It was once said to be me that on all American rods the AFTM rating (single rating) etched on to the blank applies to a weight forward line and that if using a double taper line you should use a line rating of 1 less than that stated on the blank e.g. AFTM 6 written on the rod you would use a AFTM WF6 and an AFTM DT5.

Sounds like a lot of rubbish to me and everyone seems to have a preference on what line they like to fish on their rod and quite rightly so. But I think I will see if this hangs true for my Reddington 6# and fish it with a DT5. I'll use it for fishing a team of spiders tonight on the river and have all these ultra light river fishers turning in their graves.

It IS a total and complete load of rubbish. This is a variant of the dual rating myth that states if the rod is rated with, say, a 5/6, the first number if for a DT and the second is for a WF.

These are two of the the biggest and most persistent fly fishing urban legends and they are both totally false. There is not nor has there ever been such a convention.

I suppose to the less experienced it can sound logical, after all a DT line would appear to be "heavier" because it has a longer section of line that is a greater diameter compared to a WF.

But of course the AFTM standard is based on the first 30 feet excluding blah, blah, blah, as we all know.

Bottom line: All lines of the same AFTM rating weigh the same for all practical purposes.

Fly fishing MythBusters verdict: Total myth.

Grouse

Thanks for your response Grouse. It seems appropriate that I have given you somthing to 'Grouse' about here and Grouse you certainly have, sorry had to get that in.

Unfortunaley when I was told this statement it was by a salesmen of a rather well established and well known fishing emporium. If they are giving this type of advice out to people new to the sport then its rather a sad reflection on the tackle trade. I don't know how you can educate people around this confusion but if the tackle maker paints it on the rod what you should be using, what more can they do.

If it were a Mythbuster's verdict it would be 'Busted' whatever that means.

Ditto.....................LOB................birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

Good one. Grouse. As in "to complain". Gotcha.


It would be nice if one could rely on advice given by salesmen in fishing shops, but IME the majority of salesmen tend to feel the need to vastly over-represent their expertise and experience. Thus, they are highly prone to repeating urban legends like the above because a) they sound logical and b) they don't have the actual knowledge and experience that would cause them to question the myth and therefore expose it as false.

Another myth that is frequently repeated by all manner of people in fly fishing is the myth of "rod and reel balance". This myth states that a rod and reel combination is only "properly balanced" if (when fitted with a reel) the rod balances on a fulcrum just below the top of the grip.

Again, I'm sure it sounds logical to the inexperienced, but anyone who has been in the game long enough to get their waders wet above the knees can see all kinds of problems with this "rule". The balance of a rod and reel will change due to a vast variety of factors, such that there can be no rule at all as to where the balance point "should" be.

Grouse

Hi Grouse

Pleased you appreciated my Wit with the Grouse the comment, my apologies as I realised after submitting that you are State side and would possibly not understand this English humour, but you've picked it up alright so thats cool. Its just when I see that Grouse image of yours and your login name I keep thinking your Scottish

Your right about salesmen and it doesn't just apply to fishing but after all they are there to sell by fair means or foul, so they say what they like and promise whatever as long as they get the sale. More interestingly its amazing where these myths around line weight and rod/ reel balance orginate from and how well they seem to be kept alive, there's got to be somthing in world fishing culture that feeds this, not sure what though. Anyways its getting on for 5 PM over this side of the Ocean so I'm clocking out now and going to take the short drive up to the river with that Reddington rod of mine and that 5 weight DT, should have put it on my favourite heavier reel, but not got time so I will go with it on the light reel and see what happens. This might be a short visit, looking out from my desk its now looking deceidly dark and threatening rain

Yes, that wacky English humor. . .

It is worth nothing that I am, indeed, Stateside, but I have better than average resources when it comes to English to American translation and suchlike. Mrs. Grouse, you see, is as British as they come. As is most of her family. We met when I was doing a year over there at a UK uni.

Mrs. Grouse does believe that somehow, some way, I must be Scottish. I have come to believe that somehow this relates to my spending habits as she most often raises this issue when the subject of money is being discussed. It's almost as if the Scots have some reputation when it comes to spending habits.

Great. Just don't fall in or your waders will fill up with water and you'll be dragged to the bottom because all that water is very heavy.

Oh, wait. . .

Grouse

The line rating on the fly rod is a guide by the manufacturer. What feels the best for the type of fishing that the user does is best decided by the user.

The rod line weighting is a line mass rating. But it is more complicated than that. What bends the rod is not line mass, but energy. Put more simply, saying that a rod is rated for a 6 weight line, actually means it is rated for the energy needed to cast a 6 wt line 30 feet.

The DT vs WF designation occurs because as we go beyond 30 feet of fly line, the WF line gains mass very quickly. The DT has running line that is about 2 line weights lower than the DT, so it takes a longer cast for the aerialized line to go up to the next line rating. Hence the 6 wt WF line vs the 5 wt DT line. Whether it is nonsense or not depends on whether you think a WF casts differently than a DT beyond the first 30 feet of line and whether you cast beyond this distance often in your fishing.

Casting a DT 6 weight line more that 30 feet will require more energy, eventually as much energy as it takes to cast a 7 weight line 30 feet. Using that similar logic we can say that by casting a DT 5 weight line beyond 30 feet, we will reach the identical amount of energy as casting the 6 wt line 30 feet. If we do most of our casting with less that 30 feet fly line, a 5 weight rod may be a more balanced outfit for that 6 weight line.

This is a complex way of saying that how the rod feels and performs varies with both the line profile and the line rating, as well as the distance cast. If you don't believe that fly line profile makes a difference, you should cast a presentation profile line for spring creeks vs a bass bug profile for casting heavier wind resistant flies. Just as fly line profile in the first 30 feet affect the rod flex, the profile beyond 30 feet will also affect rod flex.

Modern graphite rods will perform well with several line weights. I have found that most will cast 3 line weights.

Whether the rods can work with lines of greater or lesser mass is a function of their action or flex pattern. Slow butt-flex rods will generally perform adequately with lines lower than their rating, medium action mid-flex rods will cast one line weight up and down, and fast tip-flex rods will cast two line weights up.

One can see why this makes sense. What we feel when we cast is the rod flexing. A slow rod flexes more deeply with the rated line so it will still flex with the lower rated lines. But it will feel limp in the hand with higher line ratings. Fast rods will not flex well with lighter lines but they have the backbone to flex and cast heavier lines.

Here in the colonies, there are countless small creeks that are called blue lines after the blue lines on topographic maps that show their location. It is common to go up one or even two line weights to compensate for the short casts that are made.

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Silver Creek- "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought"....Szent-Gyorgy

I think it's a pretty good guide. It's always worked for me in over 35 years of fly-fishing. Of course people have their personal preferences, and opinions. A friend of mine always uses a line one weight heavier than the rod is rated for, he says it helps him to cast better. I think fishing with a heavier line is defeating the object but it's all a matter of personal choice. I think that if you use a DT5 on a #6 Reddington you'll not be far off the mark.

I currently use a Sonik SK3 #4/5 rod. I fish with a DT4 or a WF5 line and I would say they are perfectly matched.

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

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