can someone help me chose a fly fishing rod and reel?
Posted by admin on Thursday, December 31st, 2009
I Like to fish a fairly small river the Powell River to be specific for smallmouth and the clinch for fairly large trout. I’d like to keep it fairly cheap any ideas?
Filed in Fly Fishing Rods | 6 responses so far
travis son 31 Dec 2009 at 12:13 pm 1Cabela’s has some really good combos. Just get the best one you can afford. For the fishing you describe, I’d go with a 9 foot rod, either 6 or 8 weight. The 8 weight would be better for bulkier flies or weighted streamers. The more expensive rods use better graphite in them. They cast much more smoothly and load better. That’s why I said get the best you can afford. The quality is directly proportionate to the price.
Fisher_Kingon 31 Dec 2009 at 12:26 pm 2Here’s my pick:
Pflueger Medalist reel model 1594 1/2 RC-($31.99) : Pflueger Medalist Series reels are very durable, inexpensive, and have been catching freshwater and saltwater fish for many years. And At $30 you can afford to buy an extra spool for $12.99 !!!
I’ve caught 5-6LB Largemouth Bass and 10-12LB saltwater Redfish with this reel with no issues. A Medalist is a great beginner reel for anyone wanting to start Fly Fishing.
You have a number of options with rods. In Fly-fishing your rod is the most important feature. In my opinion, you should purchase either:
a. Cabelas Three Forks Rod model 908-2 2 piece 9′($49.99)
b. Cabelas Temple Fork Rod model TFO 8902 2 piece 9′ – ($109)
c. Cabelas Temple Fork Lefty Kreh Pro COMBO model TFO 8906P 4Piece 9′- ($239)- This includes reel, rod, backing, and Line. (Understand, that decent fly-line is usually in the $40-$50 range.)
Go to http://www.cabelas.com to read reviews on the above suggested Fly outfit’s.
Hope this helps ya? Good fishing!
PS- Travis gets my vote for best answer for this quote alone,” The quality is directly proportionate to the price”.
UPDATE: The reason I suggest you get a 7-8 weight VS a 6 weight is: Where you find Smallmouth you will find Largemouth. Largemouth can get twice the size of an average Smally. And although Smallmouth are a lot “scrappier” than Largemouth you may need the extra weight for that “unforeseen” 6-8 LB L-Bass that comes along. And it’s a bit easier to “turn over” a larger Bass fly/bug with a 7-8 weight. If you know for a fact that you won’t encounter L-Bass go with Pheasant or Airflo’s suggestion.
Thumbs to Pheasant & Airflo.
bassplayer_1313on 31 Dec 2009 at 12:35 pm 3cabelas has some nice beginners combos and l also agree with travis. but go with a medium action. they’re a bit more forgiving for beginners.
pheasant tailon 31 Dec 2009 at 1:23 pm 4Smallmouth and fairly large trout – I’d say a 9′ 6wt is the way to go.
As far as keeping it cheap, i would definitely check out
http://www.kmdtackle.com – they have a wide array of reasonably priced rods and reels. If you e-mail them and tell them what you want specifically or ask for their
recommendations, Kevin will go out of his way to help you.
You’ll need fly line also – don’t go too cheap there –
the quality drops off the edge of the table with “bargain
basement” lines. Cortland 444, Scientific Anglers Lefty Kreh series are both very good lines for less than
$45
tight lines
AIRFLOWon 31 Dec 2009 at 1:45 pm 5Have to agree with the other posters- a 6wt would suit you best, depending on the size of the bass a 7wt would also suit, without being too heavy handed.
Another point i must agree with, you can spend a small sum on a rod, but what you really need to do is buy a quality WF line-to match the rod, in this case a 6wt, a floating line is all you need to start with.
As for rods, well i wouldn’t normally recommend TFO(temple for outfitters) but recently i cast one and for the price it wasn’t all that bad. They have enough power in the blank to handle harder fighting fish, i also recommend a model with a fighting butt, for ease of use. Redington is also a brand i would suggest looking into, if you don’t want to spend too much, kmdtackle.com, has the cheapest prices for redington i have seen online, so check them out!
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat600020&rid=&indexId=cat600020&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat600020&id=0029716
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat20469&rid=&indexId=cat20469&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=4&parentType=index&parentId=cat20469&id=0044179
Another cheap option, although not a combo, for a reel, i suggest buying the okuma magnitude, if you plan to keep the price down.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat20465&id=0044052319581a&navCount=11&podId=0044052&parentId=cat20465&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IJ&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20465&hasJS=true
Okuma magnitude
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat400002&rid=&indexId=cat400002&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=13&parentType=index&parentId=cat400002&id=0013543
Bogieon 31 Dec 2009 at 2:14 pm 6yep, get a combo from Cabela’s> i took up flyfishing for Smallies last year. It is frustrating to say the least when you know you could be catching them on your usual rig and bait.