I can't see how one can fish with a three foot long fly rod? For a small stream, seven feet is fine, six ok but any shorter would be less than useless, unless you are fishing a stream that you can spit across!
My two cents worth! Neville (Nev) Gosling Greater Vancouver, BC, Canada "Ordinarily the man accustomed to a 9-foot fly rod would reduce to one about 7 feet long and feel that he was equipped for working a small brook. This, I beg to point out, is only the palest concession to that kind of angling. If we chop 4 feet off that, however, the remaining 3 foot length will permit casting from almost any position. I use mine right- or left-handed, with the tip pointing almost at the water. Because of the length and essentially greater line speed, the rod throws tight loops, which permits casting under obstacles with relative ease. There is no tendency to "hook" casts off the target, as you certainly must when casting with a longer rod in a purely horizontal plane." "Fishing with McClane" by A. J. McLane --
