Choosing a fly rod, especially for beginner, can be a daunting task. Once you figure out the line weight and action that best suit your needs then you have to decide on the length of rod that will work best for you. Fortunately choosing the best length is quite simple. 9ft. rods dominate the trout market these days and are a good a choice for most situations. If you plan on fishing rivers or lakes with larger flies you don’t want anything less than a 9ft. rod. A longer rod also aids with line control, which makes mending is easier. In addition they also handle the wind better than shorter rods. If you plan to only fish lakes you should consider a 10 ft. rod as they allow you to elevate the fly a little higher over the water which can be important when fishing from a boat, kayak or float tube.
Shorter fly rods are ideal for small streams.
Shorter rods are a great choice for smaller rivers and streams, when short casts are necessary they will help you make more precise casts and hopefully keep you out of the stream aide vegetation. A couple of other advantages are that a shorter rod will be lighter than a 9 ft. rod of the same line size will be and also they make landing fish a little easier. It’s also a lot more fun fighting and landing smaller fish with shorter rod. The rod tube on a shorter rod also packs better the longer 9 ft. rod, good for backpacking or horse back pack in trips.