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fly fishing kit

Are you thinkng of fishing rivers/streams or lakes Jerry?

Cheers
Adam
 
hi adam

just my local river the river goyt, its a small river with some good trout, never fly fished before but fancy giving it ago and with plenty of fish knocking about would be a good place to start
cheers
jerry
 
Better that you be looking for a deal on a 9ft 4-piece for a # 5 (floating) fly line, Jerry - rods for a 7 line are a bit OTT for streams, are more stillwater rods.
 
Jerry, it's well worth having a look at the fishtec website, the airflo tackle is superb for the price.
 
Can only echo everyone else on line weights...

I used to have a sportfish package that was very nice (and cheap) until I snapped the tip in my car boot! I dont think they do the rods anymore though...

I also own a 'Sumo XS' that I got for pike fishing on ebay for about 20quid, its a really good rod for that price, I'm sure they do smaller weights on ebay too. Maybe worth a look :)

I bought a cheapy to start with, went small stream fly fishing once or twice and then I was hooked!

Enjoy
Adam
 
Using that sort of kit on rivers is just what puts people of fly fishing for life!
Dependent on how small and how overgrown and if you are primarily going to fish dry fly, wet fly or nymph, river trout rods will usually be between 6 ft 2# to a 9 ft 5 #. On most smaller streams a decent 7 ft 6 in 3 # will be best, a decent rod can always cope with a heavier line if required. Check out the Lefty Kreh range of rods, they are the bargain rods of a lifetime and as good as Sage and Hardy rods costing between 4 to 6 times as much. I review a couple here
http://petemarshall.com/diary/2009/05/leftey-kreh-3-76-rod/
any old reel will do to start with, although metal is usually better than composite and light metal reels do cost money. Get the best line you can afford...poor quality fly lines only last 5 minutes and make casting a pain instead of a joy.
 
Jerry I have just been through this in the last few weeks. Don't get anything heavier than a 5wt rod for the Goyt, it will also be fine for most other rivers. There is a technique called Czech nymphing which the lads do on the upper Don which involves getting in the river and not what you'd call casting, more dropping a weighted nymph into the water on a short line and following it downstream with the rod. Really effective on the Don and the Goyt lads do swaps with the Don lads. In fact we are supposed to be having a 'War of the Roses' type friendly match soon. Greys GRXi rods are pretty good and there is a guy called barrio on the fly fishing forums selling double taper floating lines for less than £20 including postage, they are really good lines and compare well to my snowbee line which cost me a lot more! £120-130 will get you a nice setup, I mean one that will last you a lifetime. The Goyt is supposed to be prolific and you will catch plenty I'm sure.

I'm certainly no expert but I have done my research and I'm thoroughly enjoying the whole fly fishing thing. I have found the fly anglers in my region to be very helpful indeed so I suggest contacting one of the local clubs. My first foray onto the river for trout will be on Sunday.

Don't buy a really cheap kit when some really good kit isn't a fortune.

Conrad
 
Just seen Pete's post and he persuaded me to by a Lefty Kreh rod and I am so glad he did. Even I can cast with it - easily! All the experienced fly anglers that have tried it, including the guy who is a fly casting coach and who taught me absolutely love the rod and can't believe the price of them.

For the Don I have an 8ft 6 3wt rod, light as a feather!

Conrad
 
cheers pete/conrad for the advice, i,ll bear that in mind and will have a look at those rods.
cheers
jerry
 
You won't go far wrong with a Temple Fork Lefty Kreh rod, Jerry. The firm is making major waves in the fly rod market, producing - God forbid! - excellent rods at a sensible price. I began using high-performance American fly rods a long time ago (1970s) - first Orvis, then Sage and Loomis as they appeared in the '80s and '90s - and this meant paying an arm and a leg. Interesting to see that Gary Loomis joined Temple Fork recently (see website below) - he knows the way the wind is blowing...


http://www.templeforkflyrods.com/
 
orvis have opened a shop in old amersham, it's just the right place, the money floating round there.
those Helios Rods are rather nice.
 
Jerry
Well done for having a go, but before you buy anything do some research in your area for a qualified casting instructor. You will be supplied with tackle and he will explain the need to fish with a balanced combination of rod & line weight. He should also be able to guide you on tackle purchase to suit your budget. You may find a fly fishing shop that has a package of tackle with a free hour of instruction, you might have to haggle a bit but a good shop will see future sales from satisfied customers. Try before you buy, you may not like it.
I love it and it's not just for trout and salmon.
Tight lines.
Dave
 
And yet, and yet...

In my experience many such instructors, good as they can be (VERY good), are like Golf Pros - they have tie-ins with makers of very expensive, sexy, Big Brand kit, and find ways of getting clients to purchase such stuff. Bit like a learner driver learning to drive in a top-end car, then feeling very dissatisfied with the manky ten-year-old Fiesta they are compelled to drive when qualified.

Nowadays, however, thank God, when it comes to fly rods, the learner is able to learn with, say, an excellent Sage, then go on to fish with an equally excellent (though perhaps not so well-finished and pretty) cheaper rod. Whether he wants to do this is entirely up to him, for he might feel that he simply cannot be seen on the "good water" he might now be going on to fish with cheaper gear, that he could be looked down on by his fellow rods. But now we're into Male Jewellery Syndrome...
 
and not only the high end tackle but a high end motor and high end clothing to go with it.
but that's fly fishing, no such Etiquette with coarse angling, us commoners....lol
 
Please credit Jerry with some common sense, I don't know him but I'd bet he would not buy a top of the range fly rod, without casting knowledge, just because an instructor says it makes him cast well.
You are right Paul, I know lots of instructors that endorse brands and I know some that 'Just happen to have a spare rod for sale in the boot of the car. Cash only though'

So do you think that a new starter should buy in ignorance and ignore the instructor to try to cast without help?
When I first started I had 4 hours of instruction (Four one hour sessions) followed buy a week on the Spey. Money well spent IMO.
I borrowed a Thomas & Thomas 15' 10# and a reel from a well known fishing shop in my area (same place that I had my lessons). I liked spey casting so much that I had a rod made for me by a Harrow based rod maker. It is on a B & W blank and cost £250.
The T&T was well out of my price but I still visit the shop to buy fly lines and the occasional reel. They have treated me well and as a result get my custom.
Dave
 
I know, I know, I'm a life-long and pretty able trout, sea-trout and salmon flyfisher, yet I'll never forget the instant ban that came a few years ago when I jokily followed up a non-controversial posting on a fly forum with a signature listing several spoof internet links (which nearly everybody on the board appeared to do, either for sucking-up purposes or because they were in the fly-tackle trade). One of them I can remember without having to trawl through the now gigabytes-deep archive of everything I have ever written on the Internet:


www.aquaticgolfcourses.con
 
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