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The Case for 2 Fly Rods on a boat?

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Mallard1100

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This is my second season with the fly rod boat fishing raritan bay mainly. Bass and blues (if they show).  I have been fishing a 9ft 9wt mainly and swapping lines with different reel setups for the conditions. I have 3 reels each with a full sinking line, floating, and intermediate line. I’m debating picking up another 9wt to keep from changing line setups while on the water. Is there a case for this or am I over thinking it and just stick with 1 rod? If I were to get another rod should I go for a 10wt to at least have a little more versatility when fishing a heaving sinking line or stick with a 9wt?  What are you guys running?  Just to note, I’m not always primarily fly fly fishing. I may be trolling or fishing light spinning gear. It all depends on what the conditions and fish are doing. Just getting tired of switching line setups bouncing back and forth between different conditions and depths. Thanks.

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In my book, you just made the case for having two rods when fishing from a boat. As to whether or not the new one should be a 10w or another 9w, you already have the line(s) for another 9w and I'm not sure the difference between the two weights is that significant. And if, as I understand it, you're always (mostly?) fishing the salt from a boat, you can always get closer to the water you want to fish so that getting the maximum distance from your cast is not a factor as it can be when wading.

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Well I never carried 4 or 5 on my boat but sometimes 3 and always at least 2.  I fish a Sage RPLX 10wt with a Tibor reel and an intermediate line and a T&T Horizon with a Bauer reel and a  full sink, 400 grain line. Then I add a Colton 8wt rod and reel also with an intermediate line. This covers me pretty well.  I will rig one of the 10wts with a floating line once the bluefish arrive so that I can throw poppers. Check out the products made by COLTON.  I fish them and really like the product.

Edited by 27conch
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16 mins ago, 27conch said:

Well I never carried 4 or 5 on my boat but sometimes 3 and always at least 2.  I fish a Sage RPLX 10wt with a Tibor reel and an intermediate line and a T&T Horizon with a Bauer reel and a  full sink, 400 grain line. Then I add a Colton 8wt rod and reel also with an intermediate line. This covers me pretty well.  I will rig one of the 10wts with a floating line once the bluefish arrive so that I can throw poppers. Check out the products made by COLTON.  I fish them and really like the product.

Thanks guys. Looks like a 2nd rod is in order here. I Currently run a Colton trade winds xs and terrapin reels. Very happy with the setup.

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1 hour ago, 27conch said:

Well I never carried 4 or 5 on my boat but sometimes 3 and always at least 2.  I fish a Sage RPLX 10wt with a Tibor reel and an intermediate line and a T&T Horizon with a Bauer reel and a  full sink, 400 grain line. Then I add a Colton 8wt rod and reel also with an intermediate line. This covers me pretty well.  I will rig one of the 10wts with a floating line once the bluefish arrive so that I can throw poppers. Check out the products made by COLTON.  I fish them and really like the product.

As far as the two rod selection goes, I pretty much do the same thing (with different brands, but I love my Tibor reel).  I live having the intermediate and the quick sink ready for what ever situation arises.

Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right.

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Reasons why you need more than one rod in a boat.

1. You break the one rod, you're up the creek.

Imagine going to a far away destination with one rod and it breaks?

It ruins your total vacation.  

2. Fish blitzes today with the lack of density of bait and dwindling stocks can be really  quick, over within minutes.

No time to change lines, just grab another system to get you back  into the zone.

3. There are times you don't want to undo knots and snarls that will take you fifteen minutes during a peak fishing time.

4. Maybe a quest on board would like to fish the same way.

5. Accidents happen, people step on rods, break tips, lose rods.

6. Good way to spend the Stimulus Check.

Edited by Capt.Castafly

Nothing flies by me without a hook!
If my fly is down, That's a good thing.

Public Access.....It's a shore thing. My daily requirement of "Vitamin Sea".


Capt. Ray Stachelek

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I carry three in my kayak (Native Ultimate canoe/kayak hybrid) - one float, one intermediate, one sink tip.   One has a gurgler or other topwater, the other two (int. and sink tip) have either clousers of different colors, or a clouser and a EP style fly.  Changing spools and re-rigging a 9' rod on a 14' kayak can be quite interesting, so I just carry the three ready to go. No more trouble than 1 or 2 rods on a kayak.  That said, I hate fly fishing out of a kayak and prefer to get out and wade whenever I can, but sometimes you can't.

Edited by MooreLyonQuick
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18 hours ago, Mike Oliver said:

It takes probably less than two minutes to swap out  a spool and thread the line.

More time is probably spent jawing during a fishing day.
 

mike

Lets time this shall we. I bet a case a beer you can't do a line swap and tie on a fly in less than two minutes. Seriously I doubt it but that's not really the point. Rods break. Conditions change multiple times during a day. So you are using a floater, switch to an intermediate, switch to a fast sink. Back to a floater.  That's a lot of time wasted swapping lines around.

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"It takes probably less than two minutes to swap out  a spool and thread the line."

 

Mike,

Yes, maybe, but then it takes another two minutes to change back!  And then there is the time reeling in the line, stretching it out if coil-ey, stripping out a working amount, etc.  Even if it didn't, that two minutes amounts to, in the inertia of human nature, a much higher deterrent, perhaps than it should be, but there it is.

 

Once, a long time ago, fishing with a small group on the Madison River in Montana I was given the nickname of "CB".  That is, as in Citizens Band (radio) then new and popular in trucks and cars.  I was walking/wading the river with a second 9' fly rod stuffed into my waders on the left side.  The upright, waving tip looked like a radio antenna.

 

Nowadays, hiking, shore wading, etc. it takes a lot to make me bring a second rod.  I have a reel with another line option and even more shooting head options in my backpack.  But in a boat?  I ALWAYS have a second rod rigged.  In FL I have MINIMUM four rods rigged, from 12 wt to 8 wt.  You never know what you might run into.  Tarpon, Permit, Barracuda, those possibilities are always in play, require quite different setups, and demand a rapid response.

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