For bass, go to a 7 wt. if not an 8 because this will throw
the larger streamers and poppers desirable in bass
fishing. They might overload 6 wt. tackle or at least
shorten your fishing day by fatigue. Besides, if you
go out for winter steelhead or salmon you will appreciate
being able to hold a big fish harder.

"Oz" wrote in message
m...

Does that mean I will need a different rod/reel combo for panfish?

No. The ultimate correlate of line weight is delicacy of
presentation or the smallness of the fly you can fish effectively.
When trout get ultra-selective, e.g. in a Trico hatch, your fly
is size #20 or smaller, best fished with a 4-wt rod and line.
But panfish usually take anything between fly size #1 and (small)
size #14, the normal range of flies for which a 7-wt outfit is perfect.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)