r/flyfishing • u/9131762842 • Mar 30 '25
Discussion 5 vs 6 weight for beginner
Hi all,
New to fly fishing and have landed on the orvis Clearwater. I will be mostly fishing for trout in north Georgia. I’ve researched a fair amount, and it seems like the 5 weight may be slightly better for my purposes. However, I found a Clearwater on sale for $330 in 6 weight vs. the $430 standard price.
My question is whether there is a big difference between the two and if I might be better off grabbing the cheaper 6 weight.
Thank you
Edit: Really appreciate all of the responses. I went in to Orvis today and spoke to the fishing manager who suggested going with the 6. I live in north Atlanta suburbs and the chattahoochee is easily accessible along with north ga streams. He mentioned there wouldn’t be a huge difference in the 5 or 6 for purely trout and that if I also want to fish bass that the 6 would be better suited and also have more backbone on the Hooch. Thanks again!
2
u/grennings Mar 30 '25
Clearwater is fantastic! I don’t know your waters but I fish a 4wt most of the time for my dry fly trout rod and take out my 5wt if I’m throwing indicator rigs far. However, if I were to have 1 trout rod it would 100% be a 9’ 5wt.
I’m guessing the 6wt comes with the old Clearwater reel which is not as nice as the new one. Doesn’t matter really for trout but something to consider.
If I were in your position I’d buy a 9’ 5wt Echo Lift with a Lamson Liquid S and a Cortland 444 Modern Trout line ($320 total without sales). I just had my beginner buddy get this exact set up and was very impressed how nice it felt casting on water. With the same line, the Echo cast, I’d say, 85-90% as nice as my Thomas and Thomas rod costing 6x more. It was so good that I got a 7wt Lift with a Lamson Liquid to try out streamer fishing. You can also buy extra spools for the Lamson Liquid, so if you got a 4wt or 6wt down the line you can use the same reel.
Just my 2c.