wtb - basic fly rod setup

[Fixit]

looks like im getting a pontoon boat for christmas... id like a fly rod for stocked rainbow in the local lakes, also need some sschooling on what flys to use etc.

thx

[BigfishCanada]

How much? I bought a $400 package that I love from http://www.togenenterprises.com/home.html

If thats too much goto Searun and get a Kamloops Dragon rod and reel, its about $150 and a nice rod

[adriaticum]

I have 2 dragonfly setups 6 wt and 8 wt. I'm not a fly fisherman per se, I just dabble.
Good starter gear,

[835]

Spend most of your money on the rod.. buy a good line,, like Scientific Anglers Trout series or a good Courtland... ( 60$ )
Dragon fly makes a great 50$ Reel....

Flies are pretty simple.. if your in lakes buy a pile of Chironimids... for sitting and casting..... learn this method, it is extremely successful..
Trolling, Whooly buggers and dragonflis... Muddlers etc and go slow! way slower than you are used to with gear....

[warnniklz]

Buying a fly rod is like buying a guitar. Sure you can drop a $200 on a guitar. But it won't play worth shit, you'll hate it and no one will want to buy it when you go to sell it. Boom out $200.

Same properties go with buying a fly rod.

[adriaticum]

Buying a fly rod is like buying a guitar. Sure you can drop a $200 on a guitar. But it won't play worth shit, you'll hate it and no one will want to buy it when you go to sell it. Boom out $200.

Same properties go with buying a fly rod.



Ha,ha if you learn to play on a $200 guitar, $1000 guitar will be a piece of cake.

BTW, I have a guitar I'm selling for $1100.
You want to really sound good? :mrgreen:

[Wild one]

Rod and line are most important for trout fishing real is basically just to hold line as trout are often stripped in

835 gave good advice so only going to add to it. For a rod look at redington nice rods for the price. For flies leach patterns, damsel fly nymphs, Dragon fly larva, chronimids, and scuds are all go to flies for me.

[steel_ram]

I found for lake fishing, the line has been the biggest factor. I always carry a floating. intermediate sink and a fast sinking. One will always out fish the other two. I use the floating the least on lakes, but the most every where else.
As noted, Redington put out some decent starter rods, as do TFO and St. Croix. Lower end Sage are great when you can catch them on sale. I cast a friends Cabela's brand rod the other day and thought it felt heavy, but it casted very nicely.

[warnniklz]

Ha,ha if you learn to play on a $200 guitar, $1000 guitar will be a piece of cake.

BTW, I have a guitar I'm selling for $1100.
You want to really sound good? :mrgreen:

If I didn't have a goat mount and vehicle before... yup!

[warnniklz]

I found for lake fishing, the line has been the biggest factor. I always carry a floating. intermediate sink and a fast sinking. One will always out fish the other two. I use the floating the least on lakes, but the most every where else.
As noted, Redington put out some decent starter rods, as do TFO and St. Croix. Lower end Sage are great when you can catch them on sale. I cast a friends Cabela's brand rod the other day and thought it felt heavy, but it casted very nicely.

The joys of fishing solo. I always run one floating and a type 5 sinking on still water. Rivers and creeks are obviously more tactical with lines.

But like I was saying about running two different lines on still water. I'll usually (not always) run a nymph or leech on my sinking. Then a chrony or another dry on my floating depending on whay's happening on the surface.

You never know when fish are going to change depths or selection. I change flies fairly often too if I'm not touching anything. I also splurge on a 25 yard spool of 5lb fluorocarbon and run a 15-30 foot leader on my sinking line.

My brother is definitely a better fisherman than myself. But I think he's just luckier. For example he kept wanting to hammer a bay wthat's only 15' deep. We do well ice fishing that spot. But it was 30+ degrees out with a slight breeze. I decided we hit a 500 yard long trench that's 90 some feet deep. We went to one end and dead drifted(let the breeze push us) through the trench and we were hitting them hard.

[Fixit]

i was thinking of starting with a 100-150$ combo to start, then upgrading later.
should i be getting a 6 weight for stocked trout? 9ft?

thanks for all the replies

[AgSilver]

The Amundson kits on costco.ca can actually be quite good for the price (according to a champion fly fisher that I took some lessons from)

[warnniklz]

Personally I'd go 5wt rod with a 6wt line if you haven't flyfished before. Make sure it/s a weight forewed line. And if you decide to stick with it, upgrade the line first.

[Blk Arrow]

5 weight outfits seem to be the standard for most lakes these days. It use to be 7 weights when it was fiberglass rods and I got a reminder a few weeks ago. I dusted off an old 7wt fiberglass and found the rod lacked backbone of my lighter carbon fiber rods
Price doesn't necessarily dictate what you will like. Echo also builds good products (offshore) and there are many people that really like there entry Boost line of rods.
At least 90 percent( most likely more) of what fish eat is taken subsurface. Leeches and woolly buggers are a good place to start as they can be trolled as a method to locate fish. I would suggest asking this question on the Flybc site. Lots of knowledge people there willing to help out.

[blenardon]

Go to Trout Waters in Kelowna very knowledgeable and friendly staff.

[Blk Arrow]

Go to Trout Waters in Kelowna very knowledgeable and friendly staff.
X2 on Trout Waters. Unfortunate it appears it would be a fair drive for Fixit.

