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[Castor]

Probably a fairly simple question but this is my first year fly fishing and I was hoping someone could clarify, what are the weight maxes and minimums for Fly rods? I know a 5-6 wt is a good starter rod but what's the biggest/smallest fish that I want to target with that rig.

Thnx

[SteelheadAdict]

its mostley a trout rod put would also work as pink salmon rod that and for cap coho

[Castor]

was hoping for a pound type of scale like, 5-6 wt good to 7 lb , 8 wt up to 20 lbs. is it something like that?

[SteelheadAdict]

5/6 weight 8 pounds

7/8 weight 20 pounds

9/10 weight 30 pounds

10/11 weight 40 pounds

thats my idea of it

[typhoon]

It is often more related to what types of flies can I throw under what conditions.
Also:
A 5wt rod is generally underpowered casting large flies into the wind (i.e. some beaches). It also doesn't have enough power for most salmon.
An 8wt is fine for smaller chum in slack water, but is generally underpowered for Chinook or larger chum in fast water.
You can certainly catch larger fish with a lighter rod but it is very hard on the fish for Catch and Release.

[ByteMe]

was hoping for a pound type of scale like, 5-6 wt good to 7 lb , 8 wt up to 20 lbs. is it something like that?

Alot depends on the quality of the rod.I have had 6lb Coho break a cheap 8wt rod and have landed 14lb Coho on a good quality 6wt when targeting Summer steelhead

[RalphH]

A #6 rod should be ok with any salmon/trout/ steelhead up into the 12 to 15 lb range. Particularly these days as rods tend to be stiffer and have more power in the lower half of the rod than they did 20 years ago. When I say ok I mean you'll have a reasonable chance of controlling and landing the fish That's my experience in any event. As other people have said that comes with lots of caveats like how much experience you have with larger fish, the water you are fishing (don't fish Thompson Steelhead with 5wt ...please), size of the fly, the line (using heavy tips etc). If you want to fish salmon or steelhead regularly buy an 8 wt or maybe a #7. If you are trout fishing in still water with the odd trip to river or stream, maybe give pinks or coho a shot then a #5 or #6 will be ok.

[Castor]

Perfect, thanks all for the input. much appreciated