6 weight or 7 weight

A

alanb

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I am changing the make up of my inventory. For trout I have a 3, 4 &5. For steelhead I have a 7 weight Spey and an 8 weight. The question is do I get a 6 weight or 7 weight for western streams. Any thoughts?
 
I have found a 6wt to be just about perfect for fishing bigger rivers out west. If you intend to fish larger streamers a lot, a 7wt rig would make sense to have also. I don't think I would take the 7wt in place of a 6wt however.
 
Yep, A strong six.
 
A fast action 5wt is perfect for out west. Only time I use a 6/7 weight out there is for streamers or when I'm tossing heavy nymph rigs from a boat for a good portion of my day.

I would get the best fast action 5wt I could afford and just get a more economical 6wt 'bobber rod' like a used BVK.
 
Former Montanan here..
2 or 3 for small streams--limestones
fun to have not really needed
4 or 5 for putzing around big hole-upper madison
6wt. fast action -summer time and fall fishing mids like the Madison
8wt. for fall fishing big rivers Missouri and yellowstone
with streamers- wade fishing streamer,shooting heads The way to go-some really long shots needed to get to the best holds on bends-
if you go with an 8 get a 10 or 11 hi density head and carefully cut off line from the butt until it balances your rod for those looong casts.
The shorter the head the better and of course helps if you are up against the bank-
in 31 years out there never fished from boat but did use canoe to get to good holds.If your goal is to fish for big fish from mid sept.to march[okay spawners and returners ]on rivers with lakes you will do far better to wade as you will want to go long and deep most of the time.You will see the boat boys going right over where they should be fishing in the fall after the sun comes up.That includes guides-just chuckle..
 
alanb wrote:
I am changing the make up of my inventory. For trout I have a 3, 4 &5. For steelhead I have a 7 weight Spey and an 8 weight. The question is do I get a 6 weight or 7 weight for western streams. Any thoughts?

Since you already have a 5wt, I would recommend buying a 7wt.

If you were to bring two rods out-west, I would recommend you carry along a 5wt & 7wt.

If you were limited to only one rod, a 6wt would be my choice.

But I highly recommend you have more than one rod. You should always carry a backup rod outfit on a trip in case you break a rod, your reel fails or anything number of things go wrong on your trip.
 
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