F
fishfry
I would go with a 7 wt.. or at least a rod with a fighting butt... A 5-6 isn't gonna cast the types of fly you desire as smoothly... sounds like you will become a classic streamer fisherman... flies like all of the bugger and bunny leech family, dace,, and spruce flies tied more to suite your area... but I would definitely try the purple peril, freight train, and all of the sunrise variants of steelhead flies for trout of that caliber, when you go into a flyshop the clerk is gonna try to hand you a prince nymph and a bobber and try to convince you for the winter dropper setups and scuds and all of the nymphing stuff... and they work awsome for pulling all the dinks out of a spot... bunny leeches in brown and black are gonna produce those trophy fish- now since I took the time to answer your question... next time you get a 28+ incher, would you let just that one... the next one, go.. just one... not trying to convert you.. But you sure must eat a lot of trout!