line weight to reel weight, any significance?

[monkeyrun]

My first year saltwater fly fishing, I landed a dozen or so on the fly. 2 - 3 keepers. I am now hooked.

I am looking to expand my fly fishing experience. I occasionally head out bass fishing with some friends and figured I would try this next. I am leaning towards a 6 weight mid flex orvis rod. My question is - what is the significance of the line weight to the reel weight (i.e. a 6 weight line on a 9 weight reel). Can I use the 6# line on a 9# reel? What will the affects be?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

[rel]

You can use a 6wt ,ine on a reel designed for a 9wt line -just add more backing to make up for the lower diameter of the 6wt. Myself I would not use a 6wt for bass because it would stress them more than needed if you could cast the needed fly with the 6wt. You might also hook a bigun and have a travel rod from a 2pc. Just my .02 rel

[Ray]

You can put 6 weight line on any reel. My question is are you going to put a 9 weight reel on a 6 weight rod????

You can have some serious balance issues. The reel will be too big for the rod (unbalanced). Also, I would go no less than a 7 weight for stripers. You can get into some nice fish anytime of year. A 6 weight will be too small for a 30+ inch fish. I use a 7 weight for schoolies, then move to a 9 weight for most of the rest of the year.

That's my 2 cents

Ray

[fraserj]

I would be hesitant about buying a 6 wt. for saltwater. There are two reasons behind this:

1) the fish you will probably catch in the salt will be too large for that weight rod and you'll have to tendency to fight the fish to exhaustion (which as we all know increases fish mortality). That's fine if you plan on keeping the fish, but most of the stripers you'll catch won't be keepers. So in effect you'll simply just be killing a bunch of future keepers. :);

2) Try casting anything more that a wooley bugger into the wind on that rod and you'll be selling that rod on Ebay the next day.

I wouldn't fish the NE salt with anything less than an 8 weight but a 9 is probably better all around (and a 10 is even better in the wind). As far as the line / reel wieght goes, as the other posters said, you'll harm your cast if you don't match the reel and the rod because the setup will be off balance. Honestly, I've never done it, but from my experience is just doesn't seem like a good idea.

I think we're all curious to know where you got the idea for the 6 weight in the salt (not to mention matching it with a reel made for a 9 weight rod). Whatever the source, if I were you, I would listen to the time-honored rule of flyfishing and match the rod to the reel (whatever weight you choose).