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I know Mike McFarland would make you a great blank or rod in that configuration, and I'll bet Mark Steffen would as well. I built an 8' 4-5wt 4pc on a Steffen blank that I've only fished once so far (with DT5 and WF5), and am liking this rod. I'll be fishing it on Thursday for some good sized cutthroat trout and will probably try a couple of 4wt lines on it then, too. I'll be building a rod this coming winter on an 8' 5wt 4pc McFarland Spruce Creek progressive taper blank I have, and this one should be really sweet and pretty versatile by the feel of the blank. I would think that either of these would be fantastic rods in a 7' - 7'9" length, with the Steffen being a little "crisper" feeling.

As for older glass rods, most of the 4pc rods seemed to be more in the 6-7wt range. I had a Para-Metric in 7'6" 4pc I wish I had kept now, but it was definitely a 6-7. I think Fenwick made an FF70-4, but you don't see many around. It may be more of a 5wt, so hopefully others will respond with more knowledge of the older rods.

Good luck in your search!

Not that I would want to leave this rod behind/under the seat of my truck, but I did have my 8' 4-5wt 4pc Steffen out fishing this past Thursday, and find myself very impressed with this rod. Again, I'd bet that a 7'6" - 7"9" version of this rod or a McFarland would be great for your purposes. I spent about $240 building this rod, including Snake Brand guides and a rod tube.

Anyway, the fishing....I hit a small northern Rockies cutthroat river that was a little lower in its upper reaches than I expected for this time of year, considering the snowpack in the region this past winter. Being a bit low, I didn't get into as many large post spawn cutts as I normally would for the end of June, but still got a couple of nice ones. The 17", 15" and a couple of 12" fish were taking carpenter ants that fell off of the foliage into the water that was about 2' deep with a very gentle current. It was very technical fishing since there was faster current in mid stream, and the cast had to be within inches of the far bank with a fairly long drift to entice the fish. Barbless hooks are required, and I lost of couple of other nice sized fish after they slipped the hook after a short battle. It was kind of breezy as well, so the Steffen was put to the test and it was a lot of fun! I was using a WF5F Cortland 333 HT, and the rod really seemed to like the line and was very effortless to cast except when the wind really came up and gusted. I caught lots of cutthroat ranging from 6" - 11" as well, in both easy water and in a good current.

I've fished the rod with a DT5F line before, and would not hesitate to fish it with a 4wt line as well. I think Mark Steffen has this rod pegged as a true 4-5wt, and it will probably perform best with a DT4 and WF5....although, all my Steffens including this one seem to be very forgiving as to performing well with a nice range of lines.

I've got to get back up there soon with the 8' 3-4wt Steffen!

Anyway, I know that this probably belongs in the Fishing section, but it's kind of related to this thread. For what it's worth....

Tom

Hi CB,
I hear you, and yes, I do count myself a lucky man!

My 8' 3-4wt Steffen is built on a 3pc blank, while my 8' 4-5wt is 4pc. I would say the 8' 3-4 is a little lighter and smoother/sweeter than the 8' 4-5, but not by a whole lot. I used a heavier reel seat and beefier grip on the 8' 4-5, but it's still pretty sweet.

The 8' 3-4 I have mainly fished with 4wt lines, but it will definitely handle 3wt lines just fine, and it seems that many who fish this rod prefer it as a 3wt. To me it seems like the perfect 3-4wt (DT3 or WF4), but will handle a nice variety of lines. The 8' 4-5wt is definitely more versatile, since it can fish 5wt lines it will handle larger flies, streamers, nymph/split shot rigs, etc. better than the 3-4.

I do have 1 more Steffen blank to build this winter, which is a 7'9" 3-4wt 4pc. It feels like it will be slightly crisper/faster than the 8' 3-4wt, but I think this has more to do with the length being 3" shorter, rather than being 4pc vs. 3pc. Mark does a great job with his ferrules, and while 4pc (or even 5pc) adds a little weight to the blank, the extra ferrules don't have very much effect on the casting/fishing feel as compared to 3pc....although I do think that a 3pc has a very slight edge in sweetness/smoothness vs. 4pc/5pc....but portability is important to me, too.

Not sure if that helped any.

Good fishing!

Tom