward direction (weak backcast)---if you "work out" with a heavier rod it will help you with all aspects including distance----i would false cast til my arm got tired with a 14wt now a 10 feels light---its just a matter of perspective

once you strengthen the muscles you will enjoy the efforts for a good many years thereafter


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## ronnie84 (Aug 1, 2006)

I'd probably be targeting the northerns mostly in Shenango Lake and the river outflow as there is a pretty decent population in both (although I've yet to catch one of GOOD size).

Maybe if I feel heroric I'll think about taking it to Pymatuning for muskies someday. As for carp, no offense to anyone, but if I had to choose between getting skunked and catching carp, I'd opt for getting skunked.

I'd just like to get good use out of the rod, not just during steelhead season.


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## rweis (Dec 20, 2005)

I take it you have never hooked a Carp on a fly rod. They don't call them freshwater Bonefish for nothing. I have only caught 2 on the fly, but I will be targetting them more this summer. The first one I hooked immediately ran me into the backing. He was 80 yards upstream before I could even react. I know that many fishermen belittle the mighty Carp, but if you hook one, it will change your mind.


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2007)

I have hooked a few Pike with fly rod, no succes in landing them. I hook a few muskies on a fly when they make thier first run.


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## zspook (Apr 4, 2006)

I agree with rweis on the carp fishing. I have been flyfishing for 25 years now, and 2006 was the first year I specifically targeted carp with a flyrod on some of my fishing trips.

In my opinion, they can be as spooky as mountain stream trout, but as explosive as striped bass, which I have caught up in Maine. I used to think that smallmouth bass were head and shoulders above all other game fish, until last years encounters with carp. Don't get me wrong, the smallmouth is still my favorite gamefish, but catching some carp will give you a thrill or two along with the bass. By the way, whenever you see some carp, you will often find smallmouths and bluegills and rock bass lurking nearby. I have caught quite a few smallmouths while casting to a carp!

As far as pike go, I wish I could find a place to fish for them. I used to flyfish for chain pickerel (a smaller version of the pike family) up in New hampshire and Maine, and they are extremely aggressive fish, often lurking at the edge of weedbeds ready to ambush whatever swims by...it was always a blast to see the "vee wake" coming for my streamer!

Anyways, just some thoughts that were inspired by some of the comments posted!


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## jsalkas (Feb 18, 2005)

I'm not going to pile on, but Ronnie one day you will be fishing a nice body of water and you'll see a nice tailing carp. He'll be large (25"+), curiosity will get the better of you, you'll sneak up on him, flip the fly out in front, and you'll watch him swim over, eyeball it for a moment, and he'll eat it. A half hour later you'll be hooked for life. 

Best Fight (most of the time, you sometimes find lethargic fish) -- carp
Best Strike -- pike. zspook, you're right about that v-wake, it's a rush.


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## ronnie84 (Aug 1, 2006)

I'm definetely not contesting that carp would be a heck of a fight on a fly rod. I've caught them on accident with ultra light spinning tackle, 4lb test, so I can only imagine what they would be like on fly gear.

My reasoning may sound lame or what have you, but I just prefer to catch game fish. I can't stand even looking at carp. Again, may sound lame I know, and certainly they would be a hoot on a fly rod, but I, personally, couldn't see myself targeting them specifically. Of course that's not to say I wouldn't ever try it a time or two.

While some elite fly guys consider it the 'easiest', etc. type of fly fishing, I enjoy fishing streamers the most simply because I like being able to actually control the action of a fly, giving it life. I'd really like to get into tossing some of the bigger immitators and attractors with this rod, namely pike as a species target as I said. 

Going after them in a lake from a boat, I was under the impression that you would want a sinking line to get down in deeper water faster, but I guess split shots would be just as well?

I've read that the drawback to those sinking lines, etc. is the castability, correct me if I'm wrong. If WF line with added split shots works just as well, I don't see the reason for making it any harder for myself.

Hopefully they get the local river outflow under control one day so I can start going after the pike in there, very good population at the dam.


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## ledslinger (Aug 24, 2006)

casting split shot any distance is no cigar either

the castability differences in a sinking line will be that:

1.) it just cant be lifted off the water like a floating line but neither can a floater with split shot---the line has to be brought in a lot further before you make another cast---most of your stroke backward is wasted just trying to pull the line out of the water rather than throwing the next backcast

2.) a sinking line will have a smaller diameter for the same weight line so the wind resistance of the line is less and your casting speed (cadence) goes up

i would much rather cast a sinking line than a bunch of split shot

im not trying to jack the thread but has anyone nailed one of the 28" sheephead on fly yet?---they tear you up on light spinning gear---maybe a mcdonalds french fry fly is in order---i would think an 8 wt would be light for one of those freightrains


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## zspook (Apr 4, 2006)

ledslinger - 
I have caught some sheephead on a fly rod. Not a 28" one, but quite a few in the 20" - 22" range. They can be exciting as well. I've caught them on a 5/6 wt, and it is a challenge to say the least!


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## ledslinger (Aug 24, 2006)

zspook

a 5/6 has got to be interesting---lol

im going to have to try that this year---we were getting at least one fish between 26 and 28-1/2" and 5 or 6 in the 22+ range per outing casting for walleyes in lorain---i had one that i swore was a steelhead that never jumped but when i got it back it was only a 24" frisky sheep

you getting them on flies or do you have to throw some meat with it?


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## zspook (Apr 4, 2006)

Streamers and large nymphs, black stonefly nymphs or eastern drake nymphs, or even hex nymphs. Sometimes wooly worms as well.

I catch some also when bass rodding with crankbaits. Haven't caught any over 20" yet...mostly in the Maumee up north and the Blanchard here in Findlay.

I usually catch them while going for smallies! I always consider them sort of a bonus. (My next goal is to catch some longnose gar on a fly rod! lol)


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## ronnie84 (Aug 1, 2006)

Figured I'd bring this thread back because not once, but twice I've hooked into carp this week, trout fishing with a five weight. The first one, caught earlier this week, took probably a good five minutes to land but I wasn't overly impressed as some of the steelhead I've caught have put up much bigger battles.

Today was a different story. I've caught a lot of suckers trout fishing with various sucker spawns or glo bugs and I figured it was only a matter of time before I locked up with a carp.

Today's carp, caught on a white glo bug, took me a solid 20 minutes to finally net and land (by the way what a sight it was landing a nice sized carp in a little trout net). My arm was shaking when it was all said and done. The fish took atleast five or six good runs right when I thought it was over. What a sheer blast on a five weight! The fish was basically half dead when I finally landed it so I did go ahead and revive it successfully, took a few minutes though (never pictured myself bringing a carp of all species back to life but it was the least I could do after the battle it put up -- not only that but it would be pretty asinine to just unhook the fish and let it float dead down the river).

I have noticed quite a bit of carp activity on the surface as of late so I would say that now is the time to start if you're interested in targeting them.


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

I love carp fishing, especially if your trying to sight fish for them. Like tracking Reds. Hooked into a couple last summer took me down to my backing. Great fighters, I like to target the larger ones, sometime I chum the water a little to get them to feed top water stuff.


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## jsalkas (Feb 18, 2005)

You got me feening, and I just spent three day straight fishing this weekend, with only a day off.

I should have warned you about the lethargic fish. Occasionally, and this is mostly in rivers, you'll get a few that just don't want to run. They'll just kind of wallow in the area they were caught.

They are hardy as well... I've had some that I thought were completely exhausted, and as soon as I released them, they surged away. Great fish for taking pictures, because they're not as delicate.


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