4 wt or 5 wt

[KeithS]

I've been bass fishing small and largecreeks . I'm going to start on trout soon and I have a rod question. My low buck arsenal includes 2 rods, supposedly Sage blanks. One, I'm told is a 5/6, the other is 6/7. I'm thinking I'm going to need something in a 4 or 4/5 to fish trout effectively. None of the water in Montgomery or Bucks is all that large and I don't see myself throwing large streamers. If I do throw streamers, I guess i have it covered w/ the 5/6 weight.
Is my thinking correct?
I haven't sought trout for a long, long time and that was only twice.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

The 5/6 is fine. That's pretty much my standard go-to rod for trout.

 

[FarmerDave]

KeithS wrote:
I've been bass fishing small and largecreeks . I'm going to start on trout soon and I have a rod question. My low buck arsenal includes 2 rods, supposedly Sage blanks. One, I'm told is a 5/6, the other is 6/7. I'm thinking I'm going to need something in a 4 or 4/5 to fish trout effectively. None of the water in Montgomery or Bucks is all that large and I don't see myself throwing large streamers. If I do throw streamers, I guess i have it covered w/ the 5/6 weight.
Is my thinking correct?
I haven't sought trout for a long, long time and that was only twice.

Need?

this is only opinion, but ...

It is not a question of need, rather it is a question of want because to me it looks like you have just about everything covered from steelhead (in PA) to brook trout with the two rods that you already have. A 4 weight is a great trout rod, but I wouldn't say it is "needed" for trout if you already have a 5/6.

With the exception of JackM, I doubt there is anyone on here that is cheaper than me when it comes to fishing gear.;-)

 

[KeithS]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'll just be using longer leaders.
I plan to fish any method necessary. We'll see how the 5/6 works with nymphing. It seems kind of soft, to me. At least it's a 8 1/2 footer.

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, I use a 6 wt line on the tiniest trickles you can imagine. And the place for lighter lines is for midges and tricos and the like, which are usually on medium to large streams. Matching a rod and line weight to the size of the stream isn't a real good way to go about things. Works better to match it to the size of fly you expect to use, even then, you have to look at every situation separately.

Same with action. Fast action = longer distance casts for really BIG water. It also means tighter loops for punching casts through brush or under limbs. Softer actions give you a little more delicacy, which is sometimes needed.

Of much greater importance, compared to stream size, is the length of the rod. For bigger water, a 9 footer is pretty standard. For really small water, especially in brush, you'll want shorter rods.

 

[csoult]

pcray1231 wrote:
Of much greater importance, compared to stream size, is the length of the rod. For bigger water, a 9 footer is pretty standard. For really small water, especially in brush, you'll want shorter rods.

If not it can become extremely frustrating. You can spend more time getting you fly out of trees and brush than fishing, and that is no fun at all.

 

[gfen]

FarmerDave wrote:
A 4 weight is a great trout rod, but I wouldn't say it is "needed" for trout if you already have a 5/6.

Your rods are all dual line rated? Are they older, fiberglass rods? I question this only because you say they're too soft?

What length are the rods in question? If you've got a short 5/6 rod, I could see you wanting something longer, especially if you're going to ply Euro-Dredging techniques. That might be a concern, but for regular ole indicators, why worry?

Anyways, FD is on the money, and a 5/6wt rod will be more than good for trouts fishing in PA. Use what you've got, and if it turns out you have a disintictive failure, then you look for a way to plug the hole, but I don't foresee a need to spend money out of the gate.

But, needs and wants are curious things. And most of us here indulge our wants far too often for us to say otherwise. ;-)

 

[KeithS]

I guess my 7' 6wt Featherlight will have to take care of the smaller streams for now. Being fiberglass, i should be able to get it to work with a 5 wt.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Yes it will work well w/ a 5 wt!

 

[jayL]

I'd be careful underlining a rod for small streams. Underlining means that you'll need more line out to properly load it. That's a problem on streams where you don't typically have much line out.

I overline on small streams for this reason.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

woops...I missed where he said the Featherlight was a 6 weight.

 

[gfen]

The rod the latter posts are referring to (Eagle Claw FL-300-6) performs well with a 5WF or DT. Its rated as a 5/6 rod. Its been home to my erstwhile 5WF-GPX for awhile now. Fiberglass has a reputation for easily casting either siide of its designated weight.

