7 Weight

[DanMarino]

I was gifted a 7 weight, 9 foot long fly rod over the winter (birthday and Christmas) and got my line and reel all situated over the past couple of weeks. Yesterday evening I had an opportunity to do some casting from shore at Triadelphia.
The water there is still 10 feet low or more.

Didn't see any fish, but I had a good time testing out the 7 weight using a bullet head darter that I tied up.
I can see that the 7 weight will help with my distance. It definitely is a different feel to it compared to my whippy and light 5 weight.

I'm looking forward to catching my fist of many fish on it. Mostly will be targeting smallmouth bass from the Upper Potomac and largemouth bass from anyplace I can find them.

I'm awaiting the fish activity to pick up. Not much action going on at all near me in the streams, ponds, lakes, or reservoirs yet. Maybe things need to warm up a few more weeks.

13

[DanMarino]

FYI. The bullet head had nice action and I can see how it would work great for shallow water fishing along the shore, or in a river/stream.
Don't think the bullet head will be very successful at Triadelphia or Rocky Gorge. Bass are not surface oriented at those two reservoirs from my experience.
I will need to use a weighted fly or change lines to something that will sink.

[Mark]

A 7 is a good weight for the kind of fishing you mentioned. It will allow you to throw heavier and/or wind resistant bass flies without excessive exertion.

I suspect the Eastern Shore ponds will be lighting up with surface activity very soon. They're shallower and warm up faster than lakes and reservoirs. You might want to give them a try if you can make the trip. I hope to visit at least one this week myself.

Good luck with your new rod.

[Mark]

FYI. The bullet head had nice action and I can see how it would work great for shallow water fishing along the shore, or in a river/stream.
Don't think the bullet head will be very successful at Triadelphia or Rocky Gorge. Bass are not surface oriented at those two reservoirs from my experience.
I will need to use a weighted fly or change lines to something that will sink.

Some anglers do use the Bullet Head with sinking or intermediate line. That fly is good because it suspends at a given depth. Fish often hit it when you pause your strip.

Bass will be bedding very soon, if not already doing so. I fly fish shallow areas where they stage for breeding with floating line and use poppers and suspending flies like the darter or un-weighted wooly buggers in 2 to 3 feet of water. They'll come up to hit them.

[DanMarino]

Thanks for the tips Mark. I'll be giving it a go over the next few weeks and hopefully can post back some photos with my first fish caught on the 7weight rod.

[HeaveToo]

The fly fishing in the Potomac can be dynamite. The 7 weight is a good size but I often cast an 8 weight because I throw BIG flies at them. The water needs to calm down some before the smallies start getting on the bite.

You can also get airflo sink tips and put them at the end of your line. It is a simple rig that I use a lot. If you are using a sink tip added to your floating line you can get down 10 feet or more. I use a 10' super fast sink and fish that for shad a lot and also salt water a lot. It makes it easy to switch out to a floating leader for top water or shallow streamers too. After the sink tip you just put about 4 feet of floracarbon leader and you are in business.