smallmouth

can i get away with a 5 wt for the Wisconsin below point but above plover?

smallies, can throw lighter poppers or clousers

5 wgt is fine don't horse them in. landed a 5.5 lm bass on my 4 wgt-7 ft-of course he wasan't in weeds

Old 5wt bamboo worked in Canada last month!  Just can't throw big deer hair top waters..       

will end up packing my steelhead rods just in case

Nobody knows their stuff like Rock River Tom. I will agree and say at least 6 weight for Wisconsin River smallies. I can get away with 5 weight for Largemouth and small stream smallie, but those big Wisconsin river smallie have a violent rush that snaps 5 weight. If the water is tea colored, you can get away with the 7 weight no problem. I like crayfish streamers as my best smallie fly

You can do it, but you might get abused if you hook into anything 18" or better. I like a six or seven weight. I can still handle the occasional big fish, without having too much rod for smaller fish. Have fun, smallies are a blast on the long rod.