i have been fishing my 7# rod now for 6months now every one is telling me to move down to a 5# because i fish mainly river and the 7 weight is to bullish, apart from when the sea trout and salmon are there it mainly fishes brownies and grayling,i am not the best caster in the world nor the worst what rod would you recommend for a mediocre caster around the 5# any advice would be appreciated.

I was in a similar situation and bought a le croix avid off a forum member, it's a peach.

TBH any #5 will feel quite unusual after solely casting a #7, you'll be stunned by how light it feels and how unsplashy your casts become. In fact you might even want to try a #4, think Sportfish still have a sale on - might be worth a look.

Good luck. John

The Avid is a lovely Rod but difficult to get over here. There just ins't a dealer and Second User is no existant, people don't sell 'em.

I have three #5 rods, Horses for courses.

8'6" ZXL. A peach for most "average" Rivers in normal conditions.

8'6" Sage XP for the same Rivers in Windy Conditions

9' Sage XP for what I term "Bigger Rivers" like the Usk etc.

The 9' is also a great Rod for Still Waters.

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Roy

Sounds like good advice to me. I've recently switched from a 9'6" #6-7 rod to a Sonik3 8'6" #4-5 rod for fishing a small reservoir - it's an absolute delight to use.

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How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

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I have the Sonik SK4 8'6" 4/5 which casts a 4 or 5 line equally well, I use it on a couple of local reservoirs for wild and stocked browns, it loads with just a few yards of line but will cast a decent distance if required. If your looking for a bargain have a look at Sportfish they have the Redington rods at half price, you can get the Redfly II 8'6" or 9' 5 weight for just over £50.

Craig

I would also second using a sage xp, 8'6 or 9ft, if you keep an eye on ebay you might be able to pick up a second hand one for 200pounds or less just bide your time.

a good friend of mine and a very good comp angler regularly uses an 8# on rivers with no problems

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

Another rod worth consideration is the Sage SP.

Considered to be one of the best rods to company ever made, it has a slightly slower action than the XP which should suit an intermediate caster very nicely.

They come up quite often on eBay and the prices are pretty reasonable.

5-piece version also makes a great travel rod, packing down to around 20 inches.

I have one for small streams and love it.

Allot of recomendations for sage among the posts,
I have to agree,
I use a 8'6" 5wt z-axis for river work, I am very happy

This article makes good reading if you are looking for a 5wt rod.

(I have a small criticism, in the rods selected for comparison are mainly american, the omit some great makes such as loop, hardy...)

Heres the results table




Hope it helps,

John

thanks for the advice guys really appreciate it.