I've only been fly fishing for about a year. I've got one rod, you guessed it, a 5wt. Am I crazy to use this in the BWCA? Will I regret it by hooking something that this rod can't handle? I was hoping to get some smallies.

Your not crazy... I use a 6wt for Steelies. If it's a good rod (dependable) then you won't have a problem.

Hex

A 5 wt should work fine on calm days. Of course there is the possibility of hooking into something to large for the rod...but I would say that might be a good problem to have.

Tight lines....

Not crazy at all. Smallies on a 5 wt. would probably be considered unreasonable fun. I'm actually envious as I write this. I usually power these fish with a 8 wt. but finessing them with a lighter rod would be awesome. Hook a big fish, use your palm on the reel rim to fine tune your drag. Make sure you have plenty of good backing and patience and you'll be landing fish.

You can land very large fish on a 5wt. My biggest rainbow on a 5wt was 19.5 inches (could not stretch her to 20.) I have also landed a 30” Northern on a 5 wt. You should not worry about fighting the fish but casting the fly. Most of what I toss for Northerns will overpower any of my 5wt rods. Stick to wollybuggers and foam poppers and stay away from rabbit strip patterns and deer hair poppers and you will be fine.

Tight Lines,

TB

i would agree with the others here
i myself am bringing my 5wt with me.
i even fish pike out of the river here with it. granted im not throwing anything to bulky with it but ive landed some rather large pike and smallies with it. it just takes a bit more finess to get them in. the only thing i found that was "too much" for it was a carp that i only saw once .