Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Anyone here run 4-weight line on a 5-weight rod?

That all depends on the quality of the rod and the line. A flyrod loads in resistance to the weight of the line, where a spinning rod loads to the weight of the lure. These are 2 very different criteria, therefore the rod and line need to be matched.

If you have a medium to soft action 5 weight rod, you may be able to load it with a WF 4 weight line, but you won't know without trying it. Most cheaper rods show that 2 line weights can function on the same rod, but the better rods are line specific.

If you are just starting out you may never know the difference, but you can also waste a lot of time learning how to do it wrong. If you just want to go cheap, give it a shot, you may find out you don't even like flyfishing and saved yourself some money.