I have been catching a ton of perch, rock bass, and a few largemouth on copper johns and various sorts of bead head nymphs. I believe the hook sizes are 16 and I use a 5wt. I really want to go to a 2wt so the fight would be better, but the guy at cabela's said I would have to fish really small flies, #20 or less. This is not a problem, but the flies seem really small, too small maybe. Do any of you fish light gear and if so what is the range of hook size on a light rod. I don't want it to feel like I'm throwing the weight of the fly, but I don't have any experience with light stuff to know. Also, the guy told me that the lighter the line wt, shorter the rod should be, but I heard some guys using 9ft 2wts, what gives. I would think that a longer rod would give more leverage through to make a good cast, but I have been wrong more than once before.

Under suggestion by Robin, I picked up a 2wt just for a similar purpose, been fishing it the past three weeks. Started out with a 2 wt line but was having difficulties with that so fished a 3wt line today on it and did a ton better. It fished really well with a size 12 wooly bugger on it, and it presented the fly very gently, and accurately - definitely not 'casting the fly' at all. Picked up two small bass on that (was a white one).
Here's the link that Robin gave me, you should take a gander at it, some great info about light weights:
http://www.byrdultrafly.com/ultramain.htm
The rod I have is the TFO 8' 3piece 2wt.

Note, I did start out trying 3 flies on it, but that overloaded the rod quite a bit, so eventually widdled it down to the one.

I don't have a 2 wt, but I do have a 3 wt. I have no problems casting #10 foam poppers with it. You're flies will need to be fairly small and light wieght, but I think only using #20's and smaller is being too conservative. The wind will cause you more problems than a size #16 fly would.

A lot of folks are doing what Twex mentioned, using a 3 wt line on their 2 wt's.

I think rod length is tied more to the fishing situation than the line wieght. My 4wt is a fairly fast 9 ft rod that I use from a bass boat. My 3 wt is only 7'6" because I wanted a shorter rod for when I'm wading in small streams lined with trees. I wanted the shorter length to help me stay out of the trees. I get hung up in the trees too much when I use a 9 ft rod, but I do like the longer rod when I don't have to worry about my backcast. The rod length is really more of a question of "where and how do you plan to use the rod?" Then pick the rod most appropriate for that fishing situation.

Rex

a great thing to try is the half size lines I think it is SA that makes them. my loomis #4 was best w/ the 4.5# line.
kirk

Catfly51

If the distances are shorter, overlining is worth trying. I have overlined my smaller rods because, in the main, I do more close-in fishing and overlining gets the rod to load with less line outside the tiptop.

I would think that #16 flies ought to cast just fine on a 2 weight. Of course you will be the final judge but, as mentioned above, it should be quite workable.

A shorter rod would be useful if one were fishing in areas of tight cover of course. Also would load up a little bit better than a longer rod of same weight. But the difference may be negigible. Test cast a few and see what you like. I'd try with the two weight line as well as a three weight line, casting various distances.

Catfly: I am kind of a newbie to this sport, but one thing I've learned from my adventures in wine is not to rely too much on the acient advice. In wine you 'drink what you like' do not follow some old advice on what must be drunk when and where.

Same with the flys. Cast the size you want, change if it dont cast. I have a 3 wt and use much larger than 16 and 20, probably could not tie on a 20, TOO small. Try some larger sizes, 6 wt Wooly and see if it works, Do Not Be Limited by some formula that is from the past.

I recently moved down to a "Pearow" 3 wt for pond fishing and have found it to cast most size 10 and smaller just fine. It takes some getting used to. Don't expect long booming casts, but fish performance on the lighter rods is a lot of fun.

I have a 2 weight that has been used to throw #2 Clousers for Sandies and Hybrids. At that time, I had it overlined with a 4 weight line. I know that's a little extreme, but Hybrids (and even Gar) are super fun on a little 2 weight rod!!

Steve

Crazy. Sounds like fun.