?? Best Line Weight ??

[Liv4Huntin']

I have a St. Croix 6/7 wt. fly rod that right now has on it a 5wt. floating, wf line which was put on at the fly shop by recommendation of the 'fly guy' there when I purchased the set up. I am wondering, knowing I can go one up or down in weight from the rod weight (which theoretically could give me the use of 5-to-8 wt lines), is there one weight of line that, AS A GENERAL RULE, will give me smoother/farther/better casts? I will be using this primarily for lake fishing for gills-to-bass size, and on the rivers (although seldom right now) for, perhaps smallies, 'eyes, and maybe even a Skam - if I should get lucky!)

Thanks for any information/assistance you can offer. . . . . M

[This message has been edited by Liv4Huntin' (edited 07-21-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Liv4Huntin' (edited 07-21-2000).]

[WEEZER]

I have never heard of anyone wanting to go with a lighter line than the rod! I have went a size heavier on my own rod and I have noticed that this is a fairly common practice.
The main problem with going with a lighter line is that you won't be able to feel the rod load and if you can't do that then it is really hard to make good casts.
Since your rod is a 6/7 wt I'd go with the 7 wt line(Get more distance in the wind). You should be able to lay that line down almost the same as the lighter stuff.
I just changed my line/reel setup on my 4wt rod. I used to use a 5wt double taper and I switched to a 4wt wf line. I figured it would cast better........WRONG!!!!The 4wt casts nice but I got better accuracy and a tad more distance outta the 5wt.
I'm just a little curious, what was the salesperson's reasoning behind going with 5wt?

[Steve]

I think 5wt is the best all around for Michigan waters. I little big for some small streams, a little small for some of the bigger rivers.

[Liv4Huntin']

Thanks for the helpful replies, guys. They give me much more information to go on when getting another line set up.

When I purchased the St. Croix and all the 'goodies' to go along with it, I'd done not enough research on my own, I guess. I took the sales person's experience with flyfishing as fact. He seemed knowledgable and was referred to me by two others in the department. In all fairness to this person, he did explain some pros and cons with different rod weights, level vs. wf, vs. double tapered lines -- the basics. When it came down to the line, he'd based his decision on my budget and the fact that the 6wt. line in that catagory was sold out, therefore he went with the 5wt. I do intend to go back and get a couple other lines to use, as I'm not really happy with the performance of the lighter one.

I can't fault the sales guy -- I should have done my homework first, but I was SOOOO anxious to go get started that I jumped into it....

Again, thanx muchly for your help ... see ya on the water..... Mary

[Steve]

Just remember that the rod is generally manufactured to work with only one line weight so you typically cannot just switch to a lighter weight on the same rod. You can switch to a weight forward 5wt line however.

[WEEZER]

Yeah I agree it wasn't the salesman's fault, and It's alright to want to jump right into the sport. I was just wondering why he would put you in that class of line and you answered the question exactly as I expected!!!!!