How overkill is a 9' 8wt for trout?

[snooker21 0]

I live in Florida and mostly fly fish for snook on the beach and the lights. I am going up to Montana in June to fly fish for trout and I was wondering If I will be able to use my 9' 8wt rod with my 6/7/8 wt reel with 8wt floating line or is this going to be too big of a set up? Also I have a 8' 5/6wt rod but I don't know if It will perform with the 8wt line on my reel? Any tips on where to fish in Montana would be appreciated also.

 

 

[tidewaterfly 0]

I've never been out west, but from what I've read & some of the flies I tied for folks when I tied commercially, an 8 wt can be a good choice, depending on the waters being fished. Big streamer, nymph & topwater patterns are used on some of the bigger rivers. Some of the streamers & nymphs being heavily weighted. An 8 wt would certainly be over-kill for smaller waters, smaller trout & flies & likely make fishing smaller flies difficult due to the line weight hitting the water. Not exactly delicate!

 

Since you already have a 5/6 wt rod, why not get a line & reel (if needed) for it? If it was me, I would be taking both to cover all bases.

[flytire 0]

i've fished the big horn river in montana with a 3 wt.

 

your 8wt setup might be a little bit large but should work nymphing and streamers but maybe not dry flies

 

you could get an inexpensive reel and fly line for the 5-6 wt

 

you should specify where in montana you'll be fishing. maybe you'll get a more definitve answer

[Peterjay 0]

Generally speaking, your 5/6wt will take care of anything you're apt to find out there. I'd take Norm's suggestion and look for a cheap reel and line for it. A used Medalist from Ebay would be plenty good enough. The 8wt would be overkill if you want to fish spring creeks, etc., and your #8 line would be a very poor choice for the lighter rod. Let us know where you're going and what kind of water you'll be fishing - there are a lot of places to fish out there, and Montana's a big state.

[SilverCreek 0]

An 8 foot rod is too short for Montana unless you are on a small creek. They exist but I suspect your want to fish the well know rivers. If you are driving, I would take bot the 8 wt and the 5/6 as back ups.

 

You really need a 9 ft 5 or 6 weight. Even a cheap outfit will be more pleasurable than casting an 8 weight for trout.

 

Here's a cheap rod/reel combo that out TU chapter uses to teach newbies:

 

http://albrightflyfish.com/items/tw-fly-rods/TW9056-4-detail.htm

 

http://albrightflyfish.com/items/tw-reels/twr-5-6-detail.htm

[snooker21 0]

I will be fishing for some Arctic Grayling with a guide in Glacier National Park and the Missouri river and the Bob Marshall wilderness in between. We will of course be stopping at some random creeks and streams along the way.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Just catch great big fish and your 8 wt won't be overkill.

[spinninBugs 0]

I bet you can sling hoppers just fine on an 8 wt and montana is good streamer country as well. I have noticed here in wyoming when the wind picks up my 5 wt is just not enough to get the hoppers out along the banks. Plus throwing streamers on a 5wt sucks. The rivers are quite large up there.

[Steiner 0]

The 8 wt will be better for beating away grizzlies in Glacier.

[hairwing 0]

Snooker,

Hear is a no cost solution for you to consider. I know that you are a young kid (14 right?) and prolly don't have much disposable cash for tackle.

I have a micrometer and digital scale and measuring and weighing some of my fly lines I found something interesting. The WF-8-F SA lines that I measured were right within the limits the manufacturer is required to be at for the first 30 feet. I then took the other end of the line , the running line and measured and weighed it for thirty feet...it met the standards for a L-6-F line at 30 feet. If you have a Weight Forward line, which is my assumption, all you have to do is flip the line around on your reel. Put loops in each end of the line and the turnaround should only take a few minutes. You will then be able to fish your 8 foot 5/6 weight rod with a L-6-F line.

Make a test run today. Just make sure that you tryout the setup using a 9-12 foot leader attached to the loop so that the forward cast will decelerate for an softer presentation. See what you think?

Have a good trip...that's God's Country your going too. Bring some of your SW streamers with you also. I'm sure the trout will gobble them up.

I should add here that in my opinion both your 8 wt. and 5/6 wt. rods will work fine. Bring 'em both.

[ditz2 0]

If you like backcasting fish I would also recommend an 8wt. A 5wt would be fine. Even smaller would work.

[McRad 0]

I fish the bow river a lot, 20" trout, browns and bows mixed with tons of whitefish is common. Not unusual to get 24, 25" either, my biggest personally was a 31" brown. Never fished anything bigger than a 9' 6W. You still need to be able to switch up to small dries, speaking of which the caddis were crazy last night, it was good to see. I prefer a 5W but fishing the bow a 6 is were its at do to fish size alone. IMO, if your going for trout an 8W is far to big unless you know theyre all over 30" (if they are please let me know) a mediuim action 6W would be perfect. I thing I would just pack the 4, 5 & 6 along regardless, have a blast man.

[mridenour 0]

I would recommend that if you are going to take an awesome trip like that to have the right rod and reel for the trip. They don't have to be high dollar. Last year I took my Cabela's 9' 5WT to South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming and caught trout up to 24". I felt like it was the perfect wt rod for that trip. The reel I used was an old Garcia Diplomat that I have owned for thirty years. I am going back to Wyoming this year with a 5WT BVK and Lamson Konic and my old rig for back-up. I am really glad that I had the right tackle for that trip even though it wasn't very expensive high quality stuff. I had a blast.

 

If I were you I would sell blood, a few toys, anything you have laying around the house that you don't use anymore and get the right tackle. Your trip will be a lot more fun.

[switch10 0]

I fish the rivers/streams (200 cfs or less) around me with a 4 weight, and I've easily landed many 20+ inch fish with it. I lake fish with a 5 weight, and I have a six weight for one lake in nevada where I have never caught a fish under 20 inches, and many around 30 inches.

[snooker21 0]

Thanks everyone, I'm bring my 8wt because why not and a 5/6wt and a 5/6wt complete my dad bought at walmart for 20 bucks because they were selling all of them from 180$ and yes I am 15 so I don't have any cash to go buy a brand new setup for my 8 day trip to montana. My dad setup a guide out of no where for the Missouri river, and Roger lake in glacier for arctic grayling(super excited by the way) so hopefully I can maybe trade my rod for one of his for the day and then switch back as insurance or something. If not I have an old 6wt lamson lp2 with old crappy line and I can probably buy some new line in one of the fly shops. And one last thing any information on fishing in bob marshall wilderness and how to get in there in the first place would be HUGELY appreciated.

 

Thanks