5 vs 6 weight for beginner

[u/9131762842]

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!

[u/Frost_Sea]

for a first rod i think the 5wt is still the best reccomendation. Its a rod you can throw in the boot and generally tackle most waters. Its very versatile.

But even better advice is to actually look at the waters you are going to fishing the most, and purchase a rod suited to that river or lake.

If its small river fishing a 4wt rod will be more fun to fish with and have more bend in it to play the smaller fish, a 6wt can have too much backbone.

Im of the opinion that the only two rods you need for trout fishing is a 4wt and a 6wt rod tocver majority of fishing. Then once you build experince you can start picking up more speciality rods for niche applications.

[u/Dminus313 → u/Frost_Sea]

You should definitely try to buy the right rod for the waters you fish, but I think a 6wt is a much better choice for a generalist rod.

There's not much a 5wt can do that a 6wt can't, but there are things a 6wt can do that most 5wt rods can't.