This, however, doesn;t help us with the OP's situation, other than I wonder about low-cost Sage blanks being oldschool glass.

 

[Lonewolve]

Keith,
you mentioned fishing medium to small streams , get a rod of 7'6" in a 4/5 weight , if you want to nymph you can always use dry dropper with this setup and clobber the fish.Itss kinda hard with overhead and no back room to nymph with a longer rod, if you are doing the Perkiomen near above the reservoir this will work below a 9' will get you into the trout and warmwater species.
Other streams are also very small in width with very frustrating canopies stick to a smaller rod and then if you like an get to a brookie stream or headwater elsewhere in this stae you will be ready for bear with a 7'-7'6" 4/5.
Remember that with a 4/5 you have two line weight designations, supposedly one number is for a weight foward line the other number designation is for a double taper line, I use three lines per rod, if its a five for example i can use a four weight and speed up my casting stroke, or the five as listed, or if theres wind or bigger water i just put on a 6 weight.I have become convinced when you buy a reel that you shoul get two extra spools, amke sure the reel is for the maine stated line as in this case 5 weight and then you know that on the 4 weight spool you might need a whisker more backing, on the 6 weight spool you can take of a lil bit of backing, face it all this baloney about backing for insurance is bunk unless you are catching or fishing for big trout ..meaning measured in pounds and landed by being tailed . Only two maybe three places in Pa where i can say without a doubt you will see your becking with a decent fish.#1 the Delaware river..these fish are strong as heck even the lil guys, #2 the Lehigh same applies,#3 the Allegany{sp?} near Warren.Can't speak for the Yock.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[pcray1231]

I guess my 7' 6wt Featherlight will have to take care of the smaller streams for now. Being fiberglass, i should be able to get it to work with a 5 wt.

Agree with Jay on this one. A glass rod may underline better than a graphite stick, but I still wouldn't do it on small streams, as the same concept still applies. Gotta be able to load it easily and in inventive ways. What I mean by that is that, if you get to backcast, it will be a short one. Often, all you can do is wiggle or come up with a variety of half backcasts, or roll cast.

A rod's rating is based on a certain amount of fly line out, I've always heard 30 feet, but the point is the same whether or not that number is accurate. So when throwing a 10 foot cast, and only able to use half of that line to help load the rod, then even at the specified line weight you are in fact underpowering the rod. You won't get much load, and won't have the power to punch a cast.

My small stream set up is a fairly fast action 4/5 wt rod, coupled with 6 wt line. I'd go to 7 wt line before going back to 5 wt. 4 feet of fly line just hanging noticably loads the rod, without any backmovement at all. So I can pretty much just "forward snap" and get some power, which is real nice on such streams. Even a half backcast or a wiggle before the power stroke gives me as much power as a full backcast on a lighter line.

 

[KeithS]

They are unmarked blanks. The shopowner where I bought them, 20 some years ago, estimated their weights. They're both graphite. They flex fairly far into the blank. He was pretty accurate. I've been fishing both all summer.
You're over my head with the rest of your post.

 

[gfen]

KeithS wrote:
They are unmarked blanks. The shopowner where I bought them, 20 some years ago, estimated their weights. They're both graphite. They flex fairly far into the blank. He was pretty accurate. I've been fishing both all summer.

Fair enough, then go with the bulk of what people said: Run whatcha brung. The topic rapidly spun into other worlds that you weren't intending it to. Welcome to PAFF; drift happens.

If you detect, after use, a problem then you can pursue a reason to fill it. Use the 5/6 with a 5wt line of your preferred choice and enjoy it.

You did, however, neglect to tell us the length.

 

[KeithS]

Thanks for all the help. I sure seem to be able to stir up a hornet's nest.
Now if I can just find a decent spot for trout without traveling for 3 hours. WB Perkiomen, here I come searching.

 

[gfen]

We're bored, it doesn't take much. Ask about DT or WF line tapers, next... ;-)

 

[KeithS]

We're bored, it doesn't take much. Ask about DT or WF line tapers, next...


I did last week.
Who wants to take me fishing?

 

[gfen]

You have a personal message from like an hour ago. Well, maybe 45 minutes. I don't know, I'm high on opiates and in my happy place. Enjoy it! I am.