Do you like to fish in the winter?
When the water is cold the trout stay on the bottom and prefer the fly on a slow swing, not stripped.
I fish an eastern tailwater in February with a 10.5' 5wt switch. The nice thing about a switch rod is that your not stripping the line in and casting it back out. In cold weather you end up dealing with frozen guides a lot less.
Try a
Redneck Rabbit with light eyes-light enough to spey cast. The light weighted eyes keep the fly dribbling along the bottom and the zonker strip adds a ton of movement, without having to strip the fly.