Line rating
Also called line weight rating, pound test rating
The range of line strength a rod is built for, printed on the blank as something like 6 to 15 lb.
The rating is a pair of numbers in pounds, and it tells you the band where the rod, the line and the drag all fail in a sensible order. Inside the range, a fish that is too strong pulls drag or pops the line long before the blank is in danger. Go far above the range and the line becomes the strongest part of the system, which means the rod is next in line to break.
It is a guide rather than a law. Braid complicates it, because braid has no stretch and a 30 pound braid is thinner than 10 pound mono, so most people who spool braid on a rod rated for 6 to 15 pound line are technically outside the range and perfectly fine. What matters is that you are not cranking a snag free with line the rod cannot survive.
Undershooting has its own cost. Two pound line on a medium rod snaps on the hookset because the blank has no give at the top of its range.
Spooling braid, aim near the top of the printed range for mono equivalence, and add a fluorocarbon leader instead of going heavier still.
Related terms
Where this comes up
The guides that use line rating and show it on real gear.
Line rating is one of 206 terms in the glossary.
Browse the full fishing glossary