So, this is a basic question, but I feel I need to ask, since I'm not sure. I tie a lot of small poppers and spiders for bluegill and other small sunfish. I also tie several wet patterns (will ya, crayfish patterns, clouser minnows, etc.) very light weight still, but they do sink. Here is my problem, though...when throwing anything larger than really small poppers or dry flies, it seems I can feel the weight of the fly instead of the weight of the line more. this is causing the fly to slam into the water and not allowing for a long cast. I use a 4wt rod, with small tippet. Some have hinted that if I use a larger tippet size (I use 4x now I believe), that it will fix this problem. Is this the case, or do I need to get a larger wt rod (5, 5/6, 6, 7...)? Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. Just for clarification, I started tying crayfish and clouser patterns to try to get into the spotted bass and smallmouth action in local streams. . Again, thanks for any advice!