The same has happened with Carp tackle...everyone is using 12 or 13 foot 3 pound test curve rods, "because thats what they use in the mags"! Aye, they do, for fishing for dirty great 40 pound plus carp in France on HUGE inland seas.
The average punter would put more fish on the bank by scaling back and using lighter rods to match the smaller waters in the UK.
I use 8 weight rods for landing large Pike on the fly..as in fish over 20 pounds, and the reason they are 8 weight rather than 6 is because of the large flies i use. To me a 7 weight is overgunned on all the North East stillwaters with maybe the exception of some of the reservoirs such as Fedderate where a big wind can cause problems.
I stopped off at a small local water to me on Sunday, just for a look, and was supprised to see people using WF lines, and 10 foot rods on such a small "puddle". A 20 yard cast would have you fishing the same water as the chap on the opposite side! Most of the fish were in close, yet everyone was casting to the far bank. It must be a "mines bigger than yours" syndrome.
Us light liners don't need to show off!!