Tell Me About Fly Fishing

I bought a cheap cabelas wind river combo last year. 5 weight I believe. I used it a lot for bream and bass. I've never used a high end fly rod so I dont know what I'm missing out on but I've enjoyed learning how to fly fish with this rig. I got in to it for less than $200.

I posted this in the last fly fish thread, and got well actually'd, but this is for a guide for someone just getting into it

I'm at the beginners stages of getting into fly fishing, last year I went and talked with the guys at Orvis and they gave me a lot of useful info, they also do a class on Saturday mornings at some point if you're near one.


The gist of what I was told was:

3wt set up for pan fish (think ultra light)
5wt set up for trout and smaller bass (medium to light)
8wt set up for big bass and redfish (heavy to medium heavy)


The rod is much more important than the reel.
Orvis's beginners combo has a really good rod, but a pretty terrible reel.
Cabelas had a beginners combo with a RLS+ reel, which I'm told is a good reel, but the rod is bad, this is the combo I went with (RIP Bargain Cave)
In hindsight I'd have gone with the Orvis combo

You won't know the difference in good and bad until you get into more expensive stuff though

It's ironic that fishing is literally my #1 passion but I just can't get the hang of a fly rod no matter how hard I try.

I bought a setup a few years ago ($150ish) but I haven't figured it out although I live right next to a park pond where I try to practice with it quite often. I keep on getting that "whip" effect and literally popping the flies off the end of the tapered leaders. I've definitely lost more flies than successful casts I've made.

quote:

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It's all in the wrist

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For bass and bows? What kind of waters, primarily, will you fish? For bass, are ya fishing big open ponds and lakes or cypress swamps? For trout, are you hitting big wide shoals with plenty of backcasting room or technical streams in the smokies? What kind of trout and what presentation: Weighted line, deep water streamer fishing for giant browns, or dry fly presentations to surfacing bows, etc.?

IMO, to suit most situations, assuming you're in LA or MS most of the time, get the best, highest quality rod you can afford in 5 weight with a medium or medium fast action. If you're fishing really tight places with less opportunities for distance casts, don't go over 8 feet long and get a slower action. Also, if fishing tight places or fishing big bass plugs with a 5 weight, maybe go up a line weight size. I like double taper because I have a 4 weight and with a +1 size DT line I can use bigger bass plugs on the rare occasion that I use them, because the line doesn't add even more weight, but I can also get distance casts when on the little red where I have room to backcast, while also feathering in a dry fly to stocker rainbows with a lighter touch than WF line.

Splurge on the rod; the reel is not as important for the average deep south baw who dabbles with fly fishing for warm/fresh water species.

I like a slow action rod for finesse type fishing and all freshwater fly fishing in general. Casting is therapeutic, and a slow action rod just makes things fun. They make roll casting and other tight situation casts easier also. My next rod will be one of the slow action fiberglass rods that are gaining popularity again.

This is all assuming that you're looking for a single setup to suit your best interests for bass and trout, in general. There's no one size fits all, as you already probably know.

I know NOTHING about real world applications of saltwater fly fishing for reds, etc., but I'm envious of those that do, simply because they get to do it.

FYI, just got an email from Allen Fly Fishing stating they have the Kraken reels 20% off this weekend. I bought one as an entry level saltwater reel and have enjoyed so far.