To have more fun when chasing small to medium sized fish in small water, a #3 line is perfect. When making shorter casts, it is best to use a rod that is not overly stiff so it can load or flex with a small amount of line out of the rod tip. The trick is to make a rod soft enough to load with little line out and still have enough power to handle a gust of wind and turn over bushy dry flies. To help a rod “cycle” through a cast and hit a close target as quickly as possible, it is best to use a shorter rod. Trout anglers who fish freestone mountain streams have known this for years. To optimize the TROUT X three weight rod for small rivers, we choose to make them 7’6” long.
It is common that a steep gradient river has fast water with pockets that hold fish. Fish that must make a quick decision whether to take a fly are typically not leader shy. For this reason, many anglers who fish pocket water, with big bushy flies, use heavier tippet than those fishing spring creeks. Many great pocket water rods have a little more stiffness than one would expect for a three weight. Instead of a soft / low powered three weight we wanted to make sure ours wasn’t too soft. After much debate, we decided to give the 376 TROUT X seven-foot three weight rod a line stiffness rating (LSR) of 3.3.
The three weight TROUT X needs to load quickly but have reasonable power in the bottom half of the rod. Especially for this reason, the 376 TROUT X rod has our VSS (Variable Sweet Spot) action. Rods with this action get progressively stiffer as you move from the tip to the butt. This action has no large, sweet spot optimized for a cast of a specific distance. We think the VSS action offers good to expert casters the ability to use every inch of the rod by adjusting their stroke to the line speed and loop size they need. It is an action entry level anglers and beginner casters will grow into but is optimized for more advanced casters.
If you have an aggressive casting stroke, you can use a lighter line on this rod – if you are a smooth, long stroke caster, or if you plan to only throw short casts all day you will like this rod with a heavier line with a thicker tip diameter.
While light weight isn’t as critical on a shorter rod, it does help with hook setting and helps when making shorter, more precise casts. Rods that are lighter transfer more energy to the line than heavy rods. These rods are produced in a factory that has access to the latest and best carbon fiber material. We used lightweight guides and have done everything we can to shave weight from the rod to improve performance.
The rods are all four piece and a coated with mist green gloss finish. The matching thread color helps the rod blend into the environment and all the snake guides are chrome-plated for less friction. SIC stripper guides help improve line shooting and the slim half wells grip and burl wood real seat are beautiful, light, and low maintenance.