My son and I own Clearwater River Company LLC. Single hand fly rods should be at least a 9 wt. Spey rods can be 8 wt. but 9-10 is recommended. It’s not that you can’t land bigger fish on lesser weighted rods, it’s that you end up exhausting native fish that need to be released. Plus, you simply can’t land some of the bigger fish.
We are staying at lake pleasant for two weeks and would like to fish for striped bass. Any reports and advice would be greatly appreciated.