What would you say is the largest fish you could catch using an 8 1/2ft 6wt? I recently built a 9ft 8wt for Atlantic salmon but I'm having a problem with my elbow that makes it dificult to cast for a long time. I would like to go smaller like maybe a 8 1/2ft 6wt if it would do the job.

I'm guessing around 200lbs. I know the line class record for Marlin on 2lb tippet is around 200lbs.

The weak link in the chain is never the rod, it's the tippet. What size tippet will you be using? I don't think I'd go more than 8 or 10 lbs on a 6-weight rod. Much beyond that and the rod would be the weak link, instead of the line. But if you're doing it now on tippets no larger than that, you should be able to do it on a 6-weight rod. And as we know, not all 6-weight rods have the same power/stiffness. I'd check the ERN figures to make sure you get what you want.

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Darrell,
One point that can reduce fatigue is in using the lightest blanks with a stiffness to weight ratio conducive to less effort in casting and less rebound. That may mean using more expensive fast action blanks, but another reducion might be in line wt. or reducing the wt. rod. Maybe try an 8 wt. line on a 7 wt. rod and see what that equates with what performance you might lose.
Have you tried using a 6 wt. to catch atlantic salmon? If it takes longer bringing in the fish, or more effort in reaching out the cast where an 8 wt. might have gone, then what are you gaining?
Just a thought.

Rich Garbowski
Richard's Rod & Reel

Any rod could FEASIBLY catch any fish. If the reel's drag is set below the strength of the line and these two aren't higher than the force that would break the rod, it's all just a matter of time (how long it takes to play the fish) after that...

Didn't Lee Wulff use short light rods to fish for everything including Atlantic Salmon? I think one reason he used them was so he could release the fish while still in the water by himself if I remember right.

I'm using 6-8lb tippets so I guess a 6wt would be okay.
I'm sure I can cast as far as I need to with a 6wt, thats not a problem.
My 9' 8wt is a light fast action rod. It's a St. Croix SCIV, but it is still a lot of rod to cast with. All summer I fish brook trout with an 8ft 3wt which I love, and then when Salmon season starts I grab the 9ft 8wt and it's just too much. I don't enjoy casting it. I definately want something a little shorter and lighter. Anyway I was just wondering if it would be reasonable to catch these fish on an 8 1/2ft 6wt. I think I'll build a nice 4 or 5 peice and give it a try.
Thanks a lot for the replies.

An 8'6" 6 wt would be great fun and not nearly so much work as the 9' 8 wt. You can only apply so much pressure with a 6 pound tippet anyway so I think you'd be okay. But maybe think about a 9' 7 wt as well. That one wouldn't be too bad to cast and fish with all day and you could apply a little more pressure than you could with the 6. I might be a good compromise.

I fish rods as light as 5 weight for PacNW steelhead, just because I feel that it is more pleasant to cast a light rod on a smaller stream. Think of it this way, in the average day of fishing, you'll spend approximately the following amount of time:

12hrs:
getting to the water, wading, walking streambanks: 2hrs
swinging the fly through the run: 4.5hrs
casting: 1hrish
lunch: 1hr
messing with your rigging: 30min
3hrs of etc

MAYBE if you're lucky, you'll hook a salmon a day.
say you play the fish for 15 minutes...

that 15 minutes shouldn't determine what rod you select--
the 5.5hrs when you are casting and managing line should!

Whew, I'm glad I don't fish where Scott fishes! Sounds like a lot more nature viewing than I like... I have to disagree with the closing argument though. If you go through 12 hours of fishing to connect with one fish, you should have a rod that will handle that fish in the moment of truth... even if you're tired, bored and inattentive after flogging the water all day with nary a bite. I guide part time, and always bump my clients up a weight- if there's a choice between 5 and 6 wt, for instance. The reason is, I want them to land their fish, with minimum stress to the fish. The waters I fish are mostly hook and release- this does no good if the fish is too weakened by a long fight to recover. If I wanted a wonderful day of casting practice, I'd use a 7'6" 4 wt and feel great at the end of the day! The rod I use for trout/steelhead/coho in Alaska is a 6wt 10ft SageXP, because it casts, manages the line, and handles almost any fish I hook quite well! It is a little more rod than I need for some of the fish I hook, but playing fish usually isn't what wears me out- its the casting heavy flies, splitshot, and mending line that really tuckers me. Unless its silvers.... 10-15 pound fish all day on a 6 wt really make me wish I was holding a 7 or 8wt. If you're casting for distance, or using heavy flies, you may have to work harder with a 6 wt to achieve the same results. Lastly, not to knock St Croix at all, they are very nice rods, you should consider using a Sage XP blank, which is a lighter blank than the SCIV. The Loomis 6wt 9' IMX is also a very nice rod!

Actually Steve, minus the hour I included for lunch, I'm guessing if you totaled up every second of your fishing time, you'd find that you spent far less time with your fly in the water than you thought.

Even when I am intently fishing through a steelhead run, I find that my fly is in the 'strike zone' only about 50% of the time. The rest of the time is spent letting the fly hang at the tail of the drift as I step down, stripping line back in to make the cast, actually making the cast (with two or three false casts), a mend or two, and FINALLY the fly begins its swing through the strike zone.

