Well since Steffens are on the menu tonight there were in years past post here that the 8ft 3 in was the sweetest of the 5 wt. configurations. I don’t have one but I’m sure there are others here who do and hopefully they can give us a update on this rod. I have a 8 ft. 3/4 that I bought as a blank from Mark Steffen, I love this rod for smaller streams in Michigan, but would like a 5/6 in a little longer length for our slightly larger streams here.
Mike.

Thankyou, Shane .

All models have a specific mandrel, and different start points along with different measurements for ferrule reinforcements. Basically the 8'3" is not a cut down version of the 8'6" taper if that makes sense.

makes perfect sense. the 8' 3/4wt doesn't feel anything like the 7'9" 3/4wt. i like the tip section on the shorter rod it feels stiffer and faster than the longer 8' rod. I have a 8'6" 5/6 and i find that to be a little softer in the tip than i want ideally, feels better with a 5wt though.