A light weight powerful rod that casts smoothly at all ranges is essential. We have found that eight weight rods are most practical for the widest range of conditions. Seven weight rods are nice for small streams or even larger rivers on calm summer days. Nine weight rods are an advantage on large windy rivers or when runs of larger than average fish are expected. The rod should be balanced with the average sizes of flies you are throwing.
Long rods are great for roll casting an mending line.
Two handed fly rods of up to fifteen feet long are the most efficient on rivers where the average cast is over fifty feet. Multi-piece travel rods cast as well as their two piece counterparts and are easier to transport. When encountering steelhead, the reel becomes much more than a place to store the line. The reel may have to feed and retrieve long yardage's of backing. The reel as a component is the greatest factor which determines the difference between victory and defeat when encountering really large fish.