Rod manufacturers suggest a certain line weight for a particular rod based
upon the average anticipated casting distance and the intended action of the
rod. Also factored in is the casting ability of the majority of anglers who
will be buying the rod. You can take a six weight rod and underline it,
thereby changing the action and usually making for a faster action.
Assuming you can keep the appropriate amount of line in the air for distance
casting, you might find that you could throw a further line. But...try to
throw a short line and you'll find that the rod isn't loading. Conversely,
if you overline the rod, you can't keep to much line in the air for distance
casting or it will overload the road. But, for short distance, you won't
have to have as much line out to bring out the action in the rod. Also a
factor (and related to changing the action of the rod) is that overlining a
rod will tend to open up the loop while underlining will tend to close the
loop. And...every angler has a different opinion about what is the best
action. Personally, I like a variety of actions depending on the
circumstances....but tend to go toward fast actions rods most times as I
prefer a short casting stroke.

I remember an argument I got into with Harry Wilson, who used to be with
Scott PowrPly i.e. Scott rods. I believe Harry is deceased now (does anyone
know?). I had ordered a ten weight rod from him and when I got it, I found
that in order to bring out the action, I had to use at least a thirteen
weight line...or more. I felt that a ten or eleven weight was horribly
underlining the rod...and that you couldn't possibly keep enough line in the
air except under ideal conditions to allow the use of the recommended line
weights. Our "argument" was through an exchange of letters and several
phone call conversations. It was not until we met personally at the Scott
plant in the Bay area that I realized the problem. I was a relatively young
and aggressive caster (6'2" 225) and he was an older man at the time. With
a rod that heavy, he was really uncomfortable casting aggressively enough to
load it. Yes, Scott did their flex tests even back then...but Harry had
such an amount of "say so" that his opinion carried a disproportionate
amount of weight. I acquiesced and told Harry that he was right....but that
I wanted to trade my ten weight Scott for a nine weight...which better met
my needs. Harry was a true gentlemen IMHO. I often wondered about his
background.

Bottom line? Most rods can handle five or more different line
sizes...depending.

Barry

"Tony & Barb Vellturo" wrote in message
...
Seems to me I read or heard somewhere that one can go up one line
weight without a problem. That is, with a 5 weight rod one can use a
6 weight line. Can there be a problem with this??

Tony