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2. Fly Fishing Gear
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3. the perfect fly rod

i know a do all fly rod does not exist but right now i have a 5wt 8 ft rod which is great for all the dry/nymphing i do. but when i go to a woolly bugger its tough especially if there is a wind. then i have a 9ft 8wt that does buggers great but is more of my steelhead/salmon set-up and its much heavier and not something i want to cast all day. plus i have to keep it in my backseat cause it won't fit in my trunk, and i'm always worried about it getting stolen. so i know where i can pick up a tfo ticr 9ft 7wt for about 90 bucks. cabelas sells it for 210 new. and i'm wondering if i'll be happy tossing dries on it. i know it will be strong enough to punch buggers into the wind. ideally i wanted a ticrx 6wt. i figured that would be perfect. a saltwater rod with the lightness to throw dries and still have the power for much more. the 7 wt freshwater i'm thinking will be quite similar.

I would def. stick to a 6wt if you plan on switching from streamer to dries. A 7 wt is just to big and to much line for a good presentation imo. Personally I use my 6wt (a med fast sage sp) for streamers and heavy hardware nymphing. For that reason I have a rio clouser line I use most. I do however use a 6wt cortland silk line in the winter and I think that it would prob. be just fine w/a dry on the end...over kill.... yes, but it will do in a pinch. Typically if i think i'm going to be primarily nymphing (or dry) with a chance i may want to chuck a streamer I just use my 5wt, it is a fast action z axis though, and has the backbone to handle heavy flies if needed. Fwiw
Jeff

P.s. I don't know what kind of 5wt you are using now but you mentioned the ticrx, if that isn't your 5wt you may want to consider one for this situation, i've fished one in a 6wt and would certainly think the 5wt would have the ass to throw a bugger.

Your right their is no such animal at least not anymore. At one time Dale Clemens of Allentown, PA sold a blank he named the "Apogee". It came in at least two and maybe three lengths. I have a 8' 2 piece and it is rated for lines #4 - #7 and my friend has a 9' 2 piece rated for #4 - #8. The butt section was standard hollow graphite and the first half of the tip section is also hollow graphite but the second half is a section of solid graphite fused to the lower half with graphite tape and magic. I have often used my 8' with lines #4 - #6 and it performs well with all those sizes.

In my opinion if I could only have two fly rods, and we aren't discussing salt water, would be an 8' - 8 1/2' 3 or 4 piece #5 and a 9' 3 or 4 piece #7. With those two rods you could effectively fish tippets down to 6X and flies to a #20 and throw big Clousers, Deceivers, and bass bugs, as well as heavy weighted nymphs for your largest trout, bass, and steelhead.

Sounds like good advice given to me. I will say one thing that I have become aware of in recent years, and that is that the more expensive rods, that use the expensive, advanced graphite matting in the rods, have the ability to create a taper where the rod is flexible, and can yet be a fast recovery rod, and thus a fast action rod capable of throwing big, air resistant flies with ease. The cheaper matting must necessitate a stiff rod in order to create a fast action rod. I use to be able to pull out a rod off the rack, flex it placing the tip on the floor, and tell you the action of the rod. Now I own several of those expensive rods, and it is impressive how relaxed a stroke I can make and still create good line speed. Flex, and action are two different characteristics in these rods. In the past, I would have to double haul very aggressively in order to bend the rod using a modest distance of line out past the tip. I still like my less expensive, IM6 graphite rods, but do recognize the difference in the more expensive rods.