I ordered a fly rod from muhole because it seemed like a good deal. I didn't get a reel seat for it yet because I was a bit confused about them. I see there are different sizes. The rod is a 5 wt so what would be the best size reel seat for it?

Ken

You want a reel seat with an ID just a wee bit larger than the rod's butt diameter, which value is probably published by Mudhole or you can measure it with calipers. Additionally, some reel seats are described as suitable for X or X to Y line weight rods. But it's the ID of the seat vs the OD of the rod butt that is critical. You can use a stint to use a reel seat with an ID less than the butt OD, but that is a technique best reserved for some glass rods.

For a 5 weight you'll find a large variety of both up-locking and down-locking hardware. For a 5 weight, 9', carbon fiber rod an up-locking seat is probably the most popular to balance the rod. The downside is most .will require the grip to be inlet to the correct size to accept the reel seat hood. An e-glass 5 weight might balance better with a down-locking seat.

It's difficult to be more specific without knowing your rod's length, material (carbon fiber or glass), weight of the reel to be used, your perceived swing weight / balance preference, and of course the depth of your wallet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2019 01:04PM by Donald La Mar.

As Donald mentions, many fly rod reel seats indicate the fly rod weights for which they are suitable. I build lots of fly rods and I use mostly the Batson line which is available from a number the suppliers on the left.

Sadly the St Croix reel seat kits are no longer available. These were great quality and reasonably priced. I hope they bring them back.

But happily, Batson makes a decent handle kit with the cork already inlet, a shim for the reel seat and a buttcap for the very bottom. I have recently been using a bunch of these:

[getbitoutdoors.com]

That would work well for your 5 wt and won't break the bank. As you build more fly rods, you may find other reel seats and cork that works for you but the better quality seats will cost extra $$.

I was able to find a reel seat for the fly rod. I used Donald's suggestion by checking out the OD of the butt and compared it to a reel seat ID. It ended up being a size 7.