I'm with most of ya here when it comes to going lighter, heck i'm trying to catch up with Leo & Caneybuff in the "old as dirt" category 
My 9 weight is a TiCRx, yep, it's heavier than a BII or Helios, as already mentioned, a heavier reel offsets that weight & makes it manageable for an "approaching" 'ol fart such as myself.
Remember Thumper's huge brown of this past spring on the shad kill , 10' 5 weight throwing a 250 grain line with a nice size clouser developed by Jim Teeny & Teeny knows throwing large stuff. Thumper landed that fish with one full unit in less time than it takes me to land a 15" fish, i was shocked.
Are we throwing to much rod?
Grumpy
It's all according to the line grain and the fly size. A 5wt may "lob" a 350+ grain but it won't "cast" it far. I usually don't go over 250 grains for a 5wt. The heavier the grain, the bigger the fly it will turn over. Even a 400 grain has trouble turning over some of the truly large flies I use. I use a 10ft 9wt XP for throwing 400 grain tips and flies up to 8". I use this set up to get deep fast when the circumstances call for it. If you do hook up with something that's big you can get it to the top quick. Also, if you wrap something on the bottom you can muscle it out easier with a heavy rod. In certain water situations you'd be glad you had a bigger rod wt.