[Salty]

The Amundson kits on costco.ca can actually be quite good for the price (according to a champion fly fisher that I took some lessons from)

2nd-ed. I bought an Amundson rod from Wholesale a 9 weight though for entry price they're quite good. TFO is another decent brand on a budget. I'm a rookie but read and asked a lot when I got the bug a few years back. Another vote for a 5 weight for trout

[Fixit]

found one of cabelas copper river combos for 120, on sale for 49, so drove out to abby from squamish to buy it. then found out they had black instead of orange ones, 79.99 instead, so came home, ordered it online instead... pita!

i got the 9ft 5 wt, some type 3 sinking line and a few flys

[elknut]

Best advice I could give is to join a fly club in your city ..They will give you free advice and teach you how to tye your own flies and where and when to use them...You'll meet some really good guys and make new friends for both you and family ..Dennis

[albravo2]

I may be the least expert fly fisherman on here, but my experience was the cheap, super-flexy cabelas rod I bought was very easy to learn with. Very forgiving. Once I knew what it was supposed to feel like I bought a nicer, stiffer rod. I was a mess for a while but when I got the timing down I found I could cast much farther than with the super-flexy rod.

Good luck, it is a great way to spend time.

[835]

I may be the least expert fly fisherman on here, but my experience was the cheap, super-flexy cabelas rod I bought was very easy to learn with. Very forgiving. Once I knew what it was supposed to feel like I bought a nicer, stiffer rod. I was a mess for a while but when I got the timing down I found I could cast much farther than with the super-flexy rod.

Good luck, it is a great way to spend time.

that is because it was what you learned with, your "Arm got used to it"
not bad at all, it is just why you like that cast... until a guy has a very diverse experience with a lot of rods will that change. And even then you will tend to the cast stroke you learned with.
learning to cast rods that are fast and then switch to a slow rod, and doing all well is a trick...

this is also why it is good to go into a casting clinic... it is extremely hard to explain online in one post.. but there is a lot going on when you cast... it isn't the rod... its you, the rod when properly coupled with your arm will just work.
and if you are a "limp caster" a slow rod will be best, you don't have enough Jam to blast out on a fast rod... conversely if you ad bottoming out a slow rod, .....

after years at it, you will have both.... and when its windy or you need distance... you will pull out the XP..... and when its calm and you want a nice presentation you will pull out the SP..
and when you are after Steel you will pull out the DSII... and when you are on the ocean,, it will be the RPLXi ... and now, your addicted.....

[ajr5406]

Depends on where your primarily fishing. For a good all around rod, a 6 weight is great. However, a 6 weight is a little overgunned if your going to fish a lot of stocked lakes for small rainbows.

I would get a decent 5 weight, and it will last decades. As mentioned, get a cheap reel but spend some money on a good quality weight forward line. I personally like the Rio Gold series... For rods, I have a few Redingtons, which are great for the money. I also have some TFO's which are great value too. St Croix is also good. I also own an Echo, which is great for the money. Either of these brands will get you into a great rod that will last a long time (with good warrantees too).

If you can, go talk to the guys at Michael and Young as they are awesome and will point you in the right direction. I would also but your float tube second hand as they are pretty often sold for half the retail price, and use Christmas to get yourself a nice rod.

For lakes, I use a 4 weight and a 6 weight, depending on where i fish. The 4 weight is perfect for small streams as well as smaller lakes with smaller trout - its nice to get some bend in the rod, even on small fish...

Keep an eye on GofishBC (Freshwater fisheries) website as you can find lots of great little lakes that are stocked. These fish are usually easy to catch (i.e.: trolling or slow stripping a woolly bugger, or leech pattern), and great fun on light gear.

Have fun!

[adriaticum]

I'm almost tempted to sell you all my fly gear. How much money you got?

[Wild one]

If you have friends who fly fish try there gear. Personally I have not found a cheap combo I like. I just can't get the distance or lay line on the water as nice. I owned 3 different cheap combos as a kid but the first time I picked up a nice rod and line set it was an eye opener

Everyone has a preference but overall everyone I have met will preach good rod and line are important

[steel_ram]

High end rods are overpriced. Your buying insurance in the name of warranty for all those door slammed tips people get replaced for free. There are some very good inexpensive rods out there using generally IM6 graphites. Sometimes they cheap out on furniture, sometimes they are factory seconds of a high end brand.

A moderate rod I like that is very beginner friendly is Redingtons Classic trout series if you can find them on special. I still love it for the lake, but have since been spoiled by faster rods for off the beach long bombs.

[835]

high end rods are over priced for sure, but when you get good enough for one.... and buy one.... you see why.... if you cant see why, your not good enough to get it.

[ajr5406]

High end rods are overpriced. Your buying insurance in the name of warranty for all those door slammed tips people get replaced for free. There are some very good inexpensive rods out there using generally IM6 graphites. Sometimes they cheap out on furniture, sometimes they are factory seconds of a high end brand.

A moderate rod I like that is very beginner friendly is Redingtons Classic trout series if you can find them on special. I still love it for the lake, but have since been spoiled by faster rods for off the beach long bombs.


x2 on the Redington Classic Trout rods. I have one in 4 weight, and its my go-to dry fly and small stream rod. Casts really nice and quite forgiving too. You just have to slooooooow down your casting stroke as its a full flex (slow action) rod. Great rod for the money though!