[Alexander Finlay]

Hi.  I’ve a 10’ 7wt and a 9’ 6wt but quite like to get myself a 4wt for small brownies fished from the banks of hill lochans, and possibly the odd burn or too.  I have just started looking but wondered if anyone could give me any pros/cons of 8’6”, 9’ or 10’ to help narrow the options? Many thanks!

[Euan Innes]

Ah, the never ending rod length question!
I have lots of #4 rods and what it comes down to is..... YOU. I have a 10 footer for boats, a 9 footer for boat dries/bank Broonies/small Rainbow fisheries, a 71/2 footer in Bamboo for rivers and a 7 footer glass Epic #3 for what started out as just small burns and streams but now seems capable of a whole lot more.
The Epic doesn't have the reach of a 10 footer obviously but is light enough to hold out-stretched and most would deem it too short for most medium / large rivers but it can chuck a line a long way and I love the way it handles the wind.
So, back to the original question. 8'6" would be better off being a 9'. 10' can be a bit specialised but does give more reach for nymphing and dibbling for loch work and will allow for a team of three in a loch. Paul Procter loves a 10 footer 
If you can try out a few (beg, borrow, blag) see what suits. Try glass, try carbon, try in a good wind (something we are not short of this year!), try with heavy flies and try with light. It is a very personal thing.
Me, I love my Guideline Fario 9' #4 which the Glen Tanar Rainbows bend double
But the Epic 7' #3 is starting to take over...
Good luck and sorry if you are now more confused!

Euan

[Derek Roxborough]

I use a 9ft rod for every thing I have 3/4/& 5wts but the 5 is generally the one I use  I fish boat or bank 3 flies, it does every thing I need , but Lefty Kreh said there was a much Bulls--t talked about fly fishing as in a Texas feed lot, and I tend to believe him,we are all different and we have different ways of doing things, but at the end of the day it's a personal thing, I do build my own rods and the last blanks came from Sandy  Nelson, as good a rod as I have ever owned,  Derek Roxborough

[Alexander Finlay]

Many thanks for the replies!