Just wondering - does the Pac Bay A7 fly seat look out of place on a lighter fly rod - 3 wt. up to 6 wt.? I have not built with one yet, but am considering it to pair up with my Fenwick style grip, as I'll need a seat without a hidden hood.

Thanks - Marc

Keep it simple - that's all I can handle!

The A& is pretty "Beefy" looking for a light weight rod. ( 3-5) Pac Bay has lighter non=recessed seats, like the UL5 & DL5

There are better choices, but I do not see why not. The A7 will mate up with a Fenwick style grip very nicely especially if you taper the rear of the grip to the same outside diameter as the front hood on the A7. A short 3 or 4wt might be a little light for this seat, but remember this is "your" rod and if you are happy with the look and feel what is the harm? If you do some research you will find that many of the Chico era Powell Fly Rods had this style of seat, now I don't know for sure if it was by Pac Bay, but it sure does look close. I once played around with a 7'-3" 3wt Powell that had an A7 style seat in gold that did feel pretty nice in the hand, although the owner did have a light weight reel on it. Balanced just fine.

I don't understand the negative press directed toward the A7 reel seats. I've read it in threads other than this one. Their slip rings are machined, not pressed into shape like the UL5/DL5 seats and the threaded barrel's O.D. is actually smaller than the 5 series seats so I think they look more at home on a light weight flyrod than the 5 series does. The A7's are actually lighter in weight than the 5 series seats which are made of brass. I prefer to recess my A7 seats, not using an RA7 - but the original A7 style. It recesses perfectly with a 22mm forstner bit.

I will use an A7 on a three weight, they are small and light enough. They are the same length as the A5 and A4 and are shorter than the U3. PacBay A7 woven graphite 24.5 grams, aluminum 25.5g, A4 22.5g. Batson A5 21g. Unknown (Batson or PacBay) U3 23g.

I put the Forecast A7 seat on a RX6 6'6 2wt, and it looks good and balances really well with a TFO NXT1 reel and a DT3 line. I'm start a 3wt now, and I'm going to use the same seat on it as well.

I used Fenwick grips and A7 or 8 reel seats on many of the Lamiglas Perigee blanked rods, they were thin walled blanks and .500" at the butt. Didn't look a bit out of place IMO, and I was able to bore and ream wood inserts to fit.