5 piece rod or 7 piece rod? lightweight holding case? Reel?

First off, not sure I can suggest using a 4 weight line with a 5 weight rod. It will not "Load" the rod properly for any type of short casting. I wouldn't like it. If you must buy a 4 weight reel, put a 5 weight line on it and use less backing…

I have not researched every reel out there but check it out –

Scientific Anglers System 1 – ~$60 3.9oz
Click pawl, great for line storage, used it for many years. Drag isn't really good at all but…You probably won't need it…And if you do get "Caught" by a big fish use the palming rim. Not large arbor though but you'll live.

Scientific Angler System 2 – ~$100 4.1oz
Disc drag (And a nice one) Again no large arbor.

Orvis Battenkill BarStock II – ~$120 3.5oz
Same as above.

Orvis Battenkill Large Arbor – ~$200 4.1oz
Large arbor good drag $$$

System 1 and call it a day? :P

I'm sure there are a lot of others out there but these are just some off the top of my head.

sub 4 ounce, $60, I think I can deal with that just fine. Savings of $260 and add an ounce, pretty much what I need. I've been looking and most the cheaper reels I've seen were all above 5oz.

Well I ordered the Scientific Anglers System 1, @ 3.9 oz and $60 I couldn't resist for what I'll be using it for. Now I need to decide on a line brand… I know I'm getting 5wt WF,I just don't know which color/brand. Probably a more drab color than bright. Thanks for all the great info so far!

fly pole and reel are taken care of. (Cabela's 5 piece 8' 6" fly rod and Scientific Anglers System 1 reel) Still trying to find a suitable tube. The poster kits at Micheal's weren't carried at the store near here. I'll try another place or 2.

Bummer about the poster tube. About 2 years ago I picked up a couple of pack tubes at Joes (Outdoors) at one of their tent sales. They're even lighter than the one I got at Michaels. Since they are going out of business, you might try them. I'm guessing that since you are in WA you might be near one or two.

Fly pole? Shudder. :)

Earlier in this thread Michael Davis was kind enough to post a link to a thread on rod tubes. In that thread is a link to US Plastics. I just ordered some material from them to check it out. I made a 27" long tube out of the 1/16" thick product that weighs 6oz with end caps. It's nearly indestructable. (I can stand on it and it does not bottom out, though it bends a little) I am also pondering the 1/32" thick product to save half the weight…But it hasn't arrived yet. I'm not sure if it will be strong enough though, we'll see. By comparison the factory supplied tube weighs 12oz for a 4 piece rod.

I caught the initial link but missed the second one in the other thread. Generally I'm surfing mid day on my windows mobile phone which takes longer to load and read through link after link let alone html errors that happen to come along with windows mobile. I would like a case mainly to protect the eye loops while the pole is in the outside mesh pocket of the backpack or in transport to the trail head or in storage. I won't be planning on stepping on it, and plan on taking as much care of it as the rest of my lightweight gear. So I'll try the 1/32" tube since I really only need protection from slight bumps and scrapes since the tube will be on the outside of the pack. Thanks, for re-mentioning the previous post.