Clear Fork rod

[jdchaff]

What would be a good all around weight and length rod for the Clear Fork. I have a 3 wt, but i thinking that might be to small. I never fished the river before.

[Lance]

As long as it's not an extremely soft 3 wt under 8' it should work ok. To me the ideal wt for that stream would be a 4 or 5wt in around 8 1/2'. That would give you enough backbone to fish streamers and a little length if you like to use a high stick method of nymphing. Even a 9' will work ok on there. While there are plenty of trees it's not really that tight. If all else fails you can side arm it or roll cast for the few spots you may run into problems. It's a really pretty stream, I need to spend some more time down there.

[ohride4u]

i would ise the 5weight above all else.ive only fished that river a few times i need to get back down there.the trout fishing was tough when i was there but the smallmouth were awsome in the deep pools.i was casting heavy weighted wooly buggers and iam glad i had the backbone of my 5 weight over my 3.but thats just my

2 cents worth good luck.

[JimB]

I've caught some of my biggest fish on a 3wt. I love mine. It usually is my rod of choice for trout. You do need something a little bigger to toss some heavier flies. If the water is over pool stage, deeper and moving faster, I like to through streamers, buggers, stone flies, etc... I like a rod that can handle some lead to get my fly down. To get to the point, if you have a 3wt. go with a 5wt. 6wt would be a bigger jump, a 5 is nice and will do what you want. 6wt is what I use for smallies or tossing for big browns.