This assumes that I have already gotten to the head of the run (often a bit of a walk), waded into the water, rigged up the rod with the appropriate fly (and sinktip, if necessary), looked over my shoulder to check for fly-eating branches, etc...

I've used several tactics to maximize 'fishing' time when I am on the river. Now even in my trout fishing, I use single spey & double spey casts with a snake roll mixed in when I am bored, for the reason that they let my fly remain in the water as much as possible. When I am streamer fishing a long, flattish section of trout water, I find that I hit about 65%-70% efficiency.

However, when you are dry-fly fishing upstream to a rising trout, you are likely spending less than 5% of the time with the fly in the strike window...

I suppose it's up to the individual whether they would prefer an enjoyable fishing experience rather than landing one fish a day. There is a reason that people don't use 10 weights to catch brook trout-- it's no fun! I also get a lot of enjoyment in being slightly 'overmatched'-- if an angler has skill, as Tom said, the rod is not a limiting factor in landing a fish. I have landed 40-50lb carp on a SCIV 9'9" 6wt; took a lot of drag pressure, but it got the job done and was a @#$%& of a lot more fun than landing it on the 'appropriate' rod, which would be a 10 or 11 weight...

That said, when I am fishing lighter rods than normal (eg a 5wt for steelhead or 6wt for large carp or catfish), it is VERY VERY IMPORTANT to use heavier tippets and a reel with a good drag! An average angler won't take much longer to land a 15lb fish with a 5wt than a 10wt, assuming that the both are using 15lb flouro tippet. Actually, the average angler will probably be MORE likely to land the fish as there is more inherent tippet protection with the more flexible 5wt...

I understood that that "record" consisted of the boat chasing the marlin until a deck hand could pat him on the back. Hardly catching a fish, I would say.

I don't think there's any doubt that records such as these involve boats and motors and some chasing!!!

The point is that the rod is not the limiting factor in how large a fish you can land. It's like asking, "How far can I drive in this car?" Even very light rods can subdue very large fish - the rod is not supposed to be the weak link in the chain. How large a fish you can catch on any rod depends upon a lot of factors; the angler's skill is paramount, plus the strength of the tippet or line involved.

Whenever I had a customer pick up a light fly rod and ask me how large a fish he could land with it, I'd always tell him, "About 200 lbs." That would then open up the conversation for an explanation of the best fish fighting techniques and proper line or tippet selection.

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I longer rod would be good, because I am wading in the water while I fish, and the line sometimes hits the water on my back cast. I was thinking about 8'6 becuase I figure the rod wt and the length sort of combine to produce the leverage I feel when I'm casting. Thats why I thought I'd make it a little shorter and lighter. Maybe I could go longer and lighter. I'm not sure how that would feel for casting. Does a longer rod enable you to use less of a line weight and still manage a larger fish?

The longer the rod is, the more leverage the fish can exert on you. I wouldn't go longer in your case - backcasts hitting the water are not really due to a shorter rod, but do to a little too much drifting backwards with wrist on the backcast.

I have gone to longer rods in some situations where the fish were smaller and I wanted to feel more fight. An example is at a local pond where we bream fish and I wanted to get more of a fight out of them. So I moved from a 7' 3-weight to an 8'6" 3-weight and now they're all monsters.

The shorter the rod, the less power and fight the fish can put up against you. The longer the rod, the more leverage the fish and the harder he can fight and the larger he'll feel.

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Darrell. Having successfully achieved tendonitis in both elbows from fishing heavy rods, I feel your pain. I would think very hard about a 10'/6 weight switch rod on Dan Craft's new FT. That way you can rest that elbow with some 2 handed casting. I am planning such a rod precisely to take some strain off the elbows. I am not sure that shortening the rod makes it any less of a strain to cast. I would also consider a very light reel, perhaps a large arbor grahite to keep the overall weight down, as this also adds to the elbow problem.

The main thing is to get the fish on the reel. the rod should never need to bend more than 45 degrees. The reel drag is most important in fighting fish.

Perhaps if you tried balancing the rod you can take some of the tip weight off the tip?? Might make it a little easier to cast

Don, a 10' rod with a graphite reel will tire you out MUCH faster than a 8'6" with a heavier reel. Although the two might weigh the same as outfits (approx 9oz), the tip swing weight is what tires you out. Tom can probably say more about the lever physics of it than I can, but a longer rod will not alleviate casting strain!

Darrell, there's a ton of information coming at you from this thread, all of it useful. It is a lot of fun catching a big fish that has your equipment overmatched: I think back to the 25 pound king on 4 pound test mono when I was trout fishing years ago. I released the fish, but I have no idea whether it lived, and that caused heartache then, and still does. We were on the 2nd day of a 5 day float, with no way to keep it. If you have the necessary skill, a smooth reel with strong drag, and proper tippet, you can and will catch many fish, and be able to land large fish, regardless of your rod's weight. What no one is really mentioning is length of fight, and how that will affect your fishes recovery time when you release it. In the case of the king, it took me half an hour to land it, in small water. It took almost 10 minutes to revive it enough for it to swim away. Fighting heavy, hard fighting fish in a river current requires a rod with a lot of "backbone". You have to be able to turn the fish toward shore, and use its strength against it to guide it into shallower water, tail or net it, and release it unharmed. If your rod lacks sufficient backbone, then when you are trying to finish the fish, it can turn and catch the current, and move back into midstream much easier.