Anything else on a 4wt?

[cnatpoly]

When I bought my rod at cabela's I was told a 4wt wasn't really good for bass. I know panfish and trout but is there anything else I can target on my 8.5 ft 4wt?

 

[jeffroey]

Tarpon. Once.

 

[TheFarBankIsAlwaysBetter]

You can target whatever you want freshwater wise with a 4wt, within reason obviously. You’ll be fine to fish for bass with it, it just may not handle casting some of the larger flies you may want to throw for bass as 6wt-7wt.

My go to streamer rod for river trout and bass is 4wt with a mono-rig, and I’m not worried about hooking into 20+ fish with that set up. Just fish what you can, when you can, and you’ll figure it out.

 

[troutbert]

When I bought my rod at cabela's I was told a 4wt wasn't really good for bass. I know panfish and trout but is there anything else I can target on my 8.5 ft 4wt?

Fallfish, suckers, chubs

 

[ROVERT]

I've caught a bunch of Erie steelhead on an 8.5' 4wt. I was in college and that's what I had. Ideal, no. Doable, absolutely.

The 4 wt can handle bass easily enough. The problem is the flies typically used for bass are too big for a 4wt to handle easily. If you fish for them with smaller flies, you'll be ok.

 

[jifigz]

Small bass on a 4 weight is a great time.

 

[Tigereye]

I caught many 3-4 lb smallmouth in Lake Ontario with 9 ft 4 wt.

Im confident as mentioned above, that rod wt as more to do with the size of fly casted, than size of fish ( within reason).

 

[jifigz]

I caught many 3-4 lb smallmouth in Lake Ontario with 9 ft 4 wt.

Im confident as mentioned above, that rod wt as more to do with the size of fly casted, than size of fish ( within reason).

I agree with this for the most part, but..... I've taken my 4 weight down to fish for redbreasts in the Juniata many times. One time, however, a smallies pushing 20" ate my fly. I felt very, very underpowered, and I actually worried about breaking my rod while fighting that fish.

4 Weight will definitely have trouble casting bigger flies. Tigereye is right about that. And it can definitely handle big bass, but it wouldn't be my tool if choice if that's what I was pursuing.

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

When I bought my rod at cabela's I was told a 4wt wasn't really good for bass. I know panfish and trout but is there anything else I can target on my 8.5 ft 4wt?

Yes.

 

[Bamboozle]

If it is a fast 4wt as in, it also throws a 5 or 6wt line...

It is a completely different story....