Underlining a rod?

[fishinginasuit]

What are your views on underlining a rod. I have a 9ft 5wt TFO Pro outfitted with a 5/6 Okuma reel and am interested in picking up a 4wt but was thinking about what other possibilities I may have such as underlining.
I will probably just pick up a fair priced 7'-7'6" 4wt or 3wt but I am kind of interested in the opinions of others on underlining as I've read about it once and overlining many times.
Thanks.

 

[AugustWest]

Do you mean underlining the rod you have, putting a 4 wt. line on it? And the purpose of that would be?

Or do you mean buying a 4 wt rod and underlining that?

I'm not sure what you want to accomplish.

 

[tomgamber]

If your current rod is a little slow with the 5wt line you are now using, you could try it. But if your 5wt rod is already pretty stiff, that 4wt line won't be what you are looking for.

 

[albatross]

Maybe you can borrow a reel spooled with 4 weight to try this out on your 5 weight so you still have the option of a 3 weight if you don't like the underlined 5.

 

[JoeE]

Underlining a 5/6 to a 4wt??? That depends on several different things. If you plan on fishing small flies and short distance casting, I think you will turn it into a broomstick. However, I’ve never cast a TFO. If is was a straight 5wt I would say you have a good chance of making a fast 4 wt depending on the your fishing technique and casting stroke. IMO, I think manufactures underline already, unless you’re fish the same amount of line that they used to rate the tape.

Joe E