A few of the set-ups I use for my personal fishing. Mostly old school gear but proven winners. I don’t own a lot of fly rods or reels anymore, having sold quite a lot of gear through the years. Own a small amount of stuff left over from my time guiding in the Fla. Keys, but sold most of the Abel and Fin-Nor reels and many of the Sage and Loomis rods. I’m guessing I’ve downsized from 50-60 fly rods to around 25. When you find a rod you really like for trout fishing you tend to use it over and over and that is where I’m at. So here we go:
Hardy Zenith Sintrix 590-4. Probably my favorite trout rod. Versatile…wet or dry, still or moving water. Paired with Ross Cimarron II wide arbor and Rio Gold W/F 5F. Sweet!
Winston IM6, 8′ 3wt, Two-piece rod, blank deflected by Tom Morgan. Hardy Featherweight reel with Orvis DT 3F. Gary Loomis perfected IM6 graphite and used it to make hundreds of thousands of rods…fly, spin, plug, drift, etc. for several different rod sellers including LL Bean, Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, Winston and many more. Dry flies only please. Excellent!
Streamer Rod. Sage 790RP GII. Pretty good streamer rod…not as stiff as some…good on the twitch! SA System Two reel with Cortland WF 8 sink tip or a floater. Have a spare spool set up with WF 7F floater.
Stillwater/Deepwater. Sage FLi 690-4. Lamson for Dan Bailey model LA-O reel. Air Flo Sixth Sense Intermediate sink WF 5/6. Great set-up for Henry’s Lake, Sitz’s Reservoir, Bear Trap Canyon above dam, Harrison Lake or any deepwater applications.
All-Around Saltwater. Winston 9′ 9/10 Jerry Siem Proto. Cortland 555 Tropic Plus with Catino Bonefish reel.
Small Stream. Fenwick World Class blank. 7 1/2′ two weight. Hardy Flyweight reel. Cortland 444 Peach DT 2F.
Spring Creek Special. Sage DS2 490-4 GII. Ross Cimarron II wide arbor. Orvis WF4F New Zealand Gray. Lucky to fish the famous Spring Ck. right here close to home with this set-up. I do like the earlier Sage Graphite II action for fishing fine tippets because of the softer, full-flex feel. Forgiving enough to fish 6X, but plenty of backbone to tire large trout.
Leech rod. Sage Launch 590-4. Ross Gunnison 3 pre ’98. Cortland 444 SL WF 5F. One of the easiest casting rods ever! My go-to for leeching on the Flats. Works great for Canyon Ferry spring spawners, too!
All-Around Trout. Sage 590 RPL+ GIII two piece. Ross Gunnison G3 pre ’98. Cortland 444 SL WF 5F. Just a great rod for any kind of trout fishing…wet/dry, twitch/tumble, tight/loose.
Dry Only. Winston 9′ 5WT two-piece. JK Fisher blank, spigot ferrule. Ross Cimarron 1. Orvis DT5F. The action that made Winston famous.
Winston 9′ 6wt two-piece. Full Wells handle turned by Glenn Brackett. Ross Gunnison G3 pre “98. Cortland 444 Peach WF6F. Best rod for chuckin’ sofa pillows I’ve ever cast.
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