for you guys that make flyrods, whats the normal flyrod length or average length and the same question with the weight ?
and thanks

Depends on what you plan to do with the rod. The length needed for lifting large, powerful fish is not going to be the same length needed for making long casts to spooky fish in shallow, clear water even if the line weight is the same.

Your question is extremely vague and I think you might want to research fly fishing in general just a bit more before you get too deep in this thing about average weight or length - there really is no such thing.

Scientific Anglers 3M used to publish a series of yearly magazines called "Fly Fishing Made Easy." See if you can find a copy and spend an evening going over it. It will answer a lot of the questions you no doubt have at this point in time.

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Terry,
If you are considering fresh water:
a small stream trout rod will be 6'6" to 7'6" and 0-3wt

If you are considering steelhead fishing in rivers the rod will be 9' (on the short side) - to 10' (on the long side) for single handed rods. Weights from 7-9wt

In fresh water rivers for steelhead - two-handed rods - 11' to 15' in 5wt 9wt.

In salt water surf or big water in boat - 9-9'6' - 9-10wt

In back bays 9' - 6wt-9wt.

Then there is freshwater bass fishing, musky fishing

It just goes on and on.
I took the long way to say the same thing as Tom.
Herb

Tom, is correct, your question needs clarification.

Answers to these questions:

What species will you be fishing for?
In what type of waters?
How big will the fish be?

There is no such thing as an "average" fly rod.

Tom is right. Without knowing what your targetting and where, it's difficult to give advise on the rod needed. There are a number of different rod lengths and weights for a good reason. If you can be more specific with your targetted species, and where you will be doing most of your fishing ie lakes, rivers, streams, ocean we will be in a better position to give you positive advice.

cheers
Harold

Terry...

Another good read to add onto Tom's is FLYFISING FOR DUMMIES. You know, it's those yelow and black books-I used to recommend the book to all of my flyfishing school students. Very cut to the chase book with excellent explanations and diagrams.

There is no "normal" lenght or weight of a fly rod. Its about matching the right tool (rod length and weight) for the right fishing application. Application can and will cover the following varibles: river or stream, fast, slow or deep; lake; type of fish; type and size of flies used; fly casting skill level; and sometimes wind conditions normally encountered.

There are a few more, but I think that will get you going in the right direction.

And most of all, just like guns....you can never have too many!

GOod luck!
Paul



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2010 09:49PM by Paul Rotkis.

Terry,
Knowing nothing about species, size, type of water, room for backcast, etc. etc. etc, I will strongly recommend an 8' 6" 6wt. If I could only have one fly rod for every species of fish that I normally target (small trout through big pike) and in every type of water in which these fish can be found (overgrown little streams to big, wide open reservoirs), it would be this rod. I think of it as the "Perfect Compromise". On the other hand, it sure is fun to build alot of different rods; so I have yet to build the PC rod...
George

ya know i have never been real good at getting my point across .

i am looking for averages in the fact that 1 rod maker make's 10 fly rods 6 will be 10ft, 3 will be 12ft, and 1 that is 9ft so to me your average would be 6 rod at 10 ft.

i know that there are 10 times more fresh water fly rods that are made small streams than salt water big fish fly rods and i also know that there hast to be a rod for almost each type of fish in all the waters .

i know that you as a rod maker and that when you make say 20 flyrods not all will be the same but you will have an average some where in that group of 20 .

does that clear it up some what , if not dont worry about it then and thanks for the recommendations about the books .

Living in Northern California where much of our fishing is for trout in the Sierra streams and rivers, the most common rod I build for customers is a 9 ft 4 or 5 wt. But having said that, this past 2 months I built 5 6' 6" 4pc 2wt's, and I am working on a 10' 8" 8wt 4pc switch rod. Go figure!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2010 11:32PM by Phil Erickson.

I hate to further convolute Terry's question, but I'd bet good money that one particular length of rod that is most likely in the hands of most flyfisher's is 9 feet in length. I personally own 6 flyrods that are 9 feet in length. The remaining number of flyrods that I own that are not 9 feet in length are 5. The weight is another thing all together, but I own a few rods that are ideally suited for 5 weight AFTMA floating lines(all 9 footers), a couple that are ideal for 4 weight AFTMA floating lines(one nine footer-my favorite), and the rest are comprised of ideally handling line weights from 2 to 11(of which 2 are 9 footers).

I have at least 4 friends who own fly shops and to a man they say that the most commonly purchased fly rod size is 9' 5wt.
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: This is entirely un-scientific, and applies only to NorthernCalifornia. :-)


Walt

If you're going to try and figure an average length or line weight from the avaiable models on the market, you're going to come up with a rod that is not very good at anything. Like any other type fishing, you need to target the fish and water you intend to use the rod for.

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thanks Phil, Torin, Walt.

Tom, i am not targeting any specific fish or area nor rod, i simply asked a generic question on fly rods and averages lengths .

I'm afraid there is no such thing. Your average above of 6'10" is indeed an average, but almost nobody fishes with a rod of that length outside of a few small stream guys who might fish 6' or 7' light line rods.

In order to have a true average, or the most popular length sold, you'd need more than just the available lengths - you'd have to know how many of each length is sold.

.............

Not exactly the answer to your question, but I've heard that a 9 foot, 5 weight, 4 piece is the most popular fly rod.

I have about the same thing, but in my memory it was the same thing in a #6 weight rod.