Hey guys. Getting ready to build a fly rod to catch some smallmouth on this year. I'm thinking a 9'0" 7wt in a fast to extra fast action, preferrably a 4 piece, but I'm open to all ideas. Anyone built a great smallie fly rod lately? Just looking for some good feedback.

That's a lot of rod - I'd suggest a 5 or 6 weight in an 8'6" model.

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Looks like your from Virginia, 7 wt would be fine there as long as the bugs your throwing aren't much bigger than a size 4 on a regular basis. Rod action wouldn't be that important to me, I'd cut the point off my bass bug, take my reel and line I'm going to use and go rod shopping, once I found the setup I liked I'd build on that blank.

I built a 7 wt from a Cabela's SLI, 9 ft. It is a moderate-fast. It casts some pretty good sized flies with ease. If you have a Cabelas near, you could look at a six or eight wt. I don't think they have a premade 7 wt.

I fish on the New River which is pretty good sized waters. The fish get up to 5 lbs and the wind can be strong in the spring. A #4 popper would probably be the biggest bug I would throw. Would you still say 6# Tom?

Match the rod to the fly. Where I am, I use a 7 wt Winston BIIx on my local river, but the flies are not that big and bushy... a #6 clouser works great on the Raritan. But if it's the Delaware, an 8 wt med. fast ( I used a Batson RX7+ and a Sage RPL) is the ticket, because the flies (and the fish) are going to be bigger, a #2 clouser works great there., along with some pretty bushy deerhair flies.

Dave

I took an 8lb, 4 ounce smallmouth on the New River about 3 years ago, on a 5-weight. And most of the fish in VA won't be anywhere near that large. Yes, I'd still recommend a 5 or a 6, at the very most. I can cast huge flies with either one. I think most folks really overgun for these fish, and end up not having much fun with the 10 to 14 inchers, which make up the majority of what any of us are going to catch anywhere.

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i've got a batson rx 7, 7wt 8'6" that I built for smallie fishing. its more of a moderate action though, but I like it as it works for me and the flies that I throw

I would suggest a Batson Rainshadow RX8. It is fast action with good backbone and only comes in a 4 piece blank. I have built a 6wt and an 8wt on this blank. I would actually suggest the 6wt rather than the 7wt on this blank. You can easily upline the 6wt with a 7wt line to throw bigger bugs.

Thanks so alot for all of the input.