I was out for a week and had a chance to FF in the salt for the first time it was a blast hooked up with on small tarpon it lasted about 30 seconds, anyway my question is based on the following.
I took along on the trip the first rod I made a 6wt. 8 1/2’(along with a 3wt, 8wt) reason it did not come out too good, and did not even work for me,figued it did not suit my style since my second build worked great,to make a long story short I did not realy care for the rod and did not even think I would need a 6wt on the trip, anyway on the second day my 9 year old decided he wanted to share the 3wt rod with me since I caught more fish than he did using cut bait, knowing sharing with him ment that I would not get a chance to fish I decided to rig up the 6wt, a minor problem with the reel mede me put on the 8wt line (it was not planned). we got to the beach and after my first cast I had a favorite rig, I could not beleive it I could do almost anything with it worked better that my factory built stuff and high priced lines (the 8 wt line is a no brand name that cost about $25). My question is what did I do wrong with the blank the only thing I could come up with is that I put too much thread on the ferrul about 1 3/8" would that cause the problem?. I plan to try the 8wt line on all my factory built 6wt. this week end.
i have found that almost all graphite rods seem to require a ‘bump’ of at leat 1 and most often 2 line sizes to work properly(for me at least). Unless I do that they seem to make me work my butt off slinging line back and forth instead of the rod doing the work as seems proper to me.
splinter
I doubt you did anything in the build to cause a wt. change. It could be that the blank was mislabeled. and who knows if the line was really an 8 wt. Such is the precision and mystery of flyfishing Enjoy Allyn
Welcome to the unscientific world of graphite fly rods. Many rods are mislabeled for too light of a line weight so that they can be considered fast action. I also doubt that you did anything wrong with the build. I overline most of my rods because I prefer a softer action. You basically found the right line for the blank to suit your casting stroke. I fish a 7wt line on my custom 6wt because it casts itself with the heavier line.
You will not damage the rod by fishing the heavier line on it. The blank does not kno wif it is throwing 80 ft of 6wt line or 60 ft of 8wt line.
Enjoy the rod and be thankful that you found the right line for the rod.
Lou