Help me pick the right rod weight

[PatrickC]

I agree, your 5wt is fine and personally, I'd be likely to use my 4wt. I think we really struggle with choosing appropriate rod wts and usually we error to the heavy side. It's tough on the fish if you use under-weighted gear, but usually we fish gear that is unnecessarily too heavy.

 

[FlyGuyFromPa]

As a newbie, I'm use an 8'6 5wt. Only inpute/advice I can offer is to make sure they know how to cast the weighted flies as to not damage the rod when they false cast too much and hit the rod with them heavier flies. I broke my tip twice in the beginning learning how to do that.

 

[FiveWeight]

Pghtrouthunter wrote:
Are you sure you are ready to start advising paying clients?

Was thinking the same thing.... No disrespect but, your asking pretty basic stuff here. If these paying folks are true first timers then work on landing fish come the 2nd class. 1st one should be just the learning to cast a few simple casts and how to handle the rod n reel in general. Oh, the 5Wt will do just fine.

 

[JoeE]

All depends for me if the stream has a lot of brush and log piles and you are going to fish streamers and big flies 6 wt. and If not 5 wt should be fine.

Joe E

 

[kpitts32]

Fishing steelhead with a 5wt rod is a bad idea. Especially if its a medium flex 5wt.. If you plan on taking them to Erie and end up having a 25+ fish day on one 5wt its probably going to snap due to pressure. You should tell your company you need a 5 and a 7. its differs from angler to angler. If your an angler who gets 3-5 steelhead an outing you would probably be fine with a 5. If your one of those few guys who goes every time and gets into the greater numbers I could see things getting ugly. I had a high end medium flex 5wt that snapped near the butt due to pressure after about 20 fish with 3x on. I Wont use a 5 up there again.. The cold weather also effects ferrules causing them to expand... As said before the last thing you want is a rod snapping on someone your guiding...Just a thought...

 

[troutbert]

FiveWeight wrote:

Pghtrouthunter wrote:
Are you sure you are ready to start advising paying clients?

Was thinking the same thing.... No disrespect but, your asking pretty basic stuff here.

I agree. And I don't think it's negative to point this out. It's providing good observations and advice.

In flyfishing, as with other sports such as golf, tennis, skiing etc., the expectation is that you learn to be quite skilled and experienced before taking on paying clients as an instructor. That is what the clients will be expecting in exchange for their money.