line weight difference

deaglan169

so ive got my lake rod sorted and now looking a smaller lighter rod for small river fishing, settled on an 8ft6 rod however now im between a 4 or 5 weight, some great deals at the minute on rods looking at a Shakespeare sigma/agility or daiwa trout fly, river is anything from say 3-8m wide some overgrown spots and wild brownies to about 3lb average being 1/2lb etc, what would be favoured line 4 or 5

jack01986

I'd go for the 4 weight.

shooting101

4 weight as I used to have a 5 weight I think there better, even playing a fish on a 4 weight even if it's small is fine, because we're not always going to get big fish! It presents dry flys better for me than the 5 weight, if your river is small to medium I'd go for the 4 weight but if it's a big river maybe the 5 weight would be better.

fiacha

4wt is plenty for a small river. I use a 3wt or Tenkara rod on streams / Tolka . I know one guy who throws a 5wt line with the 4wt rod on windy days.
I think I had the Agility at some stage. I know they are well thought of on the fly forums.

deaglan169

went for #5 weight kinda regretting it now only reason jumped at it was bobco have the agility down to £25, but ill give it go and see how it suits river maybe upgrade towards end of season if its not suitable

coolwings

The AFTM line weight scale is weight of line, and measured with 30 feet of line. But in many situations we cast less than that 30 feet beyond our tip ring. So many people have a matching rod and line, but in use their rod is underloaded. While casting less than 30 feet their rod is wishing it had more weight to pull against and compress and bend to accumulate energy for the cast.
Like a spinning rod requires a certain amount of weight to make casts, the fly rod is the same, just the casting weight is not a piece of lead but instead a length of flexible line.

If the #5 overloads the rod and if you have a double taper, you can trim some length off the rear end.

I use a #3-5 rod with a Cortland DT5 cut in half. This gave me two single taper lines of equal weight. With a floating backing they are effectively shooting heads.
But by shortening one by about 6 feet it became lighter in total weight and is the weight of a #4 when aerialized. So the rod bends like it would with a #4, even though the business end is a shorter length of #5 line. That one's designated for standard use, and the other is for longer casting, bigger rivers and windier days.

I hope this makes sense. Basically there is more compromise room than people think.