I have been out of the fly fishing game for awhile now but I need a new rod.

My main interest is fishing in the small springs in the mountains of PA so it has to be a 6 footer. It just gets too tight with a bigger rod and you don't have much room. I always had an obsession with those native brook trout that are found in these streams. I picked a rod up in Bass Pro and it said it was a 3 WT. It seemed pretty close to what I am looking for. Not looking to buy an heirloom classic. Would like to stay under 300.00 for pole, line and leaders and reel.

So, what exactly am I looking for? Need a pole, correct line and leaders. I always just used Adams and Royal Coachmen flies which I have plenty laying around the house.

3wt is a good start you really don’t need even that. Just match that with everything line, reel. Floating line is good. Don’t need a very heavy leader to tippet.

^^^This^^^

Find a few fly fishing shops if they are around your area. They will likely help you with what you need from a rod , reel , line and leaders.
You might find someone knowledgeable or not a Bass Pro. They will have different levels of priced items.

for those tight streams I would go Tenkara

Well, I ordered a moonlit rod in 2 wt. A max catch real and some floating line. Started looking at leaders and tippets and realized they have gone nuclear with the labeling. 05x, 06x etc... No idea what to get for little brookies.

Tippet Weight Chart

MM

I'd build my own tippets starting with about 8lb down to maybe 1 or 2lb at the end. About 1 and 1/2 rod lengths long. Forget all the X crap. It ain't rocket science.

For tiny streams you only need very short leaders. You will have very little fly line out of the guides. You will not have enough line weight to cast. A weight forward line is needed. You would probably enjoy a 4wt for most of the tiny streams you mention.

In cases where you need longer casts you will need a haul in your cast and that is easy enough to learn.

I just do my own with ten lb mono to a 4lb mono or fluorocarbon.