This year i'm looking to broaden my horizons, with the addition of SWFF & Sea trout fishing.

At the moment I have a few river rods (4 weight and under) and a still water rod. Its a Flextec 10', 6 weight.

The river I'm planning on fishing is pretty small and overgrown at parts - would the Flextec suffice? Or am I better with a 7 or even 8 weight?

Cheers

There's a guy I know on Clyde who fishes low water with 6 and 7 weight rods for salmon, and does well landing his fish. Your #6 will be fine for sea trout.

i fish a 9' number 6 for sea trout in the salt and it does me fine

I fished for many years for sea trout with a 6 weight rod and only stepped up to 7/8 weight so I could use sunk lures and big surface lures.
I have fished in the salt with 5 and 6 weights on a number of occasions without any problem but have recently bought a 9 weight so I can punch out bigger flies into the wind.

JohnClayton

I fish for sea trout and salmon on my local spate river with a 9ft6 6/7 weight with an 8 weight line as the heavier line helps with bigger and heavier flies. So you'll be fine.

That's spot on guys thanks, next subject - Lines? A Wf7 sink tip? Or inter? Or floating lol... The confusion

I too have fished many years with a 9' foot 7 weight line both sea and spate rivers landing many grilse with no problems or sea trout from the salt...
I also fish an 11 foot single handed grilse rod with a line rating of 8 / 9 weight all my lines are weight forward to cut through the wind when punching a fly out.
Choice of line ..
Floating for dries ..
Intermediate to present sub surface flies just under the surface .. many anglers now prefer fishing the intermediate other than when fishing 'Dry' ..Fast sink or slow sink ? depends on the water and depths you propose to fish..
Sink tips .. likewise.
Sinking lines .. more in line with reservoir anglers these days...although I still use one when sea trouting at night in the deeper pools with a sunk lure.

used a 7 wt line for years the advantage of a heavier rated line as the boys suggested above is the ability to punch bigger heavier flies out ..for instance pike lines 9/10 wt that handle the biggest of flies..Salmon fishing spring / autumn on the bigger rivers with double handed rods fishing heavy brass tube flies line weight ratings of 12 are pretty standard..
But it is important to balance your rod with the correct line rating.

john